05-29-2009, 07:58 AM
<b>The Medium's Massage </b>
Partha Banerjee
Outlook, June 1, 2009
:
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodna...ver+Story&sid=4
<b>Introduction: By projecting the Gandhis, the media has blacked out what
matters</b>
The election results have proved once again that in today's globalised
world,<b> media propaganda works, issues don't. Our lives are now decided
by what the media dictates</b>. An influential editor admitted that it was
an election of "non-issues"; <b>to seasoned onlookers like me, it was
nothing more than soapbox advertisement for Sonia Gandhi and her
children. It worked!</b>
Glories now on Manmohan Singh, the "best prime minister" in
post-Non-Alignment India, for his "efficient handling" of the country's
affairs. But Manmohan-however erudite-couldn't have been prime minister
five years ago had Sonia not been denied the top position. <b>He was a
"compromise", perhaps because Rahul Gandhi was "too young". The
kingmakers will gradually throw him away-politely, of course-and crown
the new prince. We'll say, "Long Live India! Long Live Crown Prince
Rahul!"</b> Democracy and dynasty, together? We'll revisit that question in
2014. For now, the media wants us to be happy.
The new-generation Indian PR-journalism, its projection of Rahul as the
next prime minister (eerily reminiscent of the rise of his father) and
complete suppression of issues did it for the Congress. Western
commentators with little grassroots experience of Indian politics cheer.
They'll keep branding India the next rising sun in the East!
But the dark truth is, India and her 80 per cent unfortunates will
remain hungry and poor; terrorism, pollution, overpopulation, diseases,
environmental destruction and corruption will thrive; the rich will get
richer. Female infanticide and dowry deaths will continue. Women will
walk miles to fetch water. Kids will drop out of school. 'Untouchables'
and minorities will be denied basic rights. Repression of dissent will
remain unchecked. Of course, there will be more cricket matches, fashion
catwalks and Bollywood blitzes. There will be more near-zero-medal
Olympics. Bless my motherland and her soul.
And we don't need the BJP or the Left any more-<b>Congress will play the
roles they play. It will peddle fake Hindutva in the north and the west,
fake socialism in the east and south, and fake isolationism in places
nobody talks about. Note that countless, "liberal" Congress candidates
ceremonially went to temples to receive blessings to win their seats.</b>
Many received special advice from astrologers and fortune-tellers. Who
needs the conservatives?
Was the Congress ever a secular party when it comes to religion or
caste? We know how the Congress used the Muslim League in Kerala, Dalits
in Karnataka, Orissa and Andhra, 'untouchables' in Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Bihar (remember Jagjivan Ram), and played the Christian or
anti-Bengali card in the Northeast for decades to sustain power (and
trash its allies later on). The Congress showed how to use black money
in Indian politics, and how to buy dissidents from rival groups. The
Youth Congress and Sanjay Gandhi came into the limelight in the 1970s
through flexing of muscle. Has it really changed? Can Rahul Gandhi
change it? Does he know history in the first place?
The only thing that has changed in India is that, with serious
endorsement from a failed system that decimated the US economy, <b>the
new-generation "Americanised" India is now avidly jingoistic, anti-poor,
anti-social spending, and rabidly pro-wealth; the only difference
between the US and India is that while here, the US does have some
minimum safeguards against total moral disintegration of the powerful
elite, India does not</b>. That's scary. There's something else to worry
about. The Congress and BJP both knowingly chose nearly a hundred
criminals to be MPs representing a million people each: that's to
represent a total of 100 million people.What does it tell us in terms of
their judgement, vision and action plan? Wasn't Sonia, Rahul or Manmohan
part of the selection process?
If this election were about substantive issues-issues big-name
journalists suppressed-we'd talk about the failure of the Manmohan
government to protect Indians from terrorism and war. But it didn't
happen. The media didn't challenge Rahul and Priyanka on these critical
questions. Instead, it glorified their celebrity status and projected
them as vote-getters without scrutinising them.
Some are comparing the rise of Rahul with that of Barack Obama. But here
in the US, for nearly two years, media put Obama under the lens and
examined him inside out to examine his competence to be president. When
will we learn to do that? If not in election times, when? Jai Ho,
Incredible India! Long live her new kings and queens.
<i>(The writer is a rights and media activist in New York and author of In
the Belly of the Beast: Hindu Supremacist RSS and BJP of India-An
Insider's Story.)</i>
Partha Banerjee
Outlook, June 1, 2009
:
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodna...ver+Story&sid=4
<b>Introduction: By projecting the Gandhis, the media has blacked out what
matters</b>
The election results have proved once again that in today's globalised
world,<b> media propaganda works, issues don't. Our lives are now decided
by what the media dictates</b>. An influential editor admitted that it was
an election of "non-issues"; <b>to seasoned onlookers like me, it was
nothing more than soapbox advertisement for Sonia Gandhi and her
children. It worked!</b>
Glories now on Manmohan Singh, the "best prime minister" in
post-Non-Alignment India, for his "efficient handling" of the country's
affairs. But Manmohan-however erudite-couldn't have been prime minister
five years ago had Sonia not been denied the top position. <b>He was a
"compromise", perhaps because Rahul Gandhi was "too young". The
kingmakers will gradually throw him away-politely, of course-and crown
the new prince. We'll say, "Long Live India! Long Live Crown Prince
Rahul!"</b> Democracy and dynasty, together? We'll revisit that question in
2014. For now, the media wants us to be happy.
The new-generation Indian PR-journalism, its projection of Rahul as the
next prime minister (eerily reminiscent of the rise of his father) and
complete suppression of issues did it for the Congress. Western
commentators with little grassroots experience of Indian politics cheer.
They'll keep branding India the next rising sun in the East!
But the dark truth is, India and her 80 per cent unfortunates will
remain hungry and poor; terrorism, pollution, overpopulation, diseases,
environmental destruction and corruption will thrive; the rich will get
richer. Female infanticide and dowry deaths will continue. Women will
walk miles to fetch water. Kids will drop out of school. 'Untouchables'
and minorities will be denied basic rights. Repression of dissent will
remain unchecked. Of course, there will be more cricket matches, fashion
catwalks and Bollywood blitzes. There will be more near-zero-medal
Olympics. Bless my motherland and her soul.
And we don't need the BJP or the Left any more-<b>Congress will play the
roles they play. It will peddle fake Hindutva in the north and the west,
fake socialism in the east and south, and fake isolationism in places
nobody talks about. Note that countless, "liberal" Congress candidates
ceremonially went to temples to receive blessings to win their seats.</b>
Many received special advice from astrologers and fortune-tellers. Who
needs the conservatives?
Was the Congress ever a secular party when it comes to religion or
caste? We know how the Congress used the Muslim League in Kerala, Dalits
in Karnataka, Orissa and Andhra, 'untouchables' in Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Bihar (remember Jagjivan Ram), and played the Christian or
anti-Bengali card in the Northeast for decades to sustain power (and
trash its allies later on). The Congress showed how to use black money
in Indian politics, and how to buy dissidents from rival groups. The
Youth Congress and Sanjay Gandhi came into the limelight in the 1970s
through flexing of muscle. Has it really changed? Can Rahul Gandhi
change it? Does he know history in the first place?
The only thing that has changed in India is that, with serious
endorsement from a failed system that decimated the US economy, <b>the
new-generation "Americanised" India is now avidly jingoistic, anti-poor,
anti-social spending, and rabidly pro-wealth; the only difference
between the US and India is that while here, the US does have some
minimum safeguards against total moral disintegration of the powerful
elite, India does not</b>. That's scary. There's something else to worry
about. The Congress and BJP both knowingly chose nearly a hundred
criminals to be MPs representing a million people each: that's to
represent a total of 100 million people.What does it tell us in terms of
their judgement, vision and action plan? Wasn't Sonia, Rahul or Manmohan
part of the selection process?
If this election were about substantive issues-issues big-name
journalists suppressed-we'd talk about the failure of the Manmohan
government to protect Indians from terrorism and war. But it didn't
happen. The media didn't challenge Rahul and Priyanka on these critical
questions. Instead, it glorified their celebrity status and projected
them as vote-getters without scrutinising them.
Some are comparing the rise of Rahul with that of Barack Obama. But here
in the US, for nearly two years, media put Obama under the lens and
examined him inside out to examine his competence to be president. When
will we learn to do that? If not in election times, when? Jai Ho,
Incredible India! Long live her new kings and queens.
<i>(The writer is a rights and media activist in New York and author of In
the Belly of the Beast: Hindu Supremacist RSS and BJP of India-An
Insider's Story.)</i>