Q & A PART III

Q 19 An odd question: which Indian newspaper do you read or I should ask which newspaper you find most trustworthy? You think our print and electronic media are still influenced by the ideologues of one political party?


Ans I completely agree with you that all newspapers and magazines are influenced , in some cases by political parties , in other cases by capitalist houses. [ HT is owned by Birla’s directly , others are influenced directly or indirectly].

I read 3 newspapers- The Hindu- it provides good news about the hardships India is facing , articles by p Sainath and Siddharth Vardarazan are good and give a good insight about the sorry state of affairs in Indian economics , rural affairs and international affairs too. However it is totally biased for CPI (M). it gave exactly opp news about nandigram , Muthanga, and now even about Chengara's Dalit-Adivasis protest. It gives wrong news about Russia and China internal affairs also. While it is clearly visible that both these countries are suffering from widening economic disparity , all policies are justified by Hindu.

http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat171008.htm
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2005/stories/20030314003603700.htm
http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/AR06/kerala.htm
http://infochangeindia.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=6698


I read Indian express- its ok newspaper. Third is the Times of India, which is more of a magazine than newspaper with its Page 3 articles and capitalist favoured policy as well as flavor. No wonder for it gay rights are much more important then farmer’s suicide. Still , I read it to get the “ other view”. So basically they all are just information sources , the final assessment is to be done through detailed study , in which sites like Wikipedia, www.concurrent.org, www.indiatogether.com , and various other can be very helpful as they discuss about the actual causes behind the problem and not just the touch therapy. Then definitely nothing better than the books by profound authors – you can start with Arundhati Roys books.

Finally I can say , though we are not in such a bad condition where electronic media has become a mouthpiece of rich corporations like in Italy and to some extent US, but even we are in dangerous situation. While electronic media , with its audio-visual effects has just become a thriller serial, there is no substantial serious news coverage left over there. Print media is struggling , but I think due to so many local papers , print media can always speak out truth in one way or the other. For us, internet can also be a good means.




Q 20. My last question is little different than the rest. You have done extensive research on Bhagat Singh. Could you please tell me why Bhagat Singh did not join Communist party of India despite sympathizing with communism as an ideology? And why CPI did not have any sympathy for Bhagat Singh? In fact, CPI and Bhagat Singh were poles apart, I hope you know.


Ans. Frankly I cant say clearly why they both didn’t recognize each other. Bhagat singhs ideas were revolutionary but in his lifetime he was not able to organize a very large party. To overcome this only, to prove that they are freedom fighters and not terrorists, Bhagat singh threw the bomb in assembly. It was only during his trials that people became aware of his ideals of universal brotherhood and equality. He gave a new direction to the communist movement of India, but he himself sacrificed his life in the process. Moreover, he believed In complete ouster of Britishers from India and establishment of a just society. I feel the CPI (Maoist) / Naxalites are somewhat working in the same direction.

CPI was more systematic in its approach. It has international support, good organization and intelligent thinkers. But what is lacked was that zeal which was there is Bhagat Singh and his comrades. They were not clear of their means to achieve the end, and fell into the temptation of joining politics to achieve their ends. However, with time the little zeal for a social change was diminished by the petty politics and enthusiasm to win more seats. No wonder, all those who wanted “real change’ like Charu Mazumdar parted their ways from CPI (M) and whatever is left today is an opportunistic party which is power hungry and kills its own people for capitalists. [ NANDIGRAM , SINGUR, Muthanga, Chengara] all are clear indications of a party with intelligent people but wrong ways. In no way they can claim to be working for the cause of social change, for the equality and upliftment of everyone.

Epilogue: thanks a lot for your questions, by answering them I have given answers to some of the questions brewing in my mind. I hope they will show something different from what you have seen and experienced uptill now. The things in today’s world are so complex and treacherous that it is very easy to fall prey to any rhetoric. To save ourselves we just have one tool; our thinking with logic and reasoning. What we should understand is no incident happens in its individuality; it has long chain of events preceding it and will have long events following it. Before coming to a hasty conclusion we should cater for all these factors because then only we can realize any incident in its true context.