For me attack on Arnab Goswami is a small violent incident,
it could have been worse ofcourse. But, the symbolism and underlying issues are
much bigger.
On the face of it, ink attack on various ‘defenders’ of
democratic values and rationalists like Mr Sudheendra Kulkarni was less
threatening than some goons actually chasing a car that had a celebrated star journalist
with his journalist wife. Imagine, a woman journalist was traumatized in the
dark of the night! Now, recall reams of newsprint and hours of debates that
show cased blackened Kulkarni. Arnab Goswami himself defended him fiercely and
had high decible shows about it, though he didn’t agree with Mr. Kulkarni’s
views. Nearly every channel carried such debates. But, no channel has even reported the current
incident, leave alone condemning it! Ofcourse, not even ever articulate
Sudheendra ji.
Recall fake news peddled by S Varadarajan and his ilk in
these dangerous Corona times, wrongly quoting the Chief Minister of UP. No
journalist worth his salt criticised him, ofcourse none from the Left. Editor’s
Guild kept quiet. Only Arnab named him. There have been many other cases
of Varadarajan and his Left friends.
This is just an illustrative case. No media champion cautioned the digital
portal, leave alone criticise. But, as soon as, he was charge sheeted, all hell
broke loose. Democracy was in danger, government was fascist! A concerted campaign by the left, liberal
media groups was launched and taken to the global audience.
Arnab Goswami had not ascribed any particular group but only
condemned Palghar Lynching of Sadhus and asked the champions of minorities, including
Sonia Gandhi, who raised hell on other lynchings, about their silence. Very legitimate.
His language was harsh, ok. But, did he provoke any violence or create enmity
between two communities? No sir. Was his news fake? No sir. But, his naming
Sonia Gandhi suddenly aroused the demon of Emergency in the Congress
party. Not one nor 24 but 200 FIRs (according
to Republic) were filed against him in Congress ruled states with same charges.
This means they were centrally co-ordinated. It was a case of brow beating a
journalist into submission. But, entire electronic media and well-funded
digital media with honourable exception of small portals, remained quiet. No
Left, No Right, No Centre – all quiet on all the fronts.
You see a clearly widening chasm in the media. The Left that
was always intolerant of the non-Left, but was able to keep them at the fringes
for long and we felt there was no intolerance, that media was a nice happy
healthy place. Now, Left/Liberal/faux Secular groups find ground slipping beneath their feet. Terms
like ‘godi media’ invented by Left lobbies betray their frustration.
The slipping TRPs of Left outlets show the shift in public
mood clearly. BJP or no BJP, Modi or no Modi, Left led views are no more
accepted by the masses. Sustained rise in viewership of non-Left English and
Hindi channels shows this hiatus.
Bringing in anchors from rival non-Left channels to faux secular
channels to keep their viewership intact is a sign of drastic change in
societal thinking.
But, while Left, self-appointed liberals and faux Secular groups
have different shades, they always rise as one when any of their member feels
threatened. They forget the transgression of fake news, hate news, twisted
negative news involving Muslim news with Hindu illustrations, casteist news
decorated with RSS photos that has no role in the story. They just rise in combined
cacophony to defend their friends. You will never find one person from Left
step out of line. It is a tight network, kept well fed by their manipulators.
During such times, Editors Guild too provides
a protective shield around these unethical journalists, taking no action.
Non-Left on the contrary, like Hindu society, has as many
groups as there are views. Slight variation in view point from a supposedly
purist view results in severe criticism and trolling of a person on the
non-Left side. I am living example. No group
or individual will support the other when a person on their side is
threatened by the powerful Left-Secular cabal. The non-Left ecosystem goes quiet when a person like Arnab Goswami is
attacked. I talked to a few senior
editors. The grouse of similarly persecuted non-Left journalists is that when
they were charged with fake FIRs and non-bailable warrants by the political
elite claiming to be the sole inheritors of Gandhi and Marx, none came to their
support. Left knows this - each one for
self, and takes advantage of this splintered non-Left.
Non-Left media people know well that all the Modi supporting
journalists and TV anchors are marked people.
They are now intellectual untouchables who will be denied entry into
elite circles, if and when their patron-in-chief party comes to power. But, each one tries to save his or her forts
alone. Recall, how Hindu kings were defeated by invading hordes. It shows what
is wrong with the emerging ecosystem rooted to the soil of this nation, but is
too fragmented. It refuses, typically like Indian society, to come together to
fight common ideological enemy.
I have chosen Arnab Goswami as a test case as he is most
celebrated star of TV journalism today.
I have had bitterest debates with Arnab Goswami on issues typically
Hindu. He is a confirmed secular. He is equally aggressive against Muslims as
with Christians or Hindus who don’t toe his idea of secularism. His temper
rises as soon as you mention word like Hindu nation, or stand with Hindu rights. Just google ‘Ratan Sharda makes Arnab
speechless’ and you will know what I mean. I had similar fiery exchanges when
Sabarimala and Shani Shinganapur issues came up. But, he has one quality. He
still welcome every panellist who fought with him with humility and respect. Truly liberal.
I have had no problems with NDTV where I had very good debates
with Nidhi Razdan for 2-3 years. Never did we have hot exchanges. But,
invitations stopped coming after my two polite run-ins with another of their
top anchors when I contradicted him with facts. The famous Hindi NDTV black
screen anchor tried inviting me for months. I finally had a debate on Brussels
attacks by Jihadis. We had good polite
exchanges. But, I refused to toe his line strictly and widened the scope of
debate, bringing in our own hidden racism, asserting that we don’t speak about
similar Jihadi attacks in Africa. He never called me again. Truly Illiberal.
Story of persecution and crushing the careers of a fellow
journalists by dominant left abound. This is happening since decades. Even now,
the Left parasites are around in the corridors of power. Ask any non-confirming
veteran journalist, he will tell you enough stories of being hounded then and
being an outsider now. But, non-Left, national minded intellectuals and
journalists don’t seem to have learned from the Left - to stand together when the ideological war
turns ugly. Isolation of Arnab Goswami now, and many unnamed editors earlier,
within their own fraternity is symptom of larger problem in the non-Left
ecosystem - refusal to come together, rising above personal differences and egos
for the larger battle at hand.
Ratan Sharda
25th April 2020
https://www.newsbharati.com//Encyc/2020/4/26/Attack-on-Arnab-exposes-missing-non-Left-ecosystem.html
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