Last week, violence broke out across north India. The head of the Dera Sacha Sauda, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Insaan, had been convicted in an old rape case. The Dera, headquartered in Sirsa, has millions of followers hailing predominantly from Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan.
When the verdict was announced, journalists made a beeline for the sect’s ashrams in Haryana. Many news channels reported live from the ground, amidst angry mobs. As sections of the mob targeted the media’s OB vans, the journalists continued their coverage portraying themselves as paragons of courage and righteousness.
Meanwhile, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh began joining one channel after the other over the phoneline. He assured people that the situation was under control in Punjab. For some strange reason, the mainstream took his word for gospel truth. Instead of sending teams down to Punjab and finding out for themselves, they treated it as an open and shut case, and continued their coverage of the law and order situation in Haryana.
More than a week has passed since the verdict was announced. Based on accounts from various sources including official records, a clearer picture of what the situation in Punjab was, is gradually emerging. The mainstream media which projected Punjab to be an island of calm, has moved on to other issues now. But it is quite clear that the ground realities in Punjab right after the verdict, were hardly as hunky dory as the media made them out to be.
After the conviction, there were at least 64 instances of violence in Punjab. And no, we are not talking about petty instances of stone pelting or manhandling. Instances of arson and vandalism were witnessed across the state.
In the district of Mansa, petrol pumps were destroyed. Cars belonging to the Income Tax Department were set ablaze. In the Chananwal village of the Barmala district, the telephone exchange building and equipment from the local primary school were set on fire. In the Malot disctrict, the computer room of the railway station was reduced to ashes. Here too, petrol pumps were destroyed. A cooperative society, a passport office and a telephone exchange building were set ablaze. In Bhatinda, a railway station and a telephone exchange building were set ablaze.
The district of Sangrur was probably the worst affected. A Tehsildar’s office in the Lehragaga village was set ablaze. Two power plants in the Khandebad and Sadan villages were set ablaze. A grain godown in Khokhar Kala village, and the sub-divisional office of the Electricity Board in the Ubawal village were set on fire. In Longowal Village, the magistrate’s car was attacked.
(All Reports based on Local Inputs)
How these instances of violence came to the fore is interesting. The day after the verdict, the Punjab and Haryana High Court restrained the Dera Sacha Sauda from transferring, selling or leasing out any of its properties. Then, it went on to direct the states of Haryana and Punjab to invite compensation claims for any losses suffered during the violence, which would be eventually be covered by selling the Dera’s properties. Then, Punjab’s advocate general submitted in court that there had been 51 incidents of violence in the state, and that 39 FIRs had already been registered.
So, on one hand, the chief minister of Punjab was going around stating that no violence took place in his state. On the other, the state’s attorney general was telling the High Court that 51 instances of violence had occurred. Why this dichotomy? Clearly, one version was to ensure that the state availed the compensation it was due. The other was made for media consumption. The unfortunate part is that the media fell for it. Or, rather ignored it.
Despite what the advocate general said in court, the media simply refused to cover the violence in Punjab. Even now, there is no material available in the mainstream media that illustrates the violence and the extent of destruction in Punjab. The Punjab government failed to uphold law and order, and the mainstream media remained a mute spectator.
But nothing remains under wraps in the 21st century. Many on social media realized that some sort of a hitjob was underway, and took it upon themselves to give others a more accurate picture of the situation.
https://twitter.com/akdwaaz/status/902466435540070400
https://twitter.com/akdwaaz/status/902447902722670592
64 instances of violence have been reported from Punjab. Income Tax office in Punjab's Mansa set alight by #Deraviolence
— Ranjitsinh Chudasama (@bk_chudasama) August 26, 2017
64 instances of violence in Punjab..
Railway stations,power house,telephone exchange burnt
But no noise in Media as it's not a BJP state pic.twitter.com/XTANDsm3ur— Mona kanwal (Modi Ka Parivar) (@monakaran) August 26, 2017
True. And other than Panchkula and Sirsa, most violence has taken place in Punjab at places like Bhatinda, Mansa, Ferozpur etc.
— Ajay Chaturvedi (@ajay19684) August 25, 2017
Apart from failing to uphold law and order, the Punjab government failed to convey to their counterparts in Haryana that thousands of the Dera’s followers from Punjab were crossing over and flocking in the Dera’s various properties. This indicates one of two things- either there was an intelligence failure or a communication failure on the part of the Punjab government.
But for some reason, television coverage was restricted to Haryana. The demand for a resignation was only made on the chief minister of Haryana. Op-eds about the violence were all about how the Haryana government had failed.
It seemed as if there was a concerted effort to selectively undermine the Haryana government, the same government which has taken on the likes of Robert Vadra.
And as Punjab continued to burn, the mainstream media simply turned a blind eye and let it.
But this article isn’t about how biased the media is. It isn’t about how selective or hypocritical their coverage is. This article is about how the government of Punjab failed on several fronts, and how it was given a free pass by the media. The media is often referred to as the fourth estate, an informal but vital part of any political system, that seeks accountability. If the media stops playing this role in the most critical of situations, of what use is it?
