HINDUTVA-MEDIA DIALOGUE

BREAKING THE ICE

Photo: Shri Shantha Kumar lighting a lamp to inaugurate the Hindutva-Media dialogue. Also seen are S Gurumurthy, A Suryaprakash, Tarun Vijay and Chandan Mitra.

Preface

At last it really took place

Ever since Lord Macualay’s minutes culminated in the creation of Indians who are British in “taste, morals and opinions”, there has been a battle royal between indigenous Indians and English speaking Indians.

The divide is best seen in the context of Hindutva. It seems as if the media reserves its best space for criticizing Hinduism in its most negative form. With the media at its polemical best with swear words like communal at its disposal, the Hindutva side has often been at a loss to explain its position. There cannot be a much greater communication gap.

Why does the media hate Hindutva so much? Why have the Hindutva protagonists failed to convince the media about the genuineness of their purpose and the harmless nature of their work? What are the dynamics behind this divide?

In order to bridge this divide, the Hindutva-Media dialogue was envisaged.

The presence of Mr. Shantha Kumar – the Editor and Proprietor of Deccan Herald and Prajavani – two of the largest selling dailies in the State – encouraged us in this direction

The dialogue did take off. While S Gurumurthy in his key note address asked both the sides (media and hindutva) to connect the bridge, Shantha Kumar replied that the media was neutral and was not singling out the Hindutva forces for attack.

Udaya TV host Deepak Thimmaiya and Mass Communication Professor Varadesh Hirigange defended the media’s stand against Hindutva. They were of the opinion that the media hates Hindutva because Hindutva deserved it. There was so much division and negativity in the Hindu society that the media is very much justified in criticizing Hindutva, they averred.

The next session saw two senior journalists A Suryaprakash and Tarun Vijay lambasted the media for its hypocrisies. They said that the media had failed in its duties to report the truth. They also said that the media was too much prejudices against hindutva and that they were not reporting the alarming truths about the minority communities in India.

Sri Chandan Mitra – the editor of Pioneer and Rajya Sabha member – in his valedictory address summed up the dynamcs of Media-Hindutva divide. He said that the left-liberal journalists had made it a fashion throughout the world to align itself on the side of the minority and criticize the majority community. In India, the extension of this lobby made it mandatory to brand the hindutva forces as antediluvian, medieval and hence reprehensible. He said that most of the journalists were afraid as being branded as “pro-RSS or pro-Hindu”. That is exactly the reason, why most of the journalists are not prepared for a dialogue, he said.

Students and media persons took part actively in the dialogue. All the nearly 200 seats were full from the beginning of the inaugural address to the valedictory address prompting Mr. Mitra to say that the Dialogue was success for just this reason. He said that in most of the seminars, people leave the venue after the inaugural address. However, it is very rare to see such a seminar where people are glued to the seat for nearly 8 hours a stretch (barring lunch and coffee break).

Yes, the dialogue was success. However, it must be said that we did have our share of problems. We did wish that Saeed Naqvi who was supposed to be our main speaker made it to the function. We did wish that the programme was smoother and the dialogue was even more sophisticated. All in all, a start was made. We think that is a achievement in itself.

I hope more dialogues will follow and a clarity of purpose will emerge out of these dialogues. When mind and heart meets, there is harmony. Only in harmony, will there be progress.

Welcome to Media-Hindutva

Intention of this blog is to discuss issues related hindutva published in Media. You can read our first post about a historical dialogue held at Bangalore. Please wait till we post the detailed report of the dialogue.
We need your opinion. Do you think there is a gap between media and Hindutva? Is it necessary to have a bridge? If yes, how we can bridge?

Please discuss...

Hindutva-Media Dialogue Kicks off

There is a disconnect: S Gurumurthy * Bridge it if it is there: Shantha Kumar
Bangalore, 24-9-2006: The best of the brains from both the sides were indeed there at a dialogue organized by Vishwa Samvada Kendra to facilitate a smooth dialogue between Hindutva and Media.
While Hindutva ideologue S Gurumurthy explained that there was a communication gap that needed to bridged, Media baron Shantha Kumar claimed that the media was by and large neutral. However, he said that convergence was in the best interest of the society and humanity at large.
About the event: The Key note address was delivered by S Gurumurthy while S Shantha Kumar delivered the inaugural address. The next session saw Udaya TV anchor Deepak Thimmaiah and Prof. Varadesh Hirigange explaining the media version against Hindutva. The third session of the day had senior journalists A Suryaprakash and Tarun Vijay explaining the Hindutva version against the media. Chandan Mitra (Editor of the Pioneer and Rajyasabha Member) delivered the valedictory address summing up the Media-Hindutva dialogue.
What the Speakers said:
S Gurumurthy gave a strong case on why both media and Hindutva have to do a serious introspection for the disconnect that has set in. He criticized the media for the trivialization of serious issues. He also accused the Hindutva camp for not being strategic enough and focused in presenting their point of view. However, he went on to say that the mental disconnect was because of mental blocks on the part of both sides. The Media is still stuck in outdated ideas like Secularism and dialectic materialism. He said both the concepts are irrelevant from the Indian angle. He also accused the media of selective amnesia, in that certain genocides like the Bangla were ignored, while small cases of violences were magnified. He asked the Hindutva camp to emulate Kautilya and Bhishma. Be strategic and learn to control your emotions was his key words to the Hindutva camp.
Shantha Kumar – the proprietor/editor of Deccan Herald and Prajavani – said he was pleasantly surprised for being invited to a talk by the Hindutva camp. However, he maintained that the media was by and large neutral and there was very little truth in the charges that the media was unfair to hindutva forces. His contention was that media was critical of not just hindutva, but it was equally critical about corruption, Congress misrule and any other issues. However, he said that the power of the media has also increased multifold in the recent year and added that the dialogue was welcome if it was really intended to remove any cases of disconnect. He said that any attempts to resolve problems through dialogues was always welcome.
In the second session, Varadesh Hirigange and Deepak Thimmaiah gave out the media version of Hindutva, while Tarun Vijay and A Suryaprakash gave out the Hindutva version against the media.
Summing up the Hindutva Media dynamics
Shri Chandan Mitra summed up the Hindutva Media dynamics in his own inimitable style. He said that the left liberal journalists had created an atmosphere where nationalism and Hindutva were dirty words. He also said that all the journalists had the fear of being branded as pro-hindutva. The fear of losing jobs or being branded is at the center of this relationship. Mutual suspicion is the name of this relationship, he said. He hoped that further dialogues would bridge the disconnect between the powerful forces which cannot be ignored anymore.
There were question and answer sessions after each talk.