Anti-Hindu & Anti-Indian statements by owners of Hindu and Indian Express

[Guest guest]

- Ram Madhav-

N. Ram and Sekhar Gupta are undoubtedly the two big names in the Indian media.

The entire country looks up to them with awe and some kind of an admiration for

what their papers, The Hindu and The Indian Express respectively, are trying to

do to Indian society. They are in a way the torchbearers of our public opinion,

at least many feel so. The Indian Express these days has a slogan too on its

front page “Journalism of Courage”.

Naturally the country expects a lot from them. A few weeks ago they were in

Pakistan, along with the Booker winner Ms. Arundhati Roy of God of Small Things

and Narmada Andolan fame. They were on a lecture tour. The topic was also very

relevant and timely, “Peace and Freedom in South Asia”. With such eminent

journalists as star speakers and with Arundhati Roy adding a little more star

value to the events that were held in Islamabad and Karachi, there is nothing

unusual to expect brilliant speeches.

They were brilliant speeches indeed, as Pakistanis had reportedly given them

standing ovation every time they had risen to speak. Hold on please. Don’t

conclude that Pakistanis have suddenly become obsessed with peace and freedom!

It was for reasons that had nothing to do with peace or freedom that they were

clapping. Let me introduce you to some of those enlightening quotes of our

revered journalists that enthralled the Pakistanis to no end.

First Mr. N. Ram, the suave editor of The Frontline of The Hindu group:

“India should not have taken advantage of the 1971 situation. Similarly, you

can’t threaten war under the cover of December 13th. Then this foolish talk of

‘limited strikes’ – a new doctrine after the Kargil by our very dubious defence

minister – a man with a very dubious outlook and approach, highly opportunistic,

capable of chauvinism – George Fernandes”

“…… our present Government is a party of national chauvinism, which represents a

danger to India, domestically and in the neighbourhood.”

“Vajpayee Government is following some unwise policies. People like myself would

say: ‘Give the people of J&K maximum autonomy as guaranteed by our constitution

on paper’. You have to deliver on this promise. The present Government – the

BJP – officially wants to do away with this particular status, i.e. Art 370 of

the Constitution.”

Now, don’t ask Mr. Ram what did he mean by “India should not have taken

advantage of the 1971 situation”. That statement was for the consumption of the

Pakistanis. So were all the other innuendoes against George, against the BJP and

against the Government of India. Nobody was there to protest, as the only crowd

present was the Pakistanis who were naturally delighted to see his neighbour,

the archrival, speaking their language.

And Mr. Ram wouldn’t disappoint them at all. He would tell them that it was

India, which had forced them to go nuclear. Otherwise Pakistan would have been

the paragon of peace. “The first act of the BJP-led coalition after coming to

power was to hijack India’s nuclear policy, obliging Pakistan to follow suit”,

fumes Mr. Ram.

Mr. Sekhar Gupta perhaps felt that he shouldn’t look too ‘soft and sheepish’. So

he decided to outdo Mr. Ram. He didn’t fail. In the process if you feel he had

failed the country, that is your problem, not his. See his golden words:

“India is an imperfect democracy, and Pakistan is an imperfect dictatorship.

India has not been able to achieve the level of prosperity a genuine democracy

would have acquired. Similarly, Pakistan has not sunk into the depth of chaos a

genuine dictatorship would have got a country into”. No search for logic please.

“After Kargil episode the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders looked like fools. They

were rescued by Sonia Gandhi”. Pulling your hairs?

According to Pakistani daily Jung, Mr. Gupta had blamed India for the escalation

of tension recently and said, “We began to look like stupid in the world”.

The BJP is like a mafia according to Mr. Sekhar. He was commenting on the

communal riots in India and thus goes the insinuation: “In fact people used to

say that, give mafia the key to the city and nothing will happen. That was

partly true because in the BJP days riots don’t happen”.

It is the media that is saving Indian Muslims, Mr. Sekhar wants Pakistanis to

understand. “In Gujarat if the media was not present all the time, instead of

one thousand people getting killed, may be ten thousand would have been killed.

Media saved a lot of lives and forced the BJP Government to moderate its

approach, and Vajpayee had to go to Ahmadabad and call it a national shame”.

But for the media, Vajpayee wouldn’t have bothered to go to Ahmadabad or call

it a national shame!

He also wants the Pakistanis to understand the power of Indian media in

controlling the BJP. “We will take care of them”, he would declare haughtily.

And finally, here is his quote of the tour: “If Muslims in India are happy that

is the best certificate that our secularism works”. VHP is not allowed to

scream that this is pseudo-secularism. It is genuine Indian secularism, because

Mr. Sekhar Gupta had pronounced it in Islamabad and Karachi.

And there is some comic relief too, provided by Gupta.

“Countries that have McDonalds do not go to war with each other” – Any takers

for Sekhar’s theory please!

Tailpiece: Arundhati Roy had announced: “if I had prior information that India

was going to send nuclear missiles (into Pakistan), I would be here (in

Pakistan) to receive them”. No. The VHP is not allowed to chuckle ‘two birds at

one shot’.

(All the quotes in this article are taken from the Pakistani media)

 

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