Why is the Indian media anti-Hindu?

By Manmath Deshpande

It is no secret that the media has a large anti-Hindu bias. But anyone who watched the TV channels’ coverage of the Kanchi Shankaracharya’s arrest will be disgusted at even knowing its behaviour. Star News channel held him guilty indirectly for two months and directly on January 12. It showed a video saying, “We had said a few days earlier that he confessed. Then, charges were made that we told lies. Now you can see we are telling the truth. He is crying, you can clearly see phoot phoot ke ro rahe hein.” On seeing the video it was clear that he was not crying at all and it only proved that the charges on it were true!

But what is sad and disappointing is the reaction of the Hindu leadership.

The channel should not be allowed to spread such ‘white lies’ that he has confessed.We should have blasted the channel and filed a petition for banning it in the courts and also urged the I&B Ministry to take action. But we did nothing of the sort.

The NDTV channel owned as it is by a communist like Prannoy Roy with Leftists running it, is horribly anti-Hindu. It causes tremendous damage to Hindu organisations. Already because of it, the word ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’ is becoming a joke among people, who say “Talk about ‘real issues’.” NDTV reports are biased and often spread white lies. TV debates are always designed to provoke Hindu nationalists, who are invariably less in number than the pseudo-secularists. The Hindus are also only from BJP which being a political party has to take a diluted stand on many occasions. What is astonishing is that the BJP workers do not blast TV channels. They never ask, “Why do you put two against one or three against one?”

Making the channels lose their credibilty is the only way to save Hindu nationalists. Why don’t BJP leaders come on TV and do it? Either the Hindu leadership does not know the harm that is caused by the channels or it is incapable of meeting the challenges.

The BJP's Hindu credentials are also suspect, since the party had passed a Chennai declaration in 1999 saying goodbye to all Hindutva issues forever. It is only because of the Hindu organisations’ pressures that the party is taking some Hindu issues.

Channels like NDTV never invite VHP leaders on TV because it knows exactly that VHP leaders argue very well. VHP can also take a much firmer line. Is not VHP an organisation important enough to be invited? The reason is that both the journalists cannot argue well and have to take a moderate position. VHP leaders like Surendra Jain bring fanatic Muslims like Aziz Burney to their knees on SubTV. They will do the same on NDTV.

Mental bankruptcy is an integral part of the media. Many newspapers like the Times of India even wrote editorials supporting Pakistan’s decision of boycotting Ahmedabad! Even in its counterview when the Times supported it, it was to “teach the Sangh Parivar a lesson” that the match should be played in Gujarat. The media which likes Pakistan more than Hindu nationalists should be blasted and asked to go to Pakistan. Opposing every view of the Hindu nationalists has become the habit of the media. Tomorrow they will say 2+2=5 and not 4 because the Sangh Parivar says it is 4! The Times of India is most bankrupt in its views.

When Governors were dismissed, all the newspapers showed some maturity except for the Times which supported the decision!

It is time we (Hindu nationalists) stopped blaming the media for everything and started taking a part of the blame on ourselves. We have failed to tame the media; we suffer because of it. We lack aggressiveness, assertiveness and the self-confidence needed to tame the media and only VHP has it. It is essential to tame the media or else it might be too late. Do we understand the need to do so? Or are we miles away from the ground?

(Contact author at ‘Anand-Vilas’, Chitale Road, Dhantoli, Nagpur-440012.)