By Ranjona Banerji
Having written off Arnab Goswami, I now see that he persists with Manipur and demands action from the, umm, BJP. Obviously, he’s not turned against them. But some interesting appears to be brewing.
His protégé, Navika Kumar, who remained with Times Now when Goswami dramatically quit in search of “independent journalism” only to form the BJP-propaganda type channel Republic TV, in contrast still appears more BJP than the BJP. She starts a discussion saying she will not indulge in whataboutery over Manipur and then does precisely that.
So, then, is anything brewing at all in the strange world of Indian TV?
People who know or can conjecture better than me claim two changes. The first, that the loss of the BJP in Karnataka shut off the wealth of South India and access to politicians from South India. Thus, BJP channels have had to make a few tweaks in their 24-hour Modi worship and Hindu-Muslim divisiveness.
The other, of which there is no evidence yet, is of slight rumblings within the BJP…
Journalists however love kite-flying and hope that of the many kites they have in the air, one might succeed in cutting someone else’s threads. Therefore, buy these explanations that at your own peril.
It is clear though that the release of that video of the public parading of disrobed women in Manipur has upset the regime. The release more than the contents. Two months of extreme violence and anarchy in Manipur did not appear to upset them at all. Until the video released, people objecting to tomato prices angered them more.
While the release of the video has increased chatter about violence against women, it has sadly allowed the regime to ignore the larger picture in Manipur. The anarchy, the violence, the deaths, the suffering, the fear has been forgotten. Instead, we have politicians and TV people making comparisons about violence against women here versus violence against women there. Why didn’t you say this or that or here or there.
We all know that none of them care about women. And will do nothing about increased violence.
We also should know that the subject has allowed the regime to continue with its inability to deal with what is happening in Manipur. Or, if you are so inclined, to carry on with their destruction of the North East.
This level of rage gets carried into the condemnable “prank” in a women’s bathroom in a college in Udupi. And then keeps the anger running as long as possible.
There will be no change in the attitude to women, from patriarchy, from traditionalists, even media houses. Nor will it be long before they move on.
While this high-decibel anger rages, the regime carries on with its other agendas. The Prime Minister has his stream of inaugurations and political speeches. The regime passes a bill to take away our rights to complain about substandard medications, to make life easier for pharma companies.
Our right to information gets consistently dissolved into meaninglessness.
The proposed amendments to the Forest Conservation act will remove forests from conservation in the name of national security and hand over more rights to mining corporates.
All this will happen under our noses, as TV continues with its own agenda of division, distraction and defence.
And then, the hate continues. This is former journalist and now lawyer, Chander Uday Singh in an interview to Article 14:
“Hate offenders are getting away with it because nobody takes action against them. Unless some action is taken and the courts enforce their own orders, the government feels it can get away with it. It’s happening all across the country.”
https://article-14.com/post/govt-whataboutery-inaction-why-hate-speech-persists-despite-the-supreme-court-wanting-to-stop-it-64c3372224505
So, maybe nothing is brewing at all?
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.