“Two wrongs don’t make a right!” is the most conventional riposte of the primarily left leaning mainstream media in India, to the citing of examples that expose their blatant double standard in the way that they respond to a similarly situated occurrence which does not suit their ideological bias.
One witnesses this rather frequently. Be it the comparison between the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi and the 2002 riots of Gujarat; or the murder of the Bajrang Dal animal activist Prashant Poojary with the mob lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri; or most recently, the biased media outrage over the arrests of JNU students, for making anti-national seditious speeches, in comparison with the absolute apathy of the mainstream media when it came to the arrest of Kamlesh Tiwari; whose Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression, it could be argued, (if we use the same yardstick that the mainstream media is applying to the JNU students) was also as harshly curtailed by the Uttar Pradesh Police authorities.
Now all of the above are valid comparisons to make. But anyone who makes them will almost certainly come across as a person who is looking to avoid discussion on a specific issue, by making the said comparison as a diversionary tactic.
The problem therefore, as I see it, is one of who is setting the narrative; and why it is that despite the power of social media, people are only able to ‘react’ to an agenda set by the mainstream media; without being able to emphatically draw attention to matters that don’t suit the mainstream media’s bias; independent of comparisons to those incidents which do
In other words, should the BJP and those in charge of communicating on behalf of the BJP do more, to bring to the notice of the Indian Public, examples of the assertion of brute criminal force, by various anti-social vested interests, who have endeared themselves to the mainstream media; and also enjoy the blessings and backing of political forces that turn a blind eye to their actions, with an eye on retaining or in some cases reclaiming power? The answer to this question is a resounding ‘Yes’!’’
I would only have to cite recent examples of such political thuggery that have gone virtually unnoticed in the mainstream media to help back my argument.
These examples include the alleged burning alive of Uttar Pradesh journalist Jagendra Singh in June 2015, by local policemen and criminals allegedly at the behest of the present Uttar Pradesh Minister of Dairy Development, Ram Murti Verma something that was declared by forensic experts as a case of ‘self-immolation’; to more recently in Bihar, the cold blooded murders of BJP worker Kedarnath Singh of Chhapra, closely followed by the murder of the Bihar BJP’s Vice President, Shri Visheshwar Ojha, who was killed by unknown assailants in broad daylight in Arrah, Bihar.
Now the mainstream media has barely bothered to report these astonishing and obviously politically motivated murders with the same intensity and vigor that they have chosen to cover the arrests of the anti-national students of JNU; but maybe it’s time we stopped concerning ourselves with what the mainstream media does anymore; because they are after all, part of a crowd that is absolutely taken aback by Modi’s rise and his refusal to indulge them in the way that the previous dispensation did.
Which is why it is now time for like minded people to make sustained efforts to render irrelevant the mainstream media narrative; and start drawing the attention of the Indian Public to issues in a way that is devoid of any comparisons with incidents that the mainstream media chooses to give coverage to.
This is the context in which, I would like to independently draw the attention of the readers, to the murder of PV Sujith, a 27 year old Swayamsevak in the Kannur district of Northern Kerala; who was allegedly hacked to death by CPI(M) workers; this murder of the popular young Swayamsevak P.V. Sujith was carried out inside his own home, before the very eyes of his aged parents and brother, who are also reported to be critically injured in the murderous attack. This horrific murder was soon followed up with the hurling of a crude bomb at the BJP party office in Kannur; an attack which was also alleged to have been carried out by members of the CPI(M)
It is frankly impossible to not view the above two acts of extreme violence and terror in Kannur, as being politically motivated; political motivations attributable to insecurities arising perhaps, out of the possibility of a surprise electoral victory for the BJP, in the forthcoming state elections in Kerala to be held most probably in April 2016; a possible electoral victory, which would prove to be a decisive blow to Kerala’s leftist political ecosystem that has long been dominated by the Congress led UDF coalition and the CPI/CPI (M) led LDF coalition parties.
As things stand today, the incumbent UDF government in Kerala, led by the Congress Party is rapidly losing political credibility; because even if the allegations of personal involvement in corruption, against Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy, in the solar panel scam, were not enough to sully the Congress led government’s image in Kerala; the recent crash of oil prices in the Arab Gulf states has led to a large number of job layoffs in the Gulf that have negatively impacted the volume of gulf remittances (which make up about a third of the state’s GDP) and economic prospects of a large number of migrants from the state of Kerala, many of whom are now being forced to return to Kerala and look for employment opportunities in a state, where there is very little industry, thanks to the regressive economic policies of the successive left governments.
The BJP has thus sensed an opportunity to make an impact with Kerala’s electorate; and has thus begun mobilizing its party cadre who have been working consistently towards furthering the party’s interest in the state; a move that has already begun yielding results; with a pre poll survey predicting that the BJP will likely triple its vote share in Kerala in the forthcoming state elections.
It is not surprising then for the CPI/CPI(M) lead LDF coalition parties in Kerala, to be losing sleep over this changing political landscape; a fact which is manifesting itself in the form of deadly violent activities by Kerala’s Communist cadre that will go to any length to retain their political control and influence over the state.
Whether the law will take its course in the matter; and whether those responsible for P.V.Sujith’s murder will be brought to book by the law of the land, is something that remains to be seen.
But one can only hope that political murders, like that of P.V. Sujith, which are not likely to be given much attention by the mainstream media, will not also be conveniently forgotten and buried, under the heap of our angry reactions to disproportionate media coverage on issues like the JNU arrests. Because until we stop reacting to biased reporting of the mainstream media; and instead start setting the agenda ourselves, brave young nationalists like P.V. Sujith will continue to lose their lives tragically, at the hands of anti-nationals, without anybody knowing about their sacrifice.