The ‘neutral’ media has been in a proactive state to counter the BJP, for fielding Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a sanayasin, as their Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal against the ex- Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and senior Congress Leader, Digvijaya Singh. The ‘neutral’ media with its evidently biased approach has given a clear and transparent example of its long standing trend of molding the narrative to suit its partners in quid-pro-quo.
Hemant Karkare, an IPS officer who was martyred in the 26/11 attacks, after Sadhvi Pragya made claims alleging Hemant Karkare’s involvement in her ordeal during police custody is another victim of this self declared liberal media. Liberal media which has been instrumental in revealing sensitive information in the name of ‘journalism’ be it the 1999 Kargil War or the heinous 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks where more than 160 civilians had lost their lives, has been a perpetual terror apologist. In this mis-adventure to whitewash heinous crimes against humanity, the ‘liberal’ set was also not short of propagating theories made out of thin air. The ‘Hindu terror’ theory that hit the media scene was another meek attempt to perpetuate this hypocrisy.
Digvijay Singh, who is himself a flag bearer of this charade, many people feel, is staring at his murky past in Bhopal. The victims of this false narrative, like Sadhvi Pragya, who for years has been stripped of their rights in the pretext of investigations, got nothing but contempt from the ‘liberal’ sect. Giving an example of shifting of gears not just on convenience of narrative but also blatant hypocrisy, ‘liberal’ media which has been glorifying terrorists like Yasin Bhatkal, Afzal Guru and others has now shifted its focus on Hemant Karkare, the officer who was brought back into the discourse after Sadhvi Pragya’s comments. Focusing solely on the aspect of his sacrifice, which it has been dodging for long because it didn’t fit the narrative sympathetic to terrorism, the ‘neutral’ media is conveniently avoiding an objective analysis of the allegations made by Sadhvi Pragya.
RVS Mani, a former bureaucrat who worked as an undersecretary in the Home Ministry during the Congress regime, has made distressing revelations of the links between Hemant Karkare and Digvijaya Singh. In his book ‘Hindu Terror’, RVS Mani has diligently exposed the conspiracy behind the manufacturing of this false narrative to peddle specific interests of a specific political class. Taking aim at Digvijay Singh and his links with Hemant Karkare he says that (Hemant Karkare and Digvijay Singh were) “not too happy” with RVS Mani’s information that a ‘particular religious group’ was involved in most of the terror attacks while recalling a meeting which took place in the MHA in the presence of the then Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
He further questioned the alleged links of a politician with an IPS officer of the neighboring state. “What was intriguing, which no one from the media or otherwise at that time asked, was: what was the relationship between a political leader and an Indian Police Service Officer of a neighboring state cadre? Indeed, having been the Chief Minister of a State, Singh might have known many a police officer from his own State. But to be so friendly with a serving IPS officer of a neighboring State is something that begs an answer. Without imputing motives to any individual, what was the police officer doing with a politician of a neighboring state?”
He further adds in his book, “It may be interesting to recall that Digvijay Singh had later claimed in a media report that he was in personal touch with the police officer who was in the room of the Union Home Minister along with him at that time and obtained specific information on the Nanded attack. Singh had also declared the personal mobile number of this police officer in the media. This can be verified from media reports”.
These revelations raise hard questions on the ‘neutral’ media’s deafening silence on these developments. The ‘neutral’ media which has been a product of the perpetual quid-pro quo with their political overlords, seem to be paying their end of the price. However this blatant hypocrisy, surely deals a hard blow to the once respected profession of journalism.