MxMIndia

Tag: Gujarat

  • Our deepest condolences to all those families who have lost loved ones at Morbi and our sincere regrets that we do not have a more robust system, including a strong media, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Sorry, Morbi, for a weak media…

    Image courtesy: Twitter feed of PIB Ahmedabad/Gujarat

     

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Ranjona BanerjiThe deaths of at least 134 people in Gujarat after the bridge they were on collapsed is a national tragedy. The suspension bridge in Morbi, Gujarat, had recently been repaired and renovated collapsed on Sunday evening.

    Gujarat is in campaign mode or to put that more correctly, the BJP from top to bottom but especially the top, is in campaign mode.

    The state of Gujarat has been sold to India as a “model” state since at least 2012, in order to bolster then chief minister Narendra Modi’s push to become prime minister. Despite all evidence to the contrary, the electorate clearly believed it. Fake news and Photoshop were both very effectively used – infrastructure from other countries and places – from Singapore to the US and anywhere in between but obviously not Gujarat – were presented as being in Gujarat as proof of Modi’s great skills and as a promise of what India could expect when he became Prime Minister.

    The Covid-19 pandemic provided ample evidence that Gujarat’s administration and healthcare infrastructure were unable to cope and that rampant lies were being told about the treatment of patients and the number of deaths. The horror of the pandemic forced a pro-Modi pro-BJP media to report with rigour on the lies being told and the indignities inflicted on patients and their families in Gujarat.

    It did not take long however for the mainstream media to revery to its usual rah-rah position when it comes to Modi and the BJP.

    Don’t get me wrong. The Morbi bridge collapse has been covered: that’s how we know about what happened.

    But and this is a significant but, the narrative is full of pro-Modi pro-BJP nuance.

    The first step is to blame the opposition for saying anything at all: why are you playing politics in a national tragedy and blaming the Gujarat government, let the facts emerge.

    The second step is to blame lowdown government functionaries and those in the company which carried out the repairs/

    The third step is to blame the people themselves for being on the bridge, shaking the bridge, crowding the bridge.

    But the fourth and most important step is to protect the Prime Minister. Modi who is on an election campaign in Gujarat. He however did not visit Morbi immediately after the accident. He carried on with his campaign visits and just issued a statement about how sad he felt. The media then made it its business to pump up and promote Modi’s decision. The attack on other parties followed.

    At no point, from within the mainstream media and especially television, were there any cries for resignation and responsibility at the top. Except of course of security guards and ticket sellers at the bridge.

    Rumours that the company which had the contract for repairs may not have had the requisite expertise or that someone from Gandhinagar insisted that they be given the contract remain unsubstantiated. That the hospital which Modi is going to visit is being refurbished is also being shown without comment. For any other administration, any other politician, there would have been outrage and insistence on accountability at the top. But not when it comes to Modi and the BJP.

    This is how criminal incompetence has been allowed to thrive in India. And the mainstream media is fully culpable. The deaths of these people will soon be forgotten and we will carry on as if nothing happened. The Government at the Centre has to protected at all costs. The lives lost are meaningless.

    Meanwhile, there is this from Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. After the accident, people on these platforms could not view anything on the Morbi bridge collapse because they were told that the Gujarat and Morbi hashtags went against Meta’s “community standards”.

    This is what makes it very hard to trust Meta and what makes it very easy to believe that it is in cahoots with the BJP. Today, Meta has said that the hashtag was blocked in error.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-than-130-people-dead-in-cable-bridge-collapse-in-indias-gujarat-state-11667206283?st=vbbnjdzzeagmjip&reflink=article_copyURL_share

     

    Yeah, right.

    Our deepest condolences to all those families who have lost loved ones at Morbi. And our sincere regrets that we do not have a more robust system, including a strong media, which would help you get justice.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal

     

  • What Goswami did is not excusable, writes Ranjona Banerji. He stole an experience to make himself look bigger and braver. All it has done is make him look smaller and sillier

    Arnab Goswami – A Legend in His Own Mind?

     

    B​y Ranjona Banerji

    What an incredible kerfuffle! In a speech he made a couple of years ago, TV anchor Arnab Goswami told a moving story about how he was attacked by riotous mobs carrying trishuls, close to the chief minister’s residence, while covering the Gujarat riots in 2002. Great story​,​ ​but one slight issue with it. The incident did happen. But it did not happen to Goswami. It happened to Rajdeep Sardesai and other colleagues at NDTV.

    Sardesai put the video of Goswami’s speech up on Twitter, expressing surprise at Goswami’s story. The video was taken down and then put up again. Inevitably, minor spats broke out all over Twitter. An employee of Republic TV standing up for her boss, Goswami, posted a photograph where Goswami was part of the group covering the riots. This claim was quickly demolished by Goswami’s former colleagues – he was sent to Gujarat yes but to Kheda and a week after Sardesai’s car was attacked by a mob. The photo was taken later. Several colleagues from NDTV corroborated Sardesai’s assertion that Goswami was lying. Goswami was also defended, or rather Sardesai was attacked, by actor Anupam Kher who occasionally functions as a spokesperson for the government and now also apparently for Goswami.

    What makes someone lie like this? In an article for DailyO, journalist Swati Chaturvedi called Goswami a “fantasist”. On an India Today TV show on the issue, lawyer Sanjay Hegde pointed out, tongue firmly in cheek, that everyone is entitled to be a “legend in their own minds”.

    But what it comes to down to plain and simple is plagiarism. Writers steal words. Those who do not write, steal experiences. Goswami’s story had many personal touches which add verisimilitude – the fear of the driver who had no ID, Goswami’s preference to sit in the front of a car, the sound of the mob. This was a story he must have internalised until it became his own. Perhaps he really believes it happened to him. Maybe he wished it happened to him. Goswami is a studio creation. He was forgettable in his earlier jobs, whatever he did there. He came into his own thundering behind a desk at Times Now.

    Perhaps however he still carries a torch for his non-existent days as an intrepid reporter, covering perilous ground and breaking earth-shattering stories. Since he does not have enough fireside chat experiences of his own, he has no option but to steal the experiences of others. Or maybe he was just borrowing this one: he was going to return it but he forgot: “I covered the riots but not this part that I wanted to cover. So I thought I’d just try your part for a bit to see what it felt like.”

    Of all the roles that journalism offers you, reporting is only one of them. It is not too late for Goswami to become a reporter. He may find it suits him. But he must be more courageous than he has been in the past. Even recently, during one of Mumbai’s super-rainy days, he did not venture very far from his office and stood under a flyover on Tulsi Pipe Road with an umbrella. That is not proper reporting. Nor is going to Milan ​Subway in Santa Cruz.

    He can instead prowl the countryside of Raigad to find any more clues in Sheena Bora’s murder. It may be more dramatic to go at night. And not wear a suit while he does it, although that can be his signature move. He might also lurk around the Leela Palace hotel in Delhi and solve the Sunanda Pushkar case all by himself.

    But let us get down to brasstacks. What Goswami did is not excusable. He stole an experience to make himself look bigger and braver. All it has done is make him look smaller and sillier.

    It has been a while since Goswami stopped practising any type or form of journalism. If he wants to make a comeback, I am not sure that stealing someone else’s experience is the right way to go about it.

    But who knows. This is the “new India”. Anything is possible.

    **

    Meanwhile, it is terrible that one more journalist was brutally killed, this time in the line of duty. Santanu Bhowmick was covering a protest in Tripura when he was abducted and hacked to death by political elements at the rally. This has sadly become all too common – to kill journalists in an attempt to silence the media. Appalling, unacceptable.

     

    ​Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. The views here are personal​

     

  • Sri Adhikari Brothers is launching Hindi GEC Dhamaal in Gujarat on Jan 21

    SAB takes ‘Dhamaal’ to Gujarat

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sri Adhikari Brothers’ has announced the launch of its Dhamaal channel in Gujarat. While test runs are scheduled to start today, the channel will formallly launch on Monday, January 21.

     

    Well-known comedians like Rakesh Bedi, Anant Desai, Raju Shrivastav, Siddharth Randheria and Sailesh Lodha will be featured in primetime shows like Madam Ki Paathshala, Bachchan Pandey Ki Toli, Galat Family, Bahut Khoob and Kya Samachar Hai, and will be joined by Gujarati comedian Girish Kumar.

     

    The Gujarat launch happens on the back of Dhamaal’s successful launch in MP, Chhatisgarh and Rajasthan. For Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal, the SAB network runs ‘Dabangg’ channel. Both channels launched in 2011.

     

    In December 2011, Sri Adhikari Brothers – headed by chairman and creative head Gautam Adhikari and his brother and vice-charman and managing director Markand Adhikari – had announced the launch of three region-specific channels with much fanfare. The move (“desi content with pradeshik tadka”), hailed as pioneering by the media fraternity then, was aimed at tapping the vast potential of local businesses in these regions.

    While Dhamal and Dabangg were to cater to audiences from Rajasthan in the west to Bihar and Jharkhand, the Gujarat channel was to be called ‘Dhamakaa’.  “Dhamaal has a positive vibrancy to the name,” Mr Markand Adhikari told MxMIndia when asked on the name change. Dhamakaa, on the other hand, has a negative meaning too – that of a blast. Whatever be the name, one can be sure that like the rest of the channels in the network, the Gujarat version of Dhamaal will also make the big boys in the business sit up and take notice.

     

     

  • Young Turks showcases 24 young entrepreneurs who have made a mark in the society with their innovative thinking and entrepreneurial spirit

    Divya Bhaskar celebrates spirit of Gujarat enterprise with ‘Young Turks’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Divya Bhaskar celebrated the efforts of the young entrepreneurs of Gujarat with the release of a coffee table book – Young Turks – acknowledging the efforts of emerging entrepreneurs in Gujarat. The book aims to motivate audience with the success stories of these entrepreneurs and their never say die attitude, which has helped them to overcome the hurdles and achieve their goals. ‘Young Turks’ is a salute to the young achievers.

     

    Young Turks showcases 24 young entrepreneurs who have made a mark in the society with their innovative thinking and entrepreneurial spirit across fields like Animation, Real estate, Training, Information Technology and so on. The book encapsulates the journey of an entrepreneur. It salutes their indomitable spirit and vision for sustained growth which has contributed to progress of Gujarat’s redefining industry.

     

    Commenting on the release Mr Saras Sethi, State CEO said: “It is aimed to motivate the emerging entrepreneurs with examples of success. Most of these emerging entrepreneurs defy the age factor and have made their mark at very young age with hard work and innovative thinking.”

     

  • It's Maharashtra & Gujarat Day today. We speak to select mediapersons and brand advisors on how the two high profile states are perceived

    So which scores higher – Brand Guj or Maha?

     

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    Maharashtra and Gujarat can be regarded as two of the most prosperous states of India. Where Maharashtra outshines in the industrial aspect and Bollywood Bling, Gujarat, the state of our father of nation, Mahatama Gandhi, is a state which has bounced back despite major natural calamity like the 2001 earthquake.

     

    Manish Bhatt

    In terms of promoting the state, Gujarat’s campaigns featuring the Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan are all over the media whereas we haven’t seen any such promotions from Maharashtra. The reason for this is the capital of Maharashtra – Mumbai – which is by itself is a matter of publicity for the state. Iconic names like Sachin Tendulkar, Lata Mangeshkar all belong to Maharashtra and there is also Bollywood.

     

    Says Manish Bhatt, Founder Director at Scarecrow Communications Ltd: “I think Gujarat is being branded well because its government has a strong political view and agenda. The spirit of Gujarat is like a phoenix, they have a never say die attitude. Where as Maharashtra lacks a strong political drive towards branding the state with no consistent political rule hence they lack uniformity in the political agenda”.

     

    Lloyd Mathias

    Lloyd Mathias, well-known marketer and until recently with Tata Tele, reasons: “It’s a recent trend that we are seeing states promoting themselves by focusing on campaigns. Gujarat has managed the total branding really well whereas Maharashtra has been left behind, not only in terms of brand building but also because it needs a 360-degree development approach. In my opinion,  bureaucrats must try and use the public money in developing the state and using these state days as an excuse to launch their development programmes.”

     

    Gujarat has over 50 million people (5 per cent of India’s population) and contributes 21 per cent of exports and 13 per cent of India’s industrial production. The state has the distinction of achieving the highest GDP over 11 per cent in the country. In Maharashtra, Mumbai became the gateway to India in many ways. Today, it is the business capital and the entertainment capital of the country.

     

    Bharat Kapadia

    According to veteran mediaperson Bharat Kapadia both Maharashtra and Gujarat progressed remarkably well though in recent times, Gujarat is “doing wonders in terms of progress due to the consistent and visionary leadership”. “The quality of leadership in Maharashtra has not been stable for quite sometime. Maharashtra does have a rich heritage but it’s losing edge due to unstable political system, bad infrastructure and so on. In my opinion there isn’t any limit to growth, but it requires great vision which the leaders in Gujarat are showing,” he adds.

     

    Though the terror attacks in Mumbai and the portrayal of the city in films like Slumdog Millionaire may have stained the image of Maharashtra, but the region and its people are known since the old days for their strength and valour. While the famous Salt March started in Gujarat, it may be argued that the culmination of the Freedom Movement occurred in Mumbai with the naval revolt (or the Bombay Mutiny), which, many say, was what got the British to finally decide to leave India.

     

    Sudarshan Banerjee

    Says Sudarshan Banerjee, Head, Mudra Ahmedabad and Director, NBD, DDB Mudra: “When we speak about brand building, Maharashtra has in the past, done campaigns promoting the state and so has Gujarat. Though in recent times, Maharashtra is low key on such activities. The reason for this can be that Maharashtra is a state which does not need to talk so much about itself, people anyway come here. Gujarat, on the other hand, has promoted itself so well in the recent past that not only tourism but also the number of investors investing here has increased. And the future only promises growth for the two states.”

     

    It is obvious that both the states are economically extremely important for the country. But whereas the Gujarat government is taking a stand and developing it by leaps and bounds, a similar effort and vision is needed for Maharashtra as well.

     

  • The Gujarat Tourism is now branding one entire Reliance Metro Airport Express train for a period of three months with the 'Khushboo Gujarat ki' campaign

    Delhi to get a whiff of Gujarati flavour

    By A Correspondent

     

    The ‘Khushboo Gujarat Ki’ Campaign featuring the mega star Amitabh Bachchan is currently omnipresent. Whether you switch on the TV or tune in to your favourite FM Radio Station or flip through the magazines and newspapers, the Khushboo of Gujarat is inescapable.

     

    Now the Gujarat Tourism is now branding one entire Reliance Metro Airport Express train for a period of three months. The ‘Khushboo Gujarat ki’ Campaign in its entirety would be branded on both the outer body and insides of the train by BIG Street, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd’s OOH arm.

     

    The train would be jointly flagged off by Shri Vipul Mittra, Principal Secretary Tourism, Government of Gujarat and Shri Sanjay Kaul, Commissioner of Tourism & Managing Director, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd. on March 7 from the Reliance Metro Airport Express New Delhi Metro station.

     

    Gujaratis considered to be a land of myriad of opportunities. Though the impression about Gujarat is only that of land of ‘industrious people’, the state, renowned for its beaches, holy temples, and historic places of interest with immense architectural wealth, wildlife sanctuaries and hill resorts, also offers a lot to an avid traveller.

    The USP of Gujarat Tourism is its diversity of tourism products. It is being promoted as a complete family destination.

     

    The state has been ranked as the third best unsung tourist destination of the world by Lonely Planet. Gujarat Tourism also won the prestigious PATA Gold award for its coffee table book –‘The White Rann’ in the Secondary Destination Category.

  • Yup, he is a doer (Manmohan Singh is a pure theorist) and India Inc needs such a man at the helm

    Anil Thakraney: India Inc needs Narendrabhai

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    If there’s one CM most industrialists adore, it’s Narendra Modi. Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani have been pretty vocal in their appreciation of Mota Bhai. Can’t fault them. Modi, being a Gujarati, has dhanda engraved in his genes; he understands business more than any other desi politician. In any case, he stands out big time amongst the chief ministers because the rest are either corrupt (we all know of them, don’t we?) or angsty (Bengal) or inefficient (most of them except perhaps Nitish Kumar).

     

    And so, Gujaratis flourishing in terms of industrial growth, there has been a lot of development in that state since Modi took charge. This is an undeniable fact. Which is why I am quite sure the corporate world would want Modi to run the entire country in the near future.

     

    Projects will get cleared faster, infrastructure will get a serious boost and most importantly, whether you like Modi or not, he is not known to be a corrupt man. At least, so far there’s been no evidence to the contrary. He would most likely kick people like Raja and Kalmadi out of the cabinet the moment there’s a whiff of chori.

     

    Yup, he is a doer (Manmohan Singh is a pure theorist) and India Inc needs such a man at the helm. As a case in point, I don’t see projects like FDI in multi-brand retail being so easily knocked off the radar under Modi’s regime.

     

    However, there’s a big impediment to Modi’s progress beyondGujarat: his massive ego. Okay, so the SIT commissioned by the Supreme Court has exonerated him of direct involvement in the post-Godhra riots, but that still doesn’t change the fact that the violence happened under his watch. That, hundreds of people got killed right under his nose. Just for that, Modi must unconditionally accept his failure and apologize. And move on. That done, who knows, people may move on as well and he could get that black mark erased from his otherwise healthy resume. And look to moving toDelhiwith a larger mandate.

     

    I really thinkIndia’s industrialists, for their own good, must meet Mota Bhai over chai and dhoklas, and educate him on the importance of ego management.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: Blast from the past! Can you even imagine such an ad being allowed to run in 2012. Kahaan gaye woh din? 🙂