No outrage over train, police station burnt in Andhra Pradesh: West Bengal remains BJP, right-wing's target till Assembly elections

This photo on the left shows a train in flames.

That's Ratnachal Express, which was set afire at Tuni railway station in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

The videos are even more scary. Not just the coaches were burnt, police station and police vehicles were also set afire but there has been 'NO OUTRAGE'.

I am forced to write this because an incident in West Bengal--ruckus at a police station and attempt to set it afire, is blown out of proportions and treated as the single biggest threat for national security, for weeks.

LINKS: Train, police station set afire in AP and VIDEO of police station being set afire

But an incident of much higher magnitude--an entire train burnt is not, and is simply ignored. There is no round the clock reporting, no reporters sent from Delhi, no political delegations visiting AP, unlike what we saw in West Bengal.

The number of policemen injured is also many times more, than in Malda. However, Arnab Goswami is not at all agitated. So is Rahul Kanwal. Hindi TV channels are also silent.

The aim of this post is just to show how a pin that drops in West Bengal would be a national security threat, but if a pole falls elsewhere, it would be ignored. The reason is that BJP wants to win election in 'West Bengal'.

It [the BJP] just knows one way to win election--by communal polarisation, riots and creating religious divide. It has perfected it in the last three decades. So official machinery, its IT team, its online army, everybody is out to blow things out of proportions in states that are going to polls--Assam, West Bengal and later, UP.

Also, states where BJP or its allies rule, won't see negative reporting. So governments in states like Bihar would be the target. There will be no outrage over Manawar [Dhar] in MP but there will be national outrage over 'Malda' and 'Burdwan'.

READ: Manufactured rage, BJP's Project WB: From Burdwan to Malda, selective outrage

Bihar court blast not termed terrorist act: Urgent need to stop distinguishing crimes on the basis of culprit's religion

On Friday, a blast in a court in Bihar led to two deaths and 17 persons getting injured. 

But wasn't termed a terror act, either by the police or the media. Reason?

Immediately after the blast, it was clear that the woman responsible for the act, did not fit into the 'criterion' (she was not a Muslim*). 

So it is just a 'crime' and won't be labelled as an act of 'terrorism', which would have led to round the clock coverage, talks about modules and Bihar becoming particular organisation's den or about handlers.

Cops say, 'no terror link'. What does that mean? Journos also parrot the same line. In a way its good that there is no scare, no panic caused through mass media. There are no indiscriminate arrests and detentions.

TV channels didn't stop other stories to show the incident for hours and hold panel discussions, there is no NIA teams rushing there, no senior spymaster's visit (unlike in Bardwan where no one was killed), papers just reporting it plainly without screaming headlines. 

The coverage of crimes in media and TV should also be balanced and similar. That reporters on National Security Beat would suddenly get active and start holding forth just because a crime is committed by a Muslim but ignore and pretend as if nothing has happened, if there is no Muslim connection, shows their hollowness and lack of professional ethics.

Real terror in public mind is created through coverage and by distinguishing acts of crime as 'crime' and 'terror'. All incidents of crime should be dealt with equal toughness, but without distinguishing the ideological motive or religion of culprits. 

Two posts on this blog on the same topic. How to defeat terror and stop getting terrorised, and the role of media in the entire issue.

[*Police identified the woman killed in Ara civil court as Rina Gaud of Ballia district in UP. She was known to 2009 Ara court blast convict Lambu Sharma, who escaped from custody after the explosion along with another rpsinoer on Friday. Reported Indian Express on January 25, 2015 ]

READ: 80 including 29 children killed in Bodo outfit's attack in Assam but this is not Terror

READ: Media's hysteric coverage leads to worldwide panic, just one madman enough to scare us?

Ten recent terror attacks hushed up in media: Double standards, glaring biases in reporting acts of terrorism

It is unbelievable but true. At least, ten major acts of terrorism occurred recently that were either ignored or hushed up in media. At the end of this post, there is a list of all these incidents.

None of them were carried prominently in newspapers and TV channels. Forget, hours of debates in studios or follow-ups for days in print media, some of these cases were not considered to be worth a 'flash' in Electronic media.

It is not just about news from North East getting neglected. Some of these incidents occurred in big states like Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh. In fact, one of the incident was near Chief Minister's bungalow. But did you even see a 'ticker' on your TV screen?

Six persons were killed in blasts near Nuclear plant at Koodankulam. Imagine, what can be bigger in terms of threat to national security? But it failed to interest TV channels. Papers didn't carry it on Page 1. Further, more explosives were found during the search later. 

But there was attempt to even report this news. For a country that has witnessed horrors of an industrial disaster like Bhopal gas tragedy, it was surely very serious. But the few papers that carried news on inside pages, diluted by terming bombs as 'low-intensity' even though six persons had been killed.

Often incidents in which no one has died is termed 'terror attack' but these incidents were not dubbed as 'aatanki hamla'. In the reports in newspapers, the words were carefully chosen. Often words like 'militant' were also missing.

Instead, one could find 'rebel' or 'insurgent'. In sharp contrast, there are incidents, when even 'suspected persons' were arrested for a possible crime, but they were termed Terrorist. Why? Just because in these cases, none of the extremist outfit had any Muslim connection? These are double standards in media that are really worrying.

Unfortunately, other incidents in which a Muslim person is either involved or suspected to be involved, are repeated for day. There is immense speculative reporting, followups and so much coverage--real and imaginary about links of suspects, that it creates scare in the mid of citizens.

No wonder, the image of one community is affected badly. Propaganda does a lot of harm. It injects hate in society.

The majority of the people form their opinion on the basis of what they see.

All terror acts must evoke similar reaction, should be treated with the same contempt and stern action.

There should not be any differentiation in reporting on 'blasts'. But this practice of not calling an incident as 'terror' and not the other even if the magnitude of latter is similar or higher, is unfortunate.

The stereotype of a particular group or section being terrorist is reinforced.
Can our media introspect? Will citizens realise it?

If an incident is repeated for days on TV and a scare is created, [while others hushed up] then it is also wrong. It helps the terrorists as their aim is always to divide society and create panic.

Unfortunately, the politicians-executive-courts-activists haven't taken note of these dubious practices in Indian journalism. What gets reported is seen and is believed. When other destructive acts are diluted, hushed up or ignored, then in public perception is clearly being manipulated--knowing or unknowingly, I don't know.

THE TEN INCIDENTS IN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS IN INDIA

1. Five policemen were killed when the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) 'rebels' 'ambushed' a police vehicle in South Garo hills. A group of 25 militants lobbed hand grenades before opening fire at police. Now what was the headline: 'Cops shot dead in Garo Hills'. [November 5] See the LINK

2. Six persons were killed in Assam when 'militants' opened fire on a group of people on the day of Diwali. The incident occurred in Assam's Goalpara. The 'armed insurgents' swooped...and randomly fired with automatic weapons. The names of the victims is Bhola Nath, Amarendra, Jayanta, Puran, Kalpanath and L Rabha. [November 4]

3. Twin blasts occurred near Chief Minister's residence in Imphal, the capital of Manipur. Initial reports said that two persons died and seven others injured. Later, the figure of deaths went up to t hree These were IED blasts. The newspaper reports said that no 'insurgent' outfit has taken responsibility. [October 31]. LINK

4. Five persons injured in blast near a market complex in Manipur [October 30]

5. Seven persons were killed in a blast by suspected Maoists in Aurangabad in Bihar. A private vehicle in which they were travelling was blown up by a landmine. [October 17]

6. Three commandos killed and four others injured in a blats that was followed by indiscriminate firing by suspected left-wing extremists in Gadhchiroli in Maharashtra. [October 17]

7. Two BSF jawans and a civilian driver were killed when Maoists blew up their vehicles in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh

8. In an audacious incident, three GRP jawans were shot dead and two others injured, in attack on a running train in Bihar's Munger district [November 30]

9. SIX killed in blasts near nuclear plant at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu. LINK

10. Maoists massacred seven police officials in a landmine explosion in Bihar [December 3]

There are many other incidents like Naxalites issuing open threat to kill BJP leadeship in Bihar. Just think, how other such threats or even anonymous emails get attention in media. LINK



[I have written a lot of posts on this issue earlier also on this issue, HERE]

Media black out of protests during Narendra Modi's visit to Karnataka signals bad for Indian media, opposing views must not be muzzled

BJP leader Narendra Modi was recently in Karnataka as part of his ongoing nationwide tours to address rallies in different parts of the country.

No doubt, there was enthusiasm among Modi's fans in Bangalore [now Bengaluru]. He does have a strong support among sections of the society.

Definitely, as a Prime Minister [PM] aspirant, he should get the due coverage.

But surprisingly, TV channels and newspapers turned a blind eye towards the demonstrations against him. These protests were also quite colourful. Some people had dressed in black as a mark of protest and some others had placards in their hands with messages in English [ like Modi, Go Back] and Kannada.

While his rally was reported at length in print and electronic media, the dozen odd groups and organisations ranging from farmers to Dalits, communists to Karnataka's local organisations, which held the demonstrations, were not shown at all.

That's not fair journalism. Ignoring protesters who are against Narendra Modi's politics or BJP, should have been given a few seconds in the TV coverage.

Even just a photo or a single column news in English or vernacular newspapers would have shown that journalists are showing both sides.

But this near total blackout raises serious questions. Its not healthy for our society either. Fortunately, among the 25-30 channels, there are still one or two which show the OTHER SIDE. Else, we don't get the view of those who are NOT IN LINE.

I must say that there were lakhs at the venue to hear Modi speak. But the hundreds or few thousands with an alternative voice should also be heard and seen. There was nothing in the news on the particular day about these protests.

I waited, even the next day, nothing came out in print or on TV. Journalists shouldn't take sides. They should report things and present both the sides of the picture. Already, there are disturbing reports about how owners in certain TV channels have told their employers to stop doing 'critical stories' about Modi.

At a recent rally in another state capital, the attendance was thin. Barely, 10% of the ground was full. Still, TV cameras just focused on the portion that had crowd. It was Narendra Modi rally and hence they didn't apparently want to show the lack of crowd.

Why? Isn't that a news? The next day some journalists did write about it on blogs and papers. But it was strange to see how cameramen didn't focus on the empty ground or talking about just 5,000-7,000 participants in the public meeting.

There is also clear instruction in this regard to Editorial staff in certain major TV channels.

If Indian citizens want to vote for him, they will surely do this. But media mustn't lose its objectivity. If there is a wave, it will be visible.

Journalists don't need to create it or stop reporting the opposing views. That's why media is considered a pillar of democracy. Isn't it?

[These are photographs of the protests against Narendra Modi in Bengaluri, Karnataka on the day of his rally]