Media Lessons That BJP Needs

It is sometimes easier to learn from failures and defeats than from successes. After all, every one defines failure a bit uniformly but it will be hard to find people agreeing on what is success. Don’t look too far, look at the people with heart-burn who will tell you Narendra Modi was not elected by 69% of India. They had desired and campaigned for him to fail and tried their best in vain. They have reluctantly conceded he is the PM of India and now their job is to show you how he is failing from day one. That’s our hate-mongering media. Here’s one of them who has started ranting about Modi already:

Earlier, Kapil Sibal had blamed Modi for high onion prices. Now Barkha Dutt and clowns like her will keep telling you when Modi must speak and when Modi must remain silent. Not a problem! It just doesn’t occur to this scumbagini that Modi remained quiet for 12 years on all the abuse and lies hurled at him and about him. He knows how to speak, whom to speak to and when. Besides, the media may be ignorant of what communications have been exchanged between the Centre and the two concerned States. That is what bothers Barkha. She can no more exercise her clout in ministry formation or eat “gol gappas” at PM’s house that easily. So her anxiety is understandable. She has been outraging over the Pune murder of a “Muslim techie” as if that was Gujarat 2002 all over again. Not just she, but most of the media channels. Take a look at this and you will see why I call the media an “Anti-Hindu” gang of criminals:

That doesn’t need much explanation, does it? We have seen all that a million times. HeadlinesToday also ran a short documentary on that Muslim techie from Pune and by the music and songs they played and the narrative you would think the man was killed on the LOC defending our borders. Murders unfortunately happen but why the hype on “Muslim”? It is such imbalanced nonsense that creates more animosity among communities. The answer is simple: Hate-mongers like Barkha, Rajdeep, Sagarika, Arnab, Kanwal, Karan Thapar, Varadabhai and their entire Commie gang had ordained that Muslims will suffer under Modi. So they will do everything to prove their dream to see Modi a failure. Any Muslim suffering will be directly blamed on Modi; state govts won’t be responsible for law and order anymore it seems. That doesn’t surprise me at all. What alarms me is how the BJP, a winner of the elections, is behaving with the media. Like a sucker! Let’s look at a comic video first. The first part is of John Oliver (who was earlier with The Daily Show) and the second part is from Jon Stewart’s Daily Show itself (6.25 mins):

Most people on the net have seen those videos. Don’t take what Rajdeep said seriously, he was just being a sport and playing along with the spoof. But the other things in the videos are not spoofs. The shouting, the circus clown Arnab, the fake “billion votes” crap, paid news and all that. Much before these satirists lampooned our media I had tweeted about how stupid Rajdeep & Co are to be screaming “billion votes, billion votes”. I have said before that we have borrowed the worst from America when we should be borrowing the best from the West. The actual “real” news in any Indian channel cannot last for more than 30 minutes or at the most one hour if someone is rounding up the nation. So in absence of news the channels will run a soap-opera on AAP’s troubles. Half of the coverage being useless and unwarranted! This filthy discourse has to change. You cannot tell the news media what they should do or what nonsensical debates they should hold. That’s their business. But given that their entire campaign for years has been anti-Modi, especially anti-Hindu the BJP is foolishly playing a part in the same filth even after the elections.

It wasn’t even a week since he was appointed I&B Minister that Prakash Javdekar grandly announced he would seek discussions with the media on 100% FDI in media. Amazing! I wonder how much thought has gone into it. It was BJP who allowed FDI in media and now this guy instantly wants 100% FDI. It’s like the rape victim falling in love and wanting to marry her rapist. It’s not a big secret that most of our media houses (like many other business houses) operate on black money, indulge in money-laundering, fake investments and tax frauds. Everything you see in the underworld mafia, you will find in our MSM. The priority should be to clean up the operations of the media houses since they get substantial govt support. NDTV alone has multiple financial crimes to its credit and that needs to be set right. What is the urgency to suck up to the media? That apart, many of the regional channels and newspapers are owned by politicians. Is that one of the reasons for this love?

The minister or govt cannot tell the news media what to show or what to discuss but there is a desperate need for certain standards to be set. This shouting, slandering and mindless noise cannot be the merit for more investment. Now that the BJP is the ruling party their spokies are still buying into and participating in this. Some of their earlier spokies have become ministers. The ones still on show are Nalin Kohli, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Sidharnath Singh, Chandan Mitra, Vani Tripathi, Sambit Patra and a couple more. This weekend the media channels were debating the problems of AAP. Now the AAP is going through a miserable phase and is in a wreck. Is there any need for BJP spokies to sign attendance like school kids and appear on mindless discussions with Arnab or Bhupendra Chaube or anyone? That some of these spokies are inarticulate and sub-standard is another matter that I am not going to linger on. The leader sets the rules of the market. The leader guards the viewers. The channels may peddle the nonsense they want but the BJP should now say NO to participating in bogus debates.

By sucking up to the media is Javdekar or the BJP expecting the criminals will change their ways or stop their anti-Hindu, anti-BJP propaganda? Does it occur to those in charge for media in the BJP that the media’s anti-BJP rant is only going to grow shriller the more they realise their old luxuries have disappeared under the Modi govt? The priority should be to set up proper standards for media conduct. There is a desperate need for an independent autonomous body that will enforce fairness in news reporting and protect the viewers from lies and propaganda. Has Javdekar even thought of this? And this autonomous body, after formation, should be free from govt and the media. It should have respectable citizens with a record of honesty and sense of fair-play. How the body will continue after its initial formation independently of the govt and media is a matter of mechanism. The govt’s job should only be to fund it. The PCI, currently headed by M Katju, also needs a complete revamp. These should be top concerns of Javdekar and BJP and not sucking up and feeding money to the media.

For 12 years the media hounded Modi using fake news, lies and fraudulent operators. Is the BJP going to ask any questions or let things stay as they are? Most members of the BJP are as disconnected with people as the media is. If not for Modi they would have suffered another defeat. Modi has called most of the media propagandists “Newstraders”. I call most of them criminals who feed poison into our society. This is a significant tweet by Modi that the BJP members and spokies would do well to save and keep in mind:

He has been restrained and kind. What he excluded was “lies and propaganda of MSM” could not succeed because of social media. The BJP and their spokies would do well to strengthen the SM reach and network. Invest energy and money in ensuring more people are connected and opened to truth, correct history and understand the lies of the Commie media. The MSM will continue to do what it wants. Their job is to LIE and twist matters. BJP need not be defensive or be an active participant in their filth. Participation in their bogus debates is not obligatory for the party or the govt. The govt is answerable to people and if at all it has to interact through media then regular pressers should be used with a Q&A.

It is important that while media funding needs are attended to, the course and quality of discourse is given the highest priority. Earlier the news media was considered the protector of people against evils of govt. Now it’s the people that need to be protected from the evils of the MSM. BJP would do well to learn some lessons and not play a lapdog to media.