03-16-2007, 10:40 PM
Sai @ BR
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The duplicity of the media is coming to the fore again in the Nandigram issue. The commentary of usual suspects is along expected (party) lines. The Hindu virtually justified the massacre, offering the fig-leaf that police were attacked with "guns" and "bombs". (How come no policeman was killed, then?) The Indian Express is playing clever, projecting the issue as between pro-devlopment and anti-development. A glance through editorials of major newspapers shows not even crocodile tears shed for those killed. These were same people frothing at their mouths over a much smaller issue in Baroda, where also the underlying cause was essentially economic: urban renewal.
They all don't want to ask the tough question: if other states, especially Gujarat, can successfully take to the SEZ model, why can't WB? Land reform is touted as the great Communist god's gift to Bengalis; then how come people are resisting their 'benefactor' over that very land issue?
The answer is two-fold: one, 30 years of communist politics has vulgarized public discourse in that state. Communists have spread for years a vicious rhetoric about private enterprise being axiomatically evil and exploitative. No wonder than that the citizens of Nandigram place faith in that rhetoric even if CPIM is willing to discard it for self-serving purposes. Second, communist rule always has been autocratic and authoritarian, decisions take top-down with little regard for popular sentiment. Other state governments, like Gujarat, are much more democratic, and have been able to build public consensus and win people's confidence for development initiatives through dialogue and persuasion.
Show me a media pundit who brings these issues out. All we see is mealy-mouthed "on-one-and-htis-but-on-the-other-hand-that" nonsense. Nobody wants to know why did the police have to gun down a dozen people in Nandigram, and who in the administration is to blame for the denouvement
Why does our media have to be so politicized, lacking in basic humanity?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The duplicity of the media is coming to the fore again in the Nandigram issue. The commentary of usual suspects is along expected (party) lines. The Hindu virtually justified the massacre, offering the fig-leaf that police were attacked with "guns" and "bombs". (How come no policeman was killed, then?) The Indian Express is playing clever, projecting the issue as between pro-devlopment and anti-development. A glance through editorials of major newspapers shows not even crocodile tears shed for those killed. These were same people frothing at their mouths over a much smaller issue in Baroda, where also the underlying cause was essentially economic: urban renewal.
They all don't want to ask the tough question: if other states, especially Gujarat, can successfully take to the SEZ model, why can't WB? Land reform is touted as the great Communist god's gift to Bengalis; then how come people are resisting their 'benefactor' over that very land issue?
The answer is two-fold: one, 30 years of communist politics has vulgarized public discourse in that state. Communists have spread for years a vicious rhetoric about private enterprise being axiomatically evil and exploitative. No wonder than that the citizens of Nandigram place faith in that rhetoric even if CPIM is willing to discard it for self-serving purposes. Second, communist rule always has been autocratic and authoritarian, decisions take top-down with little regard for popular sentiment. Other state governments, like Gujarat, are much more democratic, and have been able to build public consensus and win people's confidence for development initiatives through dialogue and persuasion.
Show me a media pundit who brings these issues out. All we see is mealy-mouthed "on-one-and-htis-but-on-the-other-hand-that" nonsense. Nobody wants to know why did the police have to gun down a dozen people in Nandigram, and who in the administration is to blame for the denouvement
Why does our media have to be so politicized, lacking in basic humanity?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->