By Ranjona Banerji
How low do we have to sink as a democracy before the media demands that Governments act?
Apparently, here in August 2023, in the second reign of our great democratically elected monarchy, that time will never come. We have been through several horrors since 2014 without any cogent, powerful demands for accountability from the media.
You may or may not be able to recall a time when the media was at the forefront of demanding that a government take responsibility. Whether at the gravitas-enriched pulpit of the newspaper edit or the shrill shrieks of a TV studio.
Those days are gone. We watch the tattered remains of our democracy hanging in shreds from electric wires while our monarch does a series of pujas and will not attend Parliament. The media will blame opposition parties for disrupting Parliament but will not question the Prime Minister of India for his inaction and lack of any cogent policy. We’re quietly being led to the slaughterhouse by the government and its pet media.
Manipur is now in the third month of anarchy. The violence has not stopped. Twice now, government armouries have been looted and arms and ammunition stolen. The most recent incident was two days ago. That is, after all the anger over the video of the women being molested. There is no semblance of law and order in Manipur. Or of anyone trying to establish peace. It has been left to itself. The Prime Minister? At some puja or the other.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/aug/04/mob-loots-assault-rifles-over-19000-bullets-from-police-armoury-in-manipur-2601888.html
The Indian TV media: on its favourite subject of “Hindu-Muslim”.
Riots, arson looting and mob violence have swept through various parts of Haryana, including the capital Gurugram. Schools and offices have been closed. The riots followed the pattern now sent in stone for religious riots in India. A belligerent religious rally is taken through an area where people of other religions live. There are slogans and provocations. Which leads to violence. What starts as one “side” against the “other” soon becomes a majoritarian mob taking control and wreaking havoc. Haryana has followed the same pattern: A Hindu rally, a Muslim area, a stone thrown, violence, death. And then large-scale looting, arson, murder.
Gurugram is a business hub, close to the National Capital Region.
Both Manipur and Haryana are BJP-run states. Or I should clarify: they are not being run.
The Indian media however still remains in its hate-filled excitement. All those years of brainwashing the minds of their viewers with hatred have come to fruition. These vicious anchors have no qualms about calling for a Hindu state. They were overjoyed, you may remember, when the UP government started bulldozing the homes of people – Muslim – accused of unrelated crimes. Other states soon picked up this extra-judicial form of punishment as helpless courts did nothing and the bloodthirsty media cheered them on.
Do not however fool yourself into thinking that the destruction of India is not going on in other ways, while we are distracted between this bout of violence and the next. The amendments to the Forest Conservation Act passed by Parliament this week will now ensure that more of India’s precious forests and their eco-systems will be destroyed. Private companies will get almost unlimited access. Tribals and indigenous rights have been snatched away. And future generations will suffer. Not a single bombastic promise made by the Prime Minister of India at international fora holds any weight against the wilful damage being done to our environment. The media coverage for this will be limited to legacy newspaper comments.
An academic at a prestigious private liberal arts university researched on how the 2019 Indian general elections were won by manipulation. This research is made public. The university bends over backwards to discredit its own work and prostrate itself before the Government. This is an expression of how freedom of speech and expression work in India.
This is the best that the Times of India managed yesterday on Haryana: “But every riot that overnight grinds business to a halt or worse, daunts new investment.”
You can see now why Manipur is ignored, majoritarian religious violence across India is ignored. It doesn’t affect business.
Sadly, the Modi Government hasn’t done much for business either. Except…
But shhhh. We can’t really mention that.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.