That right feeling about TV
GULLIBLE Indians often believe that journalists on TV speak the gospel truth. I have met unsuspecting ones among them who believe emperor Babar was a Pakistani. They had read this somewhere or perhaps seen it on the news.
They are not mean or nasty people, just victims of a sleight of hand that has worked well. It has been dinned into their heads that Muslims (including their emperors) are Pakistanis, implacable enemies of the national interest. Narendra Modi simplified the equation by baptising Indian Muslims as Gen Musharraf’s children.
The Goebbelsian method seldom fails in swaying the masses. TV does the rest.
After all, the mob that planted the saffron flag on the rubble of the Babri mosque it had razed in 1992 was, through induced chants, threatening to turn to Lahore next. It didn’t mean to harm Pakistan, of course, but was just adding potent domestic politics to a cocktail of misinterpreted folklore and deeply planted religio-political subterfuge.
Television is only a new tool in the transmission of this garbled sense of history and politics in India. Cinema was as useful a weapon in the spiralling of prejudice to reap political dividends. Even leftist lore searched for nationalist palliatives on the screen.
I doubt that Kaifi Azmi had read Neville Maxwell’s proscribed book on India’s China war before penning his maudlin but popular verse on the military rout in Ladakh. But television has surpassed them all.
The transition began when the Hindu right leader Lal Kishan Advani took the information and broadcasting portfolio in his hands. That was his first chance to become federal minister in the garb of rejuvenated democracy.
The year was 1977. The right-wing penetration of the mass media began in earnest under his watch. That was also the year when acclaimed historians were trashed and the school textbooks they wrote with concise professionalism banned. This was partly to muzzle historical evidence seen as uncomfortable to the Hindu right, including the assertion that ancient Brahmins ate beef.
It was a similarly typical triumph of televised garble that Mr Advani was allowed to claim with considerable authority last week, even as the police in Hyderabad were still searching high and low for elusive clues, that the twin blasts in the southern city with its rich syncretic history was the handiwork of Pakistan.
Many couldn’t hide their exasperation, and not because the Pakistani establishment has not tried to harm India. In fact, the most vocal admission of this lingering animus comes from Pakistanis themselves, chiefly those who ardently wish to have normal ties with Indians.
Sadly for them, ties are unlikely to improve as long as the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Congress remain insecure in their domestic political arithmetic.
There are exceptions of course. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stands out as a solitary advocate for continued dialogue with Islamabad, but his pursuit is rooted in a lack of insecurity. He has never needed to win an election, and he has played out his innings with nothing much left to lose.
So, there’s a pattern in TV’s shifting focus from one crisis to the next to somehow keep Pakistan in the crosshairs. This began after the prime minister met his Pakistani counterpart in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt where they tried to look beyond the horror of the Mumbai attacks. He was double-guessed by his bureaucracy.
If anyone thought that Ajmal Kasab’s hanging would lead to a calmer moment in their ties, they were in for a surprise. They had to contend with one contrived shock after another.
Immediately after Kasab was hanged, the narrative of alleged Pakistani brutality on a Kargil hero was excavated to hit India’s TV screens. That paved the way for the more vivid and more current decapitation claims and counterclaims on the Line of Control, which everyone thought had climaxed with the execution of Afzal Guru. Then came the Hyderabad blues.
Mr Advani may have jumped the gun on the Hyderabad blasts and the reason lies in the fact that previous attacks in the city have been found to be the work of the Hindu right.
He should read Manisha Sethi’s report on behalf of the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association on the recent attacks in Hyderabad. She quotes the following conversation between two alleged conspirators from the Hindu right which anti-terror police chief Hemant Karkare had retrieved from their laptop:
Maj (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay: “…for example what happened in Hyderabad Mosque or at other places was not done by anybody from ISI; it was done by our person. On the basis of my information, I can say that it was done by this particular person.[ …]
Lt-Col Purohit: “… I have done two operations. They were successful Swamiji [Dayanand Pandey], I have the capacity to carry out operations. I have no dearth of equipment [explosives]. Once I decide I can procure the equipment….” […]
Lt-Col Purohit: “…I am in contact with Israel. One of our captains has visited Israel. Very positive response from their side. They have said: ‘You show us something on ground.’ [...] Secondly, they say they cannot support us in the international forum under the present circumstances for two years, till our movement does not gather some momentum. Political asylum anytime; equipment and training once we show something on ground. I am trying to achieve that…”
Sadly, Hemant Karkare was killed during the Mumbai terror attack, apparently falling victim to an ambush by Ajmal Kasab.
What has happened to the full contents of the laptops recovered by him, Ms Sethi has asked in a well-researched set of questions on the latest bombings in Hyderabad. She has a few like-minded journalist friends in TV studios and newsrooms to carry her point of view. But they are all struggling to stem the Goebbelsian tide.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
Common Muslim whether in India or Pakistan will have always sympathy in their hearts for Kasab and Afzal guru.. Just bcoz they were Muslims…… and just they way they are supporting terrorists.. Plz grow up and come out of Islamophobia…
Mr Naqvi , are you an Indian muslim or muslim Indian ? becuase rest of the indians do not fall back on religion for every minor inconveniences of life. The problem of extremism, intolerance throughout the muslim world is undeniable ,undisputed truth. What are you saying, are Indians supporting whatever this Col. Purohit wants to achieve. It is very easy to live in a secure,secular country,eat from the house and then give “gyan”.about Hindu terrorism by using only the context that suit you. India is directly suffering from muslim terrorism as much as Pakistan. I have been following Dawn for years and I am quite impressed with it, I don’t think you are fit for the job of being a correspondent of Dawn
Mr Naqvi, with your articles instead of enhancing Pakistan’s public intellect with positive stories , you make them delusional and more paranoid about India. If you can’t contribute articles that are optimistics atleast try to be realstic.
Jawed Naqvi has a very creative mind. He sees things others don’t.
The problem is that he only sees dark things which do not exist. He would make a great TV Journalist on any one of those sectarian Pakistani TV.
naqwi sahib come back to pakistan .we are being cuued here . forget of few indian
Neville Maxwell’s proscribed book on India’s China war —No body in India ever heard of this second rate unknown book only in Pakistan people will show interest about whatever anti India content they find because this gives self comfort for already India obsessed Pakistani people
Like most of the Pakistanis, Naqvi tries to downplay well researched and documentd Mumbai massacre, Kargil and other terrorist attacks directly or indirectly controlled from Pak and repeats ad nauseam singular Babri Masjid destruction. Media these days thrives on sensationalism everywhere, not only in India. Research takes effort and costs money.
Mr Naqvi is a very balanced person; he has a chip on both of his shoulders!!!
Mr Naqvi is one of the most incompetent journalist I have ever come across. Every article by him is a bundle of lies so blatant that I suspect he must be finding it difficult to hide his face. I think the only qualification for being a write for a Pakistani paper that this person has about him is that he hates India, the country he lives in and carries its passport.
Just remember – “Every Action has a Equal and Opposite reaction”. Newtons Third Law
Poor fellow still stuck up with Dayanand Pandey, Colonel Purohit and Pragya Thakur for past few years.
Sir, Your Brothers have done 100 blasts till then. From year 2000 Blasts in Coimbatore, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Mumbai and many other places.
Sir there is no comparison. You are the winner.
Mr. Naqvi should please read the series of articles published in this Paper titled ” Co-existence with India ” to come close to reality . When you keep on bombing targeting the Majority community this type of reaction is bound to happen .The author shuold feel proud of being an Indian because he is not facing any violence despite writing such articles . In India these acts are taken as terrorism and being Punsihed whreas in Pakistan Hafeez Sahid is a National Hero going around the Rulers of Pakistan as a Honourable Guest . There lies the difference .
I am sure even the writer knows that he is doing the same as he is blaming others. In books of even class 4 -5 from where babur came is written. Please do your job honestly.
sanjeev
He is doing his job honestly … ?
I dont believe news can mislead anyone in the country they are living. My observation is that nomatter what amount of books you have read in the end you get to the conclusions any illeterate person has reached through common sense. But media does effect ones repute out of the country.
Wrong! The media (radio, TV, newspapers, books etc) all play a huge role in shaping public opinion. Unless we personally experience events, or know someone who did, we rely on news services to inform us of what is going on, and there are many different ways of reporting the same event. Common sense (which is not very common), is still tempered by externally gained factual knowledge. How these facts are represented, not represented or mis-represented is crucial to our opinions.
OMG What a bundle of lies and twisted writings. Only Naqvi can meet the person who believes Babar was Pakistani.
What is this man saying? Is he saying acts of violence in India are the work of Right wing political parties and TV viewers in India cannot tell the difference between a Muslim in general and a Muslim Pakistani person? So many TV viewers in India must think that their Muslim presidents, ministers and arme forces personnel, etc were Pakistanis? Not bad then, is it?
Dear Rashid,splendid reply. Mine was rejected, because I was may be very harsh. Does not matter, Mr. Naqvi must rethink now how and what is to write. A all thumbs down, poor Naqvi.
Gee, the author must have big shoulders…carrying such a huge chip.
Funny.
Conspiracy theorists soon will have nowhere to hide.
What has happened to the full contents of the laptops recovered by him, Ms Sethi has asked in a well-researched set of questions on the latest bombings in Hyderabad.
She has a few like-minded journalist friends in TV studios and newsrooms to carry her point of view. But they are all struggling to stem the Goebbelsian tide.