​By ​Ranjona Banerji
How far have we gone on the story of Judge Loya’s death? The general feeling is that while the judge may or may not have died a natural death, many people are hoping that the story about him will. Enormous deflection tactics have been at work, from US President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka’s visit to India to some truly bizarre quarrel over whether Rahul Gandhi is a Hindu or not. India’s election fever trumped over Ivanka Kushner’s visit in the sense that her comment that Narendra Modi rose to prime minister from being a tea boy was conflated with the Congress’s refusal to acknowledge Modi’s greatness and more such contusions.
But to get back to Judge Loya’s death. The special CBI court in Mumbai which is now sitting on the trial into the death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh has stopped the media from reporting on the case. An appeal of this nature was made to the court by the defence lawyers. The judge said, “Considering the sensitivity in the matter, likelihood of happening of any untoward incident and likelihood of effect on the trial of this matter, in case of day-to-day evidence that may be brought on record. I am of the view not to allow media to make publication of any of the proceeding during the trial in the matter until further order.
“It may happen that the publication may create security problem for the accused persons, prosecution witnesses, the defence team, the prosecutor as well.â€
It is worth remembering that the accused are the police of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. It is also worth remembering that after Judge Brijgopal Loya’s death in December 2014, BJP president Amit Shah was discharged as an accused. DG Vanzara, former head of Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad has also been discharged.
Regardless of whether day to day reporting is allowed or not, there are enough indications in the judge’s order to remind the media of why this case is important. The silence on the part of some of the media on the death of Judge Loya notwithstanding, the judge referred to the media reports on the death of Judge Loya.
Although this is not the first time that the media has been silenced by the courts, the very fact of this gag order is significant in itself. As the judge pointed out, this is a sensational case. We would do well to remember that rather than limit ourselves to press release journalism to please the government in power.
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This cheerleading aspect is of course always in evidence. The discourse around Ivanka Kushner’s comments had some sections of the media, especially television, behaving like campaign managers for the BJP and Modi in Gujarat. Add to that the ridiculous – I find no other word for it – discussions on whether Rahul Gandhi of the Congress Party is a Hindu or not. Does it matter? Is there any provision in the Constitution of India which lays down that politicians have to belong to any particular religion?
The topic came up because of a report that Gandhi was signed in as a “non-Hindu†at some specific register when he visited the Somnath Temple in Gujarat. After our news channels and their various experts pontificated on a non-issue, the Economic Times carries a report quoting temple officials which says that Gandhi only signed a visitor’s book saying the temple was “inspiringâ€. Clearly, no homework was done before this asinine and polarising debate was put forward before the nation.
https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/rahul-gandhi-signed-only-visitors-book-somnath-temple-trust-official/amp_articleshow/61853996.cms
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Similar cheerleading was seen when the GDP rate was put at 6.3 %, up from before. However finance secretary Hasmukh Adia later confirmed that the figure may change. So what was the excitement about? Agriculture by the way has not shown a growth but still we in the media behave like growth figures are some “us versus them†battle where true Indians and patriots applaud government claims regardless of ground evidence and everyone who disagrees is anti-national.
A tweet from an anchor at News18 put this non-application of mind in perspective when she asked “naysayers†what they had to say about this great achievement, adding a hashtag that India is unstoppable.
Because nowhere in journalism school do they teach you that your first job is to show a mirror to the government and hold it up to scrutiny. It will be interesting to see that if another party ever rules India, whether these cheerleaders will effortlessly switch sides… I am guessing yes. Because sycophancy is a trait that is often inborn, not always acquired.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. The views here are personal​