Channel surfer
By
Randeep
Wadehra
As this piece is being readied
for submission the CNN-IBN anchor gestures towards the “sea of humanity” at the
Kumbh. “Today, it is Mauni Amavasya – an occasion for silent introspection” she
informs. Hmm…
But, both silence and
introspection are rare commodities on news TV, where hurt, hate and intolerance
made their presence felt last week. Like the Vishwaroopam controversy that
managed to manufacture hurt in miniscule pockets of Tamil Nadu… but enough to
halt the flick’s release in the state’s theatres. So, even as a cleric on Times
Now assiduously displayed his hurt psyche Arnab Goswami’s query whether he had
seen the movie brought him to a sputtering halt, albeit temporarily. While the sense
of hurt was being sorted out Kamal Haasan displayed his version of hurt psyche
which consisted such elements as the right to free expression, his “mortgaged”
property and following MF Hussain’s footsteps leading to exile abroad. Even as
decibel levels on various talk shows ascended, silence ensued when the movie
was released to packed house in Tamil Nadu.
But the transient nature of
silence manifested itself in the Pragaash (literally light or band of lights;
also from darkness to light – depending on the context). Even as the three-girl
band won the Battle of Bands in Kashmir, threats thundered across the
cyberspace, culminating in a fatwa from the Grand Mufti that silenced the three
children, triggering off rather raucous rows in news TV studios. Liberals and
secularists questioned the fatwa’s relevance and legitimacy; the fundamentalist
brigades peddled hate filled ideology. When one set talked of extremist excesses
in Kashmir the other raked up the Ayodhya issue… and then there was the
Dukhtaraan-e-Millat chief Aasia Andrabi, declaring on an Indian TV channel – on
Indian soil – that Kashmir was not a part of India. Arnab Goswami’s
tongue-clucking-finger-wagging response notwithstanding.
So, even as the Pragaash kids
fell silent, Praveen Togadia decided to make a high-decibel entry. He managed
to out Owaisi Akbaruddin Owaisi as far as hate and intolerance were concerned.
One is not sure of the damage done to India’s already frayed social fabric by
the fusillades fired by the two firebrand political rabble-rousers, but there
was a definite collateral damage in the form of hurt canine psyche.
Hate and hurt narratives are like
our Hindi TV soaps – episodic, predictable and seemingly never-ending. So, even
as these were being played out on the television screens BJP’s boss Rajnath
Singh triggered off a chain reaction by praising Modi in public. Taking this as
an endorsement, albeit informal, for Modi’s projection as PM candidate for the
2014 General Elections, the Sinha duo – Yashwant and Shatrughan – decided to
air their angst in public. Singh responded by issuing gag orders, which were
apparently not taken too seriously if one goes by what Maneka Gandhi, Ram
Jethmalani et al had to say on Modi’s candidature. Even as this cantata was
subsiding, the Rahul versus Modi debate started doing the rounds of various
news channels. So, once again, the 2002 Gujarat bloodbath was pitted against
the 1984 slaughter…
Just some stray reflections. Will
Malala Yousufzai’s appearance on TV last week and assertion of her resolve to
continue her campaign for spreading education among girls in Pakistan prove to
be the silver lining to those Talibanish dark clouds or merely a firefly waging
a futile war against the amavasya of ignorance and intolerance? Would the Pragaash girls summon enough
courage to prove the relevance of their band’s name? Will the sane society back
them? Finally, can the Allahabad Sangam’s holy rivers wash away all the Owaisi-Togadia
brand hate, hurt and intolerance? Hope they do.
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