Author: MC Joshi
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 5, 2002
In 'Pioneer must oppose BJP' (April
22), Mr N Jamal Ansari wanted editor Chandan Mitra to fall in line with
him and 'oppose the BJP on every front and join in the effort to save India
from becoming another Lebanon or Bosnia'.
If India becomes another Lebanon
or Bosnia, the blame for that should lie with the so called secularists-
active within politics, the intelligentsia and the media-who are waging
war with a political party simply because of its being reasonable towards
Hindus, something indigestible to the secular fundamentalists. Treating
Hindus and Hinduism with such insensitivity and contempt constitutes criminal
apathy towards their sufferings. Secular people never felt the need for
any discussion and debate-in Parliament or through the media-on the genocide,
ethnic cleansing and frequent massacres of Kashmiri Hindus. They have never
visited camps where scores of displaced Kashmiri pandits have been taking
refuge for years. The same people are blasting the BJP and its Government
on the Gujarat crisis through the forum provided by the print and electronic
media. They stalled Parliament for six days demanding a debate under Rule
184-not on providing relief to riot victims, nor to find ways in restoring
trust and communal harmony in Gujarat-only to blast the Centre and State,
and, as in earlier debates, to spew venom on the BJP, RSS, VHP and the
Bajrang Dal. These pseudo-secularists have always tended to undermine Hindu
interest while continuing to appease the minority sections for their narrow
political agenda.
French journalist Francois Gautier,
in his article 'The vicious circle' (March 20), had written: "There is
something that I have never understood. Although most of India's intellectual
elite is Hindu, the great majority of them are Hindu haters-and it sometimes
seems that they are ashamed to be Hindus. They always come out with the
same clichés on Hindutva, the saffron brigade, the Hindu 'fundamentalists'
and if you listen to them, you get the impression that India is in the
hands of dangerous fundamentalists and that the Christian and Muslim minorities
of India are being cruelly persecuted". The role of certain sections of
the Indian media, particularly the TV channels, for which Mr Ansari sings
paeans, has been extremely negative and malicious in reporting Gujarat
and has unduly maligned India even among the international community. About
television, Mr Gautier says: "This is the vicious circle of journalism
in India: The negative goes from the Indian journalist to its western counterpart
and comes back to India under the form of unfriendly reporting. The recent
Sabarmati burning followed by the rioting in Gujarat showed again the veracity
of that phenomenon. When a Graham Staines is burnt alive, all of India's
English press goes overboard in condemning his killers, but when 58 Graham
Staines are murdered, they report it without comment... when will the true
India be sincerely portrayed by its own journalists, so that the Western
press be positively influenced?"
The secular fundamentalists cannot
relish The Pioneer because it is not with them in their unholy jihad against
Hindus and Hinduism. It has the credibility that other newspapers- surviving
on page-three journalism and columns by mentally bankrupt Leftists and
hollow moral preachers-can never earn. The Pioneer is different because
it adheres to serious, objective and positive journalism; it goes by the
merits of issues and does not support or oppose anyone blindly. Mr Mitra
is committed to the ethics of true and healthy journalism. In his column
and even otherwise, he speaks with reason and fearlessly voices the truth.
Any call by secular fundamentalists for arresting his free voice or destroying
his journalism is nothing short of secular Fascism.
