Conspiracy of silence
Related posts [1],[2],[3],[4]
Yossarian is right of course, as is the fallen one, or for that matter Sandeep. But that is hardly the issue, I hope it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone (except perhaps for the paragon of secular right, primary red), but it has been a while since it became clear that Shivraj Patil and Arjun Singh are, not to put too fine a point, nincompoops. Or for that matter Manmohan Singh is an incompetent and petty man, more interested in holding to his honorary post for dear life than discharging his duties with honour, more anxious to serve that wretched widow, than to serve the nation. An utter disgrace, who makes even Inder Kumar Gujral look competent by comparison
But that is not the point. Governments suck, we all know that. What is really outrageous here is the manner in which liberal-secular media has been playing a partisan role since last decade.
Even after it is clear that duo of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh is nothing but a miserable failure, even after observing the cynical manipulation and perverse pandering by the UPA government for sake of vote banks, even after the unwitnessed decline of Prime Minister's authority, and the emergence of multiple power centers in the government acting like feudal chiefs without any collective responsibility or accountability, more concerned with looting the Republic than serving its cause, even after all this, there has been absolutely no attempt by our eminent journalists, defenders of secularism and guardians of enlightenment, to interrogate either Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi. The sins of omissions and commissions committed under the political authority of both the worthies are so extensive and the proof of their indifference so irrefutable it would be reasonable to expect a "neutral" media to come out with stinging op-eds indicting the unworthies for their failures.
Instead, how do the worthies in media respond, a deafening silence. Sure there are sporadic reports suggesting the extent of wheeling dealing going on, but they are quietly suppressed. And even if there is negative coverage of some particular minister that is never brought to its logical conclusion, which is that it is Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi who are ultimately answerable for the actions of ministers. Instead the media persists in its attempt to portray Manmohan Singh as a well intentioned, honest man, who is too good for politics and Indians should feel grateful that he deigned to be our master, instead of the truth that he is a career bureaucrats interested only in his tenure, not unlike some liberal academic. Similar is the narrative built around Sonia Gandhi, a reluctant royal figure whose only overriding concern is welfare of her subjects, one consumed by the state of nation, whereas by her actions she has proven that she is a shrew only interested in maintaining stranglehold of dynasty even at the price of great peril to nation. Indeed, the reluctance of brave media persons to affix the responsibility of governance is remarkable.
The blatant partisanship of media is even more obvious when compared with its behaviour towards NDA dispension. How Arun Shourie and George Fernandez, two to the most honest minister were continuously smeared, how Ram Naik was attacked for petrol pump allocation. Or the way Rajeev Pratap Singh Rudy was hounded. Or consider the derision that Atal Bihari Vajpayee got for his knee problems. Or how NDA was target of a sustained smear compaign by an enthusiastic media ready to pounce upon every lie and deceitful allegation as a brahma vakya.
Contrast this with present dispensation when even allegation of PMO involvement in nepotism is shrugged off.
To understand this behaviour, we have to understand that media has an ideological agenda. And to this further this agenda, viz. imposition of liberal-secular sensibility on Indian conscious, that media frames the narrative, by controlling and manipulating the information and claiming unquestionable moral authority by appointing itself as the neutral umpire of the political intrigue, and a defender of the hapless common man.
And it is to achieve this end that media ignores to address the little matter of where does the buck stop.
You see the problem is much deeper than political. The malaise pervades the very foundations of public discourse and corrodes the vitals of nation. It must be destroyed to preserve the civilization.
PS. Ashok Malik says it much better than I can
