Hegemony of Western Media Should End : Arnab Goswami

The west should not teach us anymore how to do journalism. Time has come to put the mirror back on western media. We will challenge the dominance of western media from Indian soil,  eminent journalist and former Editor in Chief of Times Now Arnab Goswami said on Tuesday.

Goswami was delivering a speech as the Chief Guest of the Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad (BCS) in the first session on the topic ‘Freedom of Expression: How Much is Too Much’. The three-day Parliament has been organized by MIT School of Government & Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad Foundation, Pune in association with the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India, Ministry of Higher & Technical Education and Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of Maharashtra & Pune Municipal Corporation.

Prof. Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad, founder president, World Peace Center (Alandi), MAEER’s MIT, Pune; Shri. V. Vaithilingam, Hon. Speaker and Former Chief Minister, Puducherry Legislative Assembly and Prof. Rahul Vishwanath  Karad, Founder Convener, Bhartiya Chhatra Sansad, Initiator & Dean, MIT- SOG were present at the session.

Goswami added, “A lot of politicians did everything to silence us. They told us you will be on streets if you take on the Central Government. But we were not afraid. The time has come for the birth of independent media in this country.” 

Talking about recent issues he said, “We need to silence them who want to silence Zaira Wasim. We are not going to tolerate the elements who publicly make a 16 year old girl to apologize. No country in the world has the courage to challenge religion. We fought for women’s entry to Haji Ali and Shani Shingnapur. Even if our vocal cords tear, we will stand for the right against the dirty practices”, he added.

Talking about his new venture, Republic, he said, “One man cannot change the country, nor even a group of journalists. We the people can. Many laughed on the dream of global Indian news media. I say, Republic will win and they will lose. Idealism will win and money will lose. Republic is not just a news channel, it is a movement which will put back peoples’ voices.” 

He said, “We will decentralize Indian journalism. The journalism in Delhi is corrupt. The center of journalism is no more Delhi, it is places like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, etc.”

Vaithilingam, said, “There should be clear balance between constitutional rights and responsibilities in freedom of speech. Freedom of Speech should not challenge sovereignty and unity of India. Indian model of freedom of speech is less appreciated in the world.”

Tamo Mibang, Hon. Vice Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, in his opening remarks, said, “To govern India, a land full of diversity, is difficult. Too much talking of one group disturbs other’s freedom. To stop the functioning of parliament is not a good sign for democracy. We should sit and talk on main issues.”

Adv. Swati Nakhate said, “The credit of Maratha Silent Marches goes to the whole Maratha Community. There were no particular leaders, all participants were leaders. Many politicians were surprised to see so many people coming out in numbers, which they hardly manage to arrange. We will always stand against the injustice to women.”

Dr. Rajiv Saizal from Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh was conferred the Ideal Youth MLA award at the hands of chairman of the session.

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CM Fadnavis Shows His Distinctness

Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, has showed his distinctness with his measured yet aggressive response to an open letter written by journalist Rajdeep Sardesai. This was not a unique action as many politicians of yore had taken to writing articles in the newspapers to articulate their position. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee even penned long muse when he was mired in political controversies and problems. However, what makes Fadnavis stand out is that he has taken to the medium often used against him for last one year and while defending his own position, he has put forward the work he was doing. This would serve not only in taming the hostility of the media towards him, in particular, and his government, in general, but also soothing his political ally Shiv Sena which is in the government bashing mode ever since it decided to share power.

Sardesai, often seen as an adversary of the Hinduist ideology which Fadnavis adheres to, had targeted Fadnavis of failing on many counts and letting down those who had hopes in him. "I was one of those who expected a lot from this leader who come to power with his youth and vision," Sardesai wrote. He had taken up mainly three points which underlined, in his eyes, the hopelessness of the present government. These points were - ban in certain municipal corporation limits on sale of the meat to be enforced for eight days during the Paryushan Parva of Jain community; transfer of Rakesh Maria, the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai during the course of investigation in high-profile Sheena Bora murder case, ostensibly to curtail the probe and third was a recent circular issued by the government which allegedly allowed the police to frame sedition charges against anyone who would criticize the public representatives. The letter was published in English, Hindi and Marathi publications as well and received due attention.

This ruffled quite few feathers in Bharatiya Janata Party and it was felt that this attack must be countered. But no one expected that CM himself would lead from the front and give a befitting reply to a journo with a stature such as Sardesai has.

That the CM replying to an open letter was itself a novelty. But Fadnavis added another dimension to it by twisting the reply and coloring it in an Urban-Agrarian conflict. His terse sentence that 'I am more concerned with providing food to the drought-hit farmers than filling your plate with non-veg' is a classic example of how a politician, even when well wishing and sincere, can turn any debate in his or her own stride. The BJP has outfoxed Congress with great cunningness in recent times because of this type of willy politicians. In fact, Congress is now almost bereft of clever leader who could mould the discourse any way they like.

The Twitter was abuzz with the development and the hashtag #DevendraSlapsRajdeep remained among top trends for two days. Various groups on WhatsApp were replete with the text of the letter. It took 24 hours for Sardesai to reply to CM's letter but in his immediate reaction, he just tweeted -

Whatever the outcome of the debate, one thing is sure - that this BJP government is a different pot to handle for the critics and it is going to break more norms in the future.

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If You Want Entertainment, Look No Further

_{All YOU HAVE TO DO IS WATCH NEWS CHANNELS}

India is a country rich with history. Many people have inhabited here living their lives full or void of any action. I wonder how they passed their time when there was no television or to be specific, news channels. What sort of entertainment exactly filled their existence surpassing other forms of pastimes. Being born in an era when even tape recorders, forget the idiot boxes, were hard to be found, one can easily ask for the details to this creature. But that was far away in the locked doors of my memories. They have already been blurred by the continuous bombardment of images in the aftermath of that age of innocence. One reason why I cannot recall the things people did to amuse themselves was that I was a mere child then. Most of my waking time was spent in worrying about my studies and it was proved beyond doubt in later period that the worrying was not uncalled for, because I could never do anything memorable in my academic career.

By the time I was accustomed to the torment on account of the studies, a tape recorder entered the life to accompany an old radio set. Poor thing radio, it worked on vacuum tubes. But its efficiency was never surpassed by any instrument which tried to fill the vacuum which was apparent there when the radio set did not blare any program. The arrival of tape recorder set the tone for influx of the audio cassettes by all and sundry in the household. Each member tried to bring the cassette as per his own choice. Shortly thereafter, the television arrived on the scene.

From the day the TV set came in, confusion has prevailed on the viewer as to what is entertainment and what is not. The foremost use our TV set was put to was to watch the live cremation ceremony of Indira Gandhi, late prime minister of India. Whole of surrounding areas thronged our old house then to catch the glimpse of young Rajiv Gandhi setting fire to the sandal pyre of his slain mother. Sobs could be heard from the each and every corner of the room where the TV set was put up. That was my first experience of surround sound!

As the days followed, the same confusion prevailed. The programs which Doordarshan, the only boradcatser at that time which has only a meager airtime of eight hours a day, beamed thinking that people will relish them were discarded without any hesitation. Programs which were supposed to educate the people were instantly lapped up as being most entertaining. Films Division’s documentaries always fell in the latter category. I remember we younger lot always looked forward to the election time because DD had a knack of turning into a movie channel when results were declared. That habit was in vogue till as late as 1990s. Bosses in DD thought that people in Maharashtra will be dying to know who was elected from the Hardoi in Bihar or viewers in Uttar Pradesh will be deprived of valuable knowledge nutrients if they do not know who was defeated in Thiruchchi. So they always intertwined old movies in between the programs which gave shape to the careers of Pranav Roy and Vinod Dua.

The same fate has now befallen on the news channels which are supposed to relay newer information. But seeing these channels is no less than an amusing distraction for a common man like me. They have all the spices to fill your dish making sure that you are never short of amusement nutrients. Like when a simple act of launch of party manifesto is turned into major serial for three consecutive days stretching the every corner of imagination’s limits. In addition to the sundry details of promises in the party’s ritualistic paper coming out at every election, the reporters of the channel do not tire of reminding you what the party piece has been missing in it.

Their latest muse seemed to be fixed not on the elections but shoes. About a month ago, each alternate two days, we heard of someone throwing his shoe at someone. The moment such an incident took place, you were bombarded with the clippings of past such incidents ranging from Iraq to China. You are not forgiven if you dare to question the authenticity of the information or the limits to which the coverage can go. It is okay to say that you have the remote control in the hand and you can change the channel anytime. But what can one do when every channel is playing the same footage and playing same nonsense game.

After the election results, it was proved that predictions from all channels were gone awry. Not to learn anything from this, the channels starting blaring one dose of sycophancy after another. One particular family in the country is labeled as the sovereign leaders of the land. As if it is not sufficient, the clips from Bollywood movies are played in between. It has become a staple for the channels. So much so that the entertainment and news are mixed irrevocably. That is why, if you want entertainment, do not go further. News channels are here.

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