Santosh Kumar’s daughter Vismaya aced her exams but the media ignores it

In good news coming from Kerala, Vismaya, the daughter of the slain RSS Swayamsevak Santosh Kumar of Kannur, has fared successfully in the SSLC Results in Kerala; Vismaya has secured an A+ grade in all the subjects she appeared for. However, unlike many who got plenty of attention, the media has chosen to ignore her success.

Don’t know why media is ignoring the sterling victory of Vismaya. Vismaya is our national icon who fought #CPMTerror in Kannur through education like @Malala fought Islamic terrorism in Swat. If it were kith & kin of any terrorist, the secular media would have celebrated it https://t.co/yZnRJYIiIh

— Ex-Comrade ☭ (@excomradekerala) May 6, 2019

Mainstream media in India has historically been dominated by a group of select elites, because of perpetual quid pro quo between the industry and the Indian government, which prevented people with an unbiased and independent view to contribute to a major part of the news. This bias has also led to the ‘media’ playing at the whims of their political overlords. These attempts have translated from defending corrupt politicians to as low as acting as terrorist apologists.

These  ‘journalists’ are evidently fast to mold the narrative to present  a botched up picture of the background of terror convicts, In a similar incident the media was fast to reach Mohammad Afzal guru’s family, to gain sympathy for the terrorist. Afzal Guru was convicted in  2001 parliament attack. A section of ‘journalists’ had even covered the school examination results of Afzal guru’s son.

According to the police, Santhosh Kumar was hacked by a gang that broke into his house. Santosh Kumar, after sustaining serious injuries, was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Describing the incident as ‘distressing’, BJP president Amit Shah accused the state government of doing nothing in cases where BJP workers had been attacked.

“The news of BJP karyakarta Santhosh Kumar being murdered in Kannur, Kerala is distressing. My deepest condolences to the family. This is third instance of political violence in Kannur, CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s constituency in the last 15 days. Will he get to the murderers?”, Amit Shah said in a series of tweets.

This is 3rd instance of political violence in Kannur, CM Pinarayi Vijayan's constituency in the last 15 days. Will he get to the murderers?

— Amit Shah (Modi Ka Parivar) (@AmitShah) January 19, 2017

However these so called ‘journalists’ have reasons other than just being the henchman of their overlords for the way they behave because this incident betrays their open and blatant hypocrisy. The media had kept the political murder in the backburner, while selective issues got skewed amounts of its attention. The under reporting of the ongoing poll violence in Bengal is a striking example, where a large section of the ‘neutral’ media remained mum. The media’s role in proactively covering activities of families of enemies of the state while totally ignoring those whose loved ones were made victims of political violence raises serious questions about its intent.

This incident where the media has chosen to selectively ignore the success of Vismaya is a case of blatant hypocrisy. Vismaya, after the murder of her father , had posted a video online in which she had raised several questions about the cold-blooded murder of her father.

Vismaya, Daughter of Santoshkumar, says "They murdered not just my dad, but my dreams and future" pic.twitter.com/UJwVo2ppME

— J Nandakumar (@kumarnandaj) March 8, 2017

1.My name is Vismaya.  12  yrs old.

1. I am from Kannur, Kerala.

3.I am a class 8 student  of Kadambur HH School.

1. I dream becoming a doctor to serve my poor villagers.
2. My father wanted to fulfill my dreams.
3. A night swept away all my dreams.

7.The night when they slaughtered my dad on January 18, 2017.

8.His only mistake was he supported BJP and RSS.

1. I see only darkness in my future.
2. They murdered not just my dad, but the whole family.
3. They murdered not just my dad, but my dreams and future.
4. They murdered not just my dad, but my unhealthy grandfather.
5. They murdered not just my dad, but our food and water.
6. I could see only darkness, a complete darkness.
7. I am not yet answered, why they killed my papa.
8. No one tells me why we are put in cold.
9. Were they happy seeing our blood and tears?

However even after losing her father, Santosh Kumar, to political violence, Vismaya has fought back and is working towards her bright future.