MxMIndia

Tag: Malini Parthasarathy

  • Family feuds and a game of musical chairs is not new to the Chennai media giant

    Another squabble @ The Hindu: Exit: Malini Parthasarathy, Enter: Nirmala Lakshman

     

     

    By Our Staff

     

    For a newspaper as sedate and propah as The Hindu, there is some heavyduty boardroom activity that forever keeps happening at the Mount Road (now Anna Salai), Chennai-headquartered media giant. Mount Road Mahavishnu is what The Hindu was called by old-timers. Perhaps it’s not politically/ideologically correct to call it that today.

    So the news is known: Malini Parthasarathy, stepped down as Chairperson at the Board’s meeting on Monday (June 5) upon nearing the completion of her three-year term. But she did so via a Tweet. People close to the powers that be in The Hindu were of course aware that a change was set to be announced.

    Soon enough, the The Hindu announced the appointment of Nirmala Lakshman as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited (THGPPL) for a term of three years. The decision the report notes, was unanimous. The announcement is also frontpaged in papers on Tuesday (June 6).

    Nirmala Lakshman is a doctorate in post-modern literature and brings with her more than four decades of experience as an editor, writer, and strategist for The Hindu’s various publications. In her years as Joint Editor of The Hindu, she led the re-launch of several feature sections and the creation of new ones, such as ‘The Hindu Literary Review’, ‘Young World’, and ‘The Hindu in School’. She is the founder and curator of Lit for Life, The Hindu’s literary festival. Ms. Lakshman served as the Chairperson of Kasturi Media Limited (KML), publishers of The Hindu Tamil Thisai.”

    The challenge for Lakshman though is not going to be in the features department that she is doubtless a pro at. It’s the news department where there is a challenge. The Hindu editorial thinktank (N Ram essentially) is not known to be positively disposed towards the BJP regime, and although Tamil Nadu has always seen a unique blend of regional politics, it’s key for the powers that be in Delhi to not have a print major like Hindu oppose it.

    Back to the report, which added: “The Board of Directors of THGPPL placed on record its appreciation of Ms Malini Parthasarathy’s contributions to the Group and its publications as well as the efficient way in which she led the deliberations and proceedings at the Board level. The Board expressed confidence that Ms Lakshman, with her qualifications and experience, would succeed in fulfilling the responsibility that comes with her new position.”

     

    Earlier, a statement by Parthasarathy, went viral: “My term as Chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing ends. However, I have also resigned from the Board of the THGPPL as I find the space and scope for my editorial views shrinking. My entire endeavour as Chairperson and Director, Editorial Strategy was to ensure that The Hindu Group revives its legacy of fair and unbiased reporting. Also my efforts were to free our narrative from entrenched ideological bias. Since I find the scope for my efforts has narrowed, I have decided to move on. I thank all my well-wishers and friends who have supported this challenging journey.”

     

    According to the grapevine, and also reported in some media, Parthasarathy wanted the position of Editorial Director, but that wasn’t found in favour of the Board. There is another view that Parthasarathy has been seen to be not dramatically opposed to the Narendra Modi regime. She posted a picture with him, something that came as a surprise to given that she is the editor of a left-of-centre publication like The Hindu. More recently, she consoled former Indian Express strongman and RSS ideologue S Gurmurthy’s lambast of a Hindu story on the sengol controversy. N Ram, who is the editorial face of the paper, aggressively backed the report.

     

    But, then, The Hindu-watchers know that the current developments don’t mean anything much. Parthasarathy could well be back in the saddle after three years, or nine-and-a-half.

     

  • Ranjona Banerji is looking for a cogent explanation from India's brave media on why the policy has to begin on June 21

    No Vaccine against Media Stupidity

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Ranjona BanerjiOn June 7, 2021, at 5 pm, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation. After several self-congratulatory statements, he then announced that his government was now going to reverse his early COVId19 vaccination policy of letting the states fend for themselves and begin a centralised policy. Not from today, June 8, 2021 but from June 21, International Yoga Day.

     

     

    This is The Telegraph, Kolkata, front page, June 8, 2021:

    “Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced a centralised vaccine policy, taking the corrective measure after a countrywide outcry and a Supreme Court observation that the government’s policy was “arbitrary and irrational”.

    https://epaper.telegraphindia.com/imageview_363137_163320780_4_71_08-06-2021_1_i_1_sf.html

     

     

    Then there’s Navika Kumar of Times Now, in a tweet sent out at 11.26 pm on June 7, 2021, which she has since deleted. The tweet claimed: “I’m being told that reverting to centralised procurement policy for vaccines was on the @narendramodi @PMOIndia table on June 1. A detailed presentation & his ok was inked on the same day. SC hearing was on June 2. Over to the Opposition.”

     

    You can be kind and say she was misinformed. Or you can be real and know that Kumar is one of the leaders of the “pro-Modi at any cost” brigade. She is correct to the extent that the Supreme Court did call the Centre’s vaccine policy for 18 to 44 year olds “arbitrary and irrational” on June 2, 2021.

     

    However, it is also true that on May 31, 2021, while the hearing on the Centre’s vaccine policy was on in the Supreme Court, Justice Dy Chandrachud said to the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, “I was reading the Constitution. Article 1 says that Bharat is a Union of States. When the Constitution says that, then we follow the federal rule. The Government of India has to procure the vaccines and distribute it. Individual states are left in a lurch.”

     

    There is no ambivalence here.

     

    Only the equivocation of Modi’s pets in media who cannot for the life of them question this government on anything. Even when the lives of so many Indians are at stake.

     

    Navika Kumar’s programme on the night of June 7, 2021 was about absconding jeweller Mehul Choksi and how the Modi government was going to get him back to India, rah-rah!

     

    Who can blame her?

     

    How about the venerable Hindu?

     

    Malini Parthasarathy, member of the owning family, sometime editor and currently Chairperson of the Hindu group, tweeted that she felt that the Prime Minister’s decision for a centralised vaccine policy was “excellent and time-sensitive”. As it turns out, the Twitter handle @RURALINDIA, revealed to us that Parthasarathy had also called the Centre’s decision to leave vaccine procurement to the states “sensible”.

    Meanwhile, while we understand that Parthasarathy believes that whatever the prime minister does is sensible even when his actions are directly contradictory, The Hindu published a fact check, which found that, to put it bluntly, Narendra Modi’s several claims on India’s vaccination history in his 5 pm address to the nation on June 7, 2021 was riddled with lies.

     

    “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Friday presented a view of India’s vaccination history that is at odds with the facts. “If you look at the history of vaccinations in India, whether it was a vaccine for smallpox, hepatitis B or polio, you will see that India would have to wait decades for procuring vaccines from abroad. When vaccination programmes ended in other countries, it wouldn’t have even begun in our country,” claimed Mr. Modi in his address.

     

    “India, even before Independence, was among the countries that indigenously manufactured vaccines almost years within they were discovered, historical records suggest.

     

    “While there have been several challenges to the uptake of vaccines, their availability was the least of the problems.”

    https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/news-analysis-history-shows-india-did-not-lack-access-to-vaccines-as-claimed-by-pm-modi/article34758021.ece

     

    I have still to find a cogent explanation from India’s brave media on why Modi’s great policy – does anyone remember the Tika Utsav minus any tikas from a few weeks ago? – has to begin on June 21, 2021.

     

    I know the answer from reading between the lines. We do not have sufficient vaccines to start today.

     

    However, this analysis in The Wire lays bare several of the contradictions and lies in Modi’s new policy:

    https://thewire.in/government/modi-forced-to-change-tack-but-new-vaccine-policy-still-promotes-inequity-and-inefficiency

     

    That so many influential sections of India’s media will still allow Modi to get away with lies and prefer to roll in the muck, shows us the extent to which we have sunk. India’s current COVID19 figures may be not as bad as they were two weeks ago but we have still lost too many, and too many still struggle. As the Supreme Court, the Opposition, members of the public have all pointed out, the current mess is on the Centre and it has not gone away.

     

    This article from the BBC revisits the suffering in UP.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-india-57383131

     

    The next few days will tell us which members of the Modi Bhakt Media are on their toes with the Modi Government’s vaccine procurement policies. Don’t hold your breath!

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia every Tuesday and Friday. Her views here are personal.