MxMIndia

Tag: Indian army

  • In this depressing scenario, all the fury in the media is indeed required. The viewing public feels a little vindicated. And the army jawans might feel their own anger getting vented

    Anil Thakraney: Rage on, Arnab!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Arnab Goswami is Indian television media’s all-season angry middle-aged man. That we all know. But when it comes to issues on Indo/Pak conflict, his anger turns into savage fury. As we are currently witnessing in the case of the mutilated bodies of Indian soldiers, the deed allegedly done by Pak soldiers. And Arnab’s anger very quickly becomes contagious; anchors on other channels, who start out rather calmly, switch to the anger mode. And for days it becomes a lot of shouting and heckling on all the news channels.

     

    My first thoughts: It’s a complete waste of time and energy. The Pakistani government gives a rat’s arse about all the drama inside Indian TV studios, and will continue with what they want to do. For example, all the rage over 26/11 has yielded zero results so far. It’s also quite possible that the Pak netas and indeed their army generals had no role to play in the mutilation of the soldiers’ bodies. This cowardly act may well have been carried out by a few barbaric, retarded Pak soldiers of their own volition; therefore it would be difficult for even Pak to get to the truth. In short, a pointless exercise, a needless diversion from the anti-rape campaign.

     

    However, on second thoughts, I do believe we need the anger going on Pakistani issues. Simply because we are a proven soft state, we have a Prime Minster for whom even opening the mouth becomes a challenging task. As usual, all we are hearing is the same old useless political reactions: We will lodge a protest, we will take suitable action, we will not allow this, etc. And this can and will have a negative effect on the morale of the army. Why fight for a nation when it doesn’t care if you die, and if the head from your body is chopped off?

     

    In this depressing scenario, all the fury in the media is indeed required. The viewing public feels a little vindicated. And the army jawans might feel their own anger getting vented. This venting is very important to maintain status quo.

     

    So rage on guys! Keep insulting and humiliating the Paki spokespersons. We are right behind you!

     

    ***

     

    PS: Speaking of the Indo/Pak conflict at the LOC, here’s a stunning commercial from a music company. It’s set on Christmas Eve of 1914, when the Allies were at war with the Germans. Notice the honour code enemies dutifully follow in the zone of conflict. Wish the barbaric elements of Pakistan would learn something from this.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aRLGwsafTM[/youtube]

     

  • You can tear down old and revered institutions, you can gossip about anyone you please but you cannot, cannot, cannot ever say anything negative about the Indian armed forces.

    Glory Be, Shekhar Gupta dared to criticise the Indian Army!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The one way to annoy the journalistic community (I’m being generous and including TV-wallahs in this) is to write something uncomplimentary about the armed forces. As Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of Indian Express, has discovered, ever since he wrote a front page story about inexplicable troop movements towards New Delhi on January 16.

     

    The story suggested that some in the government were worried about the army chief’s intentions especially since that was the day that VK Singh moved the Supreme Court over his age issue. There were questions raised about why the two divisions were abruptly sent back on ministry of defence instructions and why several protocols about moving towards the national capital had not been followed.

     

    Outrage and condemnation burst out across the media. What, the Indian armed forces, the most glorious institution in the world had been accused of maybe, perhaps attempting a coup or at best acting in a suspicious manner or at the least not following the rules? Impossible. For 7 lakh years (I’m using the BJP’s Saraswati civilisation timeline here because jingoism always reminds me of the right wing) the Indian armed forces have been perfect, never set a foot wrong.

     

    And now, to be accused of this, blah blah blah. I wonder what today’s media would have done to Emperor Ashoka when he decided to abjure violence after the Kalinga war. Can you imagine Ashoka being raked over the coals by Arnab Goswami, for daring to suggest that there had been too much bloodshed thanks to his soldiers?

     

    Anyway, Gupta has now become the whipping boy of the media. In Mumbai, there’s a term for this media anger: “khunnas”. Hmmm, that is, a teeny bit of jealousy that no one else had interpreted the facts quite like that. But there’s also all that patriotic anger – when it comes to the armed forces, objectivity flies out the window. Meanwhile gossip is flying around – Gupta is a Congress stooge, he is not in the VK Singh camp, he wanted to make hay out of an old story, he never thought it would boomerang like this and so on.

     

    Goswami on Times Now told us over and over again that some journalists with an “over-active imagination” had concocted this story. (Something TV can never be accused of possessing, oh no!) Several retired generals with large moustaches bristled with anger (how come we have so many of them, retired generals I mean, not moustaches?).

     

    Newspapers wrote editorials against the Express story. Some pointed out that half the information had first appeared on rediff.com. Others said that the conclusions were a bit far-fetched. Not a single journalist bothered to investigate the two questions raised: one, if the troop movement was innocent, why did the divisions turn back and two, why were the protocols not followed and tangentially, is VK Singh as angelic as he is being made out to be?

     

    Whatever it is, Gupta has learned one lesson. You can question God, you can tear down old and revered institutions and you can gossip about anyone you please but you cannot, cannot, cannot ever say anything negative about the Indian armed forces. Be warned, because otherwise, the wrath of Indian TV will fall on your head. Add all the anchors together and that’s quite a heavy burden to bear.

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    [MJR] The night of January 16 strikes again!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    It seems to be a strange rule these days that no matter what happens, the Indian army has to upstage it in the news stakes. The Indian Express, with its story about army deployments towards New Delhi which “spooked’ the Government of India stole the focus away from the US’s $10 million bounty on Pakistan’s Hafiz Saeed.

     

    The newspaper has truly put the cat among the pigeons with its dramatically written story which implies that even if there wasn’t a coup attempt by the army, the government was definitely shaken.

     

    The timing of the movements of these two divisions, one airborne, towards the capital was also seen as suspect – January 16, the day the army chief filed his case in the Supreme Court over his age issue. According to the Express report, standard operating procedures about troop movements had not been followed.

     

    TV debates obviously went ballistic. But for all the bombast, the participants were skewed in favour of the army with lots of moustachioed gents pointed out how such a thing could never happen. Other participants – usually journalists – said that the Express story was not a surprise and that a website had come out with the facts in January itself. I did not manage to see Shekhar Gupta, editor of Indian Express on TV, but he was quoted by one of the channels as saying that once they got the story they could not suppress it from the people.

     

    This is from the Express website: “The Indian Express’ report ‘The January night Raisina Hill was spooked: Two key Army units moved towards Delhi without notifying Govt’ has, as expected, prompted widespread reaction.

     

    “The report is a meticulous reconstruction and a very sober interpretation of the movement of two key Army units towards New Delhi on the night of January 16-17. Investigated over six weeks and written by Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta; Chief of Investigative Bureau Ritu Sarin and Deputy Editor and Chief of the National Bureau Pranab Dhal Samanta (with help from Assistant Editor in the Investigative Bureau Ajmer Singh), the report draws on highly credible sources.”

     

    “They have chosen to be anonymous and the newspaper is committed to protecting their identity. The Indian Express’ sent a detailed questionnaire to the Army and the Ministry of Defence and accurately reported their responses in the report. These responses were reiterated by them on Wednesday.” The note ends with: “And in the tradition of its commitment to journalism of courage and the readers’ right to know, it will continue its investigation into the events of January 16-17 and the questions these raise.”

     

    TV debates are often circumscribed by the need for bluster and “patriotism” of the sort that is worn on your sleeve is very common. Not a single panellist on Wednesday night could offer an explanation or even consider why a reputed newspaper would carry such a story without any proof. It is easy to understand that print journalists would be jealous of a scoop – though at a senior level you are expected to rise above that.

     

    It is also possible that “patriotism” even in the media means you have to draw a line somewhere about how much you can embarrass important institutions.

     

    I wonder. Jingoism which masquerades as love for your country is dangerous in any form. The job of the media is to ask uncomfortable questions. I find it very interesting that so many in the media are unable to ask the armed forces difficult questions.

     

    Members of governments and political parties are quizzed every night on TV. Why should anyone else be exempt?

     

    It seems apparent that there is a deep division between the army and the government. It is equally apparent that there are schisms within the army itself and different camps are batting for different generals. All this needs to be examined and exposed.

     

    There can be little doubt that the Indian Express has pushed a few boundaries and a few buttons here. TV is incapable of showing the depth to deal with this story. Let’s see how far print can take it.