The Fast & The Spurious

Imagine the following people going on a fast unto death to fight corruption: Sharad Pawar, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, A. Raja, Kanimozhi, Dayanidhi Maran, Arundhati Roy, Suresh Kalmadi, P. Chidambaram, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan….. You can be forgiven if you fell off your chair laughing. Even if you did, some would be seriously backing these people as ‘saints’ without any question. You can count on Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN, Rahul Kanwal of Headlines Today (HT) and some more to probably support these saints if they ever undertook a hunger strike against corruption.

When Anna Hazare went on his hunger strike almost all TV channels ran a campaign for ‘India Against Corruption’ with logos, fisted hands and asking people to SMS their support to some number. Well, now that Baba Ramdev is fasting and has challenged the government on the same grounds the media, at least two major channels – CNN-IBN and HT, are up against him and indulging in extraordinary mud-slinging. You could call this ‘the fast and the spurious’. Pallavi Ghosh of CNN-IBN even laments in her tweet: “Let's not just blame the govt for going soft on baba..sad to watch some channels doing it too”. That’s right, according to her all TV channels should be attacking Ramdev as viciously as CNN-IBN and HT.

Some weeks back nothing less than the Supreme Court of this country blasted the IT department. “You would have been sleeping if the court had not intervened... You tap phone calls in 2008 but took action against telecom companies only in March 2011. You would have continued to sleep if the court was not monitoring the case..” the apex court observed. All in the media, except one journalist (J.Gopikrishnan of Pioneer) were sleeping too. But our TV channels wasted no time in claiming credit for exposing all kinds of scams. Some of those tapped phone calls brought down one of the most prominent journalists in India. Barkha Dutt had these miserable scenes to witness against her during the Anna Hazare campaign. (See video below)

That Supreme Court statement to IT department should have told any ordinary man that the Indian government was least interested in acting against corruption or black money. That’s the reason there is popular support for the Hazares and Ramdevs. Of all the possible black-money hoarders the one that is under the glare is a scrap dealer from Pune, Hassan Ali, who is supposed to have stashed billions in Swiss banks. How intelligent is that? The funny part is, even as Ramdev’s campaign was about to start off another Maran scandal cropped up. The full extent of corruption and loot is unlikely to ever come out. If they do, it will be accidentally and not because of the government.

Like politicians, journalists too need to learn that spurious and yellow journalism can only go so far. In the wake of the Ramdev campaign both CNN-IBN and HT have been running a relentless campaign against him with various charges of illegal assets, fraudulent funding, illegitimate properties and everything they can throw at him. Of course, none of these come with any solid proof of any wrong doing. In misdirecting their coverage with wrong issues the TV channels can end up supporting those who are actually anti-nationals. (more of this later). And then they keep pointing to various people backing Ramdev, like Ritambaradevi or RSS cadre or VHP and so on.

The Congress bosserina has put a gag order on all its spokespersons. They have only allowed one loose cannon, Digvijay Singh, to utter all kinds of nonsense. In a supposedly democratic party there is a ‘gag’ order. Even as sycophants, there are some good minds in the Congress. Even they chose to zip their lips. Imagine, this is what may happen to the nation if some had their way. They would shut up the whole nation from speaking up. So, in absence of the regular Congress spokespersons the media had to scramble some of the most vicious anti-Baba, anti-BJP, anti-RSS, anti-anything that will speak against the Congress. You had Nandita Rao brought out by CNN-IBN, you had Shabnam Hashmi brought out by HT and, of course, can Vinod Sharma (of Hindustan Times) be far behind?

Except for Shabnam Hashmi, who harped on those who divide the nation, the Babri Masjid and all the communal riots and so on, the rest decided to focus on the financial aspects of Ramdev’s organisations. The private aircraft, the island in Scotland, various properties etc. became staple diet. In short, they wanted to establish beyond any doubt that Ramdev was the most corrupt man and unqualified to campaign against corruption. Throughout the last two days CNN-IBN has been running videos of fund collection by the Ramdev followers implying that this is some kind of viciously improper or illegal activity. Anything that can damage the credibility of Ramdev will do. Neither of these channels even bothered to mildly discuss the validity of his demands from the government. Their focus was to tarnish him, character assassination and pure mud-slinging. They have so far not managed to dissuade people from swarming to the Ramlila grounds.

If it were election season one can still understand, if not justify, all this talk of communalism, fundamentalism and so on by the anti-Hindu forces. What motives do media channels have in lending a platform to such voices instead of keeping the focus on the main issue? I have mentioned people like Sharad Pawar or a Maran going on a hunger strike against corruption because these worthies would know what their conscience tells them.

Baba Ramdev is no fool. The day he announced the formation of ‘Bharat Swabhiman’ and the day he took this decision to go on a hunger strike, he knew damn well that his enemies in the media would be at his throat 24X7. He also knew the enemies in the so called ‘secular’ TV channels of India. He also knew the likes of Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Shabnam Hashmi, Nandita Rao, Vinod Sharma, Nitin Waghle, Pankaj Pachauri, Pallavi Ghosh would all be out mud-slinging him. He is smarter than many media crooks. He knows the media pretty much and here is a loose translation of his sarcastic take on the media:

Yellow Journalism & Anarchist Media

“..The media channels have been giving us a lot of coverage. Imagine, these people charge heavily for every minute…. No, for every ten seconds. So you can understand how many ad-hours they have donated to us..” As for Ramdev’s oratory and invocation of national pride it must have surely worried Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh no end. The problem for the Congress media and the Congress itself is not corruption really. The problem is UP is going to polls next year, so also Gujarat and some more states. This Ramdev might end up to be a thorn in the flesh for them. So the media with all its yellow journalism also plays the role of the anarchist snake. The Congress has been a gold-mine for many media houses. Why would they want to see that end?

So it is fair to assume that Ramdev would have expected the media and other agencies to put his trusts, properties, wealth and donations under a microscope and make all kinds of charges. It is unlikely he would have dared to take on this campaign if his conscience knew of any financial misdeeds. As for all those clamouring for his blood in terms of declaration of his assets, funds etc. they need to know that there are agencies in the government like the IT department, the ED, the CBI. The Congress is known to arm-twist opponents so nothing stops them from unleashing the state machinery into going into Ramdev’s funds and assets with a fine tooth comb. Despite CNN-IBN crying itself hoarse on this topic, people don’t seem to be buying it. What next? Will someone from somewhere bring out some sex-tape CD? Will someone bring out some CD showing Ramdev accepting huge amounts of cash? Will someone dig up a hole at his ashram and unearth huge amounts of undeclared cash? (a la Sukhram?) Instead of some good investigative journalism that may truly expose financial misdeeds CNN-IBN and HT have been rattling off allegations with the nonchalance of those in jail for corruption claiming innocence.

Barkha Dutt has prudently stayed away from the scene of action in this case. To my memory there has never been a case where a journalist has been heckled, booed and driven out of a place the way Barkha Dutt has been. Such has been her fall from dizzying heights. People are not just angry at politicians. Their anger is also slowly turning towards a biased media. Rajdeep and Kanwal and the rest may want to learn from her experience. Journalists were once placed on a pedestal as high as the ones reserved for Teachers in society. The fall in their integrity is quite similar to that of corrupt politicians.

On a different note, here is something from the 26/11 tragedy that the media seems to have forgotten. The TV channels reported every word of David Headley that exposed the ISI involvement in the 26/11 attacks. Here is what they did not report (Read the full report here):

"..Headley told the court that his Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) handler Sajid Mir was in Karachi during the Mumbai attack. Sajid Mir told Headley that a couple of people were with him. Sajid Mir was in contact with the attackers via phone and he was watching TV coverage of the siege and seeing what was going on in India, he said. … About the operation at Chhabad House in Mumbai, Headley said Sajid Mir told the two boys (attackers) to use mattresses and ambush the Special Forces who were descending down the staircases. Six people were killed in the attack on Chhabad house, a Jewish community centre."

The spurious and selective dose of reporting by TV channels is not lost on anyone. The story of Ramdev’s fast keeps unfolding. The story of the spurious media and reporters is not new. Keep watching the mud-slinging grow to a fever pitch.

PS: Since posting the above article 'Transparency International' has also endorsed Ramdev's campaign. You won't find coverage of that news in any mainstream media. Read the news report HERE or on any other news website.