From: "Vrn Davan" Mailing-List: list vediculture@yahoogroups.com Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2003 22:53:45 +0000 Subject: [world-vedic] Indian Media Loses Credibility The description is graphic; the veracity of the incident taken almost for granted coming from a writer of Arundhati Roy's reputation. But, alas, that's where we make the mistake. Fame and honesty are not interlinked as the following paragraph clearly indicates Title: Lies, Lies And More Lies Author: Vivek Gumaste Publication: Sulekha.com URL: http://www.sulekha.com/articledesc.asp?cid=290065 When I read recent reports (fabricated, to say the least) of the IDRF (India Development Research Fund) being a conduit for the communal violence in Gujarat, I said to myself, "there we go again." There just doesn't seem to be an end to this litany of lies. A few years ago there was a story circulating in the Indian news media, about the fleeing Hindu refugees from Kashmir. These reports claimed that over a quarter million Hindus had left their homes in Kashmir, not out of fear of Islamic militancy, but at the instigation of Jagmohan, the then Governor of Kashmir. It was and is still, a ridiculous notion without even an iota of truth; in other words, a blatant lie. But it didn't stop some of our intellectuals from propagating that falsehood! Then did you hear that the 34 innocent Sikhs of Chatisinghpora, who were murdered in cold blood on the eve of Clinton's visit, were not done in by Islamic militants, but by agents of the Indian government in order to discredit the separatist movement? Another canard spread not by Pakistan, but our own so-called intellectuals. This has been the pattern ever since the BJP came to power in India in March 1998. In fact there has been a relentless witch-hunt, the likes of which we have never seen before; a witch-hunt orchestrated by the major English newspapers in cahoots with the opposing political parties and so-called secular groups; a witch hunt that knows no logic and sees no reason; a witch hunt so consumed by a blind hatred for the BJP that fraud and deceit are considered appropriate weapons in this mad orgy; a witch hunt in which even national interest is of no concern. Beginning in the late 90s, Indian newspapers reported on a rash of so- called anti-Christian incidents perpetrated supposedly by Hindu extremists. Close scrutiny, however, revealed that these incidents were deliberate falsehoods spread by vested interests to further their political agenda. Take for example the incident in Jhabua, MP in which four nuns were brutally raped. Even before any details of this crime were available, the major newspapers had conducted a trial, established the criminal guilt of the Hindu extremists and communicated this message to the country and the world at large by splashing this news across their front pages. It was finally left up to Francois Gautier, the correspondent in South Asia for Le Figaro, France's largest circulation newspaper, who personally went to Jhabua, to unearth the truth. This is what he wrote in the Hindustan Times (Feb 1, 1999). "This massive outcry on the 'atrocities against the minorities' raises also doubts about the quality and integrity of Indian journalism. Take for instance, the rape of the four nuns in Jhabua. Today the Indian Press (and the foreign correspondents -- witness Tony Clifton's piece in the last issue of Newsweek) are still reporting that it was a 'religious' rape. Yet I went to Jhabua and met the four adorable nuns, who themselves admitted, along with their bishop George Anatil, that it had nothing to do with religion. It was the doing of a gang of Bhil tribals, known to perpetrate this kind of hateful acts on their own women. Yet today, the Indian Press, the Christian hierarchy and the politicians continue to include the Jhabua rape in the list of the atrocities against the Christians." A few days later, the Home Minister released a list of the criminals, a list forwarded to him by the Congress (whose leader incidentally happens to be Christian) government of MP. Twelve of the accused were Christians. Christian groups initially questioned this finding but when confronted with irrefutable proof chose to ignore it. And the newspapers? Yes, they reported it in some hidden corner of their paper. What about those things called truth and honesty? Does it matter? No. According to their warped sense of values maligning the Hindu groups is itself synonymous with truth. About another incident that occurred in Kerala, Francois Gautier wrote. "In Wyanad in northern Kerala, it was reported that a priest and four women were beaten up and a Bible was stolen by 'fanatical' Hindus. An FIR was lodged, the communists took out processions all over Kerala to protest against the 'atrocities' and the Press went gaga. Yet as an intrepid reporter from the Calicut office of The Indian Express found out, nobody was beaten up and the Bible was safe. Too late: the damage was done and it still is being made use of by the enemies of India." More recently, the reporting of events about Gujarat is another example of hyperbole. But before elaborating on specific instances of deception, let me state that we cannot and should not condone the senseless violence that happened in Gujarat. By the same token we cannot accept the malicious dissemination of falsehoods. Writing about the Gujarat riots, Arundhati Roy had this to say (Outlook, May 6,2002). "A mob surrounded the house of ex-Congress MP Iqbal Ehsan Jaffri. His phone calls to the director-general of police, the police commissioner, the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary (home) were ignored. The mobile police vans around his house did not intervene. The mob broke into the house. They stripped his daughters and burnt them alive. Then they beheaded Jaffri and dismembered him." The description is graphic; the veracity of the incident taken almost for granted coming from a writer of Arundhati Roy's reputation. But, alas, that's where we make the mistake. Fame and honesty are not interlinked as the following paragraph clearly indicates. Jaffri was killed in the riots but his daughters were neither 'stripped' nor 'burnt alive.' T.A. Jafri, his son, in a front- page interview titled Nobody knew my father's house was the target (Asian Age, May 2, Delhi edition), says, "among my brothers and sisters, I am the only one living in India. And I am the eldest in the family. My sister and brother live in the US. I am 40 years old and I have been born and brought up in Ahmedabad." So if Ehsan Jaffri had only one daughter (singular) who was safe and sound in the US, where did Roy get her facts about not one, but daughters (plural) being stripped and burnt? Was it the fantasy of a writer's mind? Or was it willful deceit aimed at maligning her ideological adversaries? Arundhati Roy did apologise for her mistake in a letter published in Outlook May 27, 2002. Could this have been a genuine mistake, one is tempted to ask? But when such 'mistakes' occur periodically, the chances of them being accidental appear remote. They appear to be in fact calculated machinations aimed at achieving a specific goal as the following incident further proves. In the same article, Roy claims. "Last night a friend from Baroda called. Weeping. It took her fifteen minutes to tell me what the matter was. It wasn't very complicated. Only that Sayeeda, a friend of hers, had been caught by a mob. Only that her stomach had been ripped open and stuffed with burning rags. Only that after she died, someone carved 'OM' on her forehead." Disturbed by the thought of such a ghastly act, Balbir Punj (a BJP MP) had this matter investigated. In Outlook (Jul 08, 2002) he wrote. "Shocked by this despicable 'incident,' I got in touch with the Gujarat Government. The police investigations revealed that no such case, involving someone called Sayeeda, had been reported either in urban or rural Baroda. Subsequently, the police sought Roy's help to identify the victim and seek access to witnesses who could lead them to those guilty of this crime. But the police got no cooperation. Instead, Roy, through her lawyer, replied that the police had no power to issue summons. Why is she hedging behind technical excuses?" So when asked to prove her allegations, Arundhati Roy developed cold feet; definitely not the attitude of a crusader for truth. Similarly you must have read some accounts of what preceded Godhra. There were wild accounts of an altercation between Ram sevaks and Muslim stall-owners, and of the abduction of a Muslim girl by Ram sevaks. All this emanated on the basis of a fictitious e-mail as revealed by Prem Shankar Jha (Outlook, March 25) This also reminds me of another episode that occurred a few years ago. Filmmaker Pradip Kishen (who happens to be Arundhati Roy's husband and a part of the same ideological group) walked out in a huff from the National Film Awards jury accusing the board of political motives. He asserted that Raveena Tandon had been given the best actress award for Daman because she had campaigned for the BJP. When an angry Raveena asked him to prove his charges, he beat a hasty retreat and submitted an unconditional apology. This may not be an item of grave national importance but serves to confirm the fact that certain groups repeatedly use devious methods to achieve their broader political aims. Mr. Tunku Varadarajan is deputy editorial features editor of The Wall Street Journal. He also has had several publications in the New York Times. This is an excerpt from his article titled, 'Deadly Zeal in India' (NY Times, Jan 11, 1999). "This happened a month after a Roman Catholic priest was murdered and religious fanatics vowed to turn an entire district into a 'Christian- free zone'. In keeping with this promise, a chapel was set on fire. Elsewhere, armed men broke into a Catholic convent and assaulted two nuns inside, and another Catholic priest was shot dead." This report appeared exactly 15 days before, I repeat 15 days before Graham Staines, the Australian missionary was killed in Orissa. Until then no Christian missionary had been killed in India as a result of religious hatred, yet Tunku Vardarajan's op-ed piece described picturesquely how armed men broke into a convent and shot dead a Catholic priest. In deference to fair play and before passing judgment, I e-mailed the newspaper asking them for details that I may not have been aware of. I never received a reply. A week later, however, the NY Times reported that no lives had been lost in the so- called anti-Christian campaign. (This was before the Staines murder). So this was without a doubt an explicit lie with an ulterior motive. Apart from being a tall tale it was also a clever ploy: exaggerate the crime, evoke greater condemnation and thereby silence those who do not agree with you. What do these incidents suggest? The so-called secular groups (or more appropriately labeled 'pseudo-secular') are willing to go to any lengths to put across their point of view, even if it involves duplicity, spreading half-truths or indulging in hyperbole. How can we believe a people or the philosophy they espouse when trickery is an indispensable item in their mode of communication? Or in other words can an ideology that requires the crutches of deceit and distortion sustain itself? What is even more disturbing is that many eminent personalities (Nobel laureates, software entrepreneurs and academics) are using the weight of their prestige to lend misplaced credibility to these untruths. But one must remember that shorn of the sophisticated accents that we speak in, shorn of the King's English that we pen, shorn of the academic degrees from Western Universities that we flaunt, shorn of our status or fame in society that we impose upon others, what really matters is the truth and honesty of the words that we write or speak. When judged by this yardstick, some of these so-called intellectuals and eminent personalities fall way below into an abysmal pit of moral bankruptcy that is hard to fathom. Blind adherence to any ideology whether it is Hindutva or anti- Hindutva will lead us nowhere. Truth, honesty and justice must surmount all ideology. Double standards and hypocrisy especially the type practiced by our so-called eminent personalities will only destroy our democracy and society. Truth must be the basis of any ideology. Truth and honesty must be the foundations of our society. So let us stop lying. Let us be fair and above all let us speak the truth. Then alone can we build a truly democratic and secular India. REFERENCES 1) Outlook India, May 06,2002 2) Outlook India, May 27, 2002 article by Balbir Punj 3) Outlook India, Jul 08, 2002 article by Balbir Punj. 4) Hindustan Times, Feb 1, 1999 5) New York Times, Jan 11, 1999