Did Media fail to see the Writings on the Wall?

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” 
― Pablo Neruda

In the backdrop of the election results, I would like to analyze how the media has fulfilled its basic responsibility i.e. to unfold the truth. At the outset of a clear wave, the media has deliberately failed to deliver their basic function, either by hiding the obvious, or by giving the partial information. In most of the North and western states the media has projected that there is an even battle between the NDA and the opposition. I do not subscribe to the criticism that many channels and news papers publish “paid news”, but believe that all the hype was created to increase the TRP and to maintain continued interest. People likes suspense dramas and melodramas rather than known ending.

 The greatest hype was created in Bihar where there was a three way battle between the NDA, the UPA and the JD (U). The media has written off the JD(U) at the starting itself. Initially most of the media have predicted a landslide for the BJP. But as the election dates are approached, they have created a photo finish competition as they started telling about a MY (Muslim-Yadav) combination gaining momentum. ND TV has spoken about “The Muslim-Yadav combination is triggering a RJD comeback in Bihar”. I would like to quote from the article “The Muslim-Yadav (MY) combine is also working well in Madhubani and Darbhanga, two seats which the BJP had won in 2009. (Lalu Prasad confident of his party's victory says, 'no Modi wave in Bihar')”. But the final results show that both the constituencies went to BJP. Prabhat P Ghosh, director of the Asian Development Research Institute, a think-tank in Patna has categorically denied any Modi wave in Bihar, in an interview with Business Standard. Irrespective of all this posturing NDA have won 31 out of 40 seats in Bihar, which any journalist could have seen, but purposefully hidden from the public.

Even in Uttar Pradesh, where there was clear wave, the media hid the fact from the people. According to media except in western UP, because of the riots of Muzaffarnagar, all the other constituencies it was a tough fight. Times of India has even gone to the extent of making BSP the dark horse in UP. They have given headlines such as “BJP surges ahead, Maya may be dark horse”, “BSP may emerge as kingmaker in Delhi” indicated either the lack of professional wisdom or mere contempt for professional ethics media possess these days. The First Post, infamous for writing articles based on the political affiliations of the journalist has written in an article

BSP may emerge as kingmaker in Delhi

The question that needs asking is that if a number of non-Dalit voters who were not all Muslims and were therefore caste Hindus ignored the BJP and the SP and plumbed for the BSP even though it was the year of its anti-incumbency, including on seats where it was clearly not a likely winner, why would such voters desert her in an election when the SP, the state's governing party that replaced Mayawati's rule two years ago, stands wholly discredited?

How can the journalists clearly miss the mark when the result was so obvious? It can be concluded that they are either inept or don’t possess professional skills which made them blinded.

The same case happened in Karnataka, Delhi, Rajasthan and many other states.

NDTV on April 12 has published an article which said there was a neck and neck race between Congress and BJP in the state. But when the final results were announced BJP romped home with a comfortable tally of 17 seats.

Delhi, which BJP swept also, was projected as a state where AAP is was giving a tough fight to BJP. Many polls and news reports have shown different vote share projections, caste equations and Muslim consolidation, in order to sell the idea of a tough fight, but eventually BJP has won it all with a 43% vote share.

Finally it is interesting to quote some news reports which portray that there is no Modi Wave even if BJP would win the elections. Many so called journalists were very reluctant to give Modi and BJP its due compliments. Saber-rattling was started well before the elections. Hasan Suroor had written in an article published by the First Post, “Sorry BJP, Exit Poll Reveal there is no Modi Wave. His argument was that it can only be considered as a wave only if BJP could get more than 350 seats. What the journalist missed here was that the phenomenal rise of BJP even in states where they didn’t have proper organizational structure like UP and Assam. People have whole-heartedly voted for an individual, who they thought will find some solace to their problems such as scams, price rise, unemployment etc, by developing a road map towards development and prosperity. People have accepted his slogan “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”!

Hofstede’s Masculinity Dimension – and its Implications

I have no doubt in my mind to lament that India is a Masculine Country. I truly believe majority of Indian do not treat weak with respect. Superficially we may speak about our culture, but in reality we don’t care about the under-privileged. Do we respect our women? How can we otherwise explain the atrocities against women inside and outside house-hold? A recent study revealed that more than 60% are abused at home. And they are not safe at work place, at public places etc as well. Recent utterances of politicians like Mulayam Singh, and the likes clearly reflect the chauvinistic tendencies of our society. I have seen men occupy seats reserved for women, in public utility services and not even bothered to vacate even after the request. And in most of such cases the fellow passengers display a passive attitude towards the hapless victim by not coming to their rescue. I would like to quote media reports that certain flight operators show blatant disregard to passengers with certain physical disabilities.

A typical scene in Delhi's Metro: Young men brazenly occupy seats reserved for women. Photo by: Malini Kochupillai

Now my next question is how do we treat our kids? The kids are conditioned to match the wavelength of parents. Severe punishment and mental torture are meted out to children to program them so that they will be obedient, and acceptable to the expectations of the society. When I see the techniques use to train a dog, or any other animals, I feel almost same techniques are being used to condition our small kids. But one thing we fail to understand is that almost all social breakthroughs are achieved because of out-of-the-box thinking. And robots or animal have never brought about any social changes! So my suggestion is that we need to allow our children as independent individuals who can break all the barriers and can create a foot print of theirs. But also parents cannot escape from the responsibility of grooming the kids by giving him some advice on the reality of the world and some on universal truths.

The points I put forwarded will answer the question, why a Hindu boy born to his Hindu parents continue to live as a Hindu. Same is the case with a Christian, Muslim, Parsi, and Sikh etc. Now people may question about how people change religion. Change of religion happen only through a higher level of de-conditioning. Also motive is very important in this situation. That is why a large time is spent by religious preachers to brainwash people to join their religion. Also I have seen, in a lot of cases, preachers don’t allow the new converts to mingle with their old pals. Once the de-conditioning and subsequent conditioning is complete only when will they be “liberated to the world” which is vicious and sin full! So at micro level behavior is shaped by family grooming. At macro-level it’s shaped by culture and societal expectations. And society as a group tends to have two different dimensions, when it deals with its weaker section (physically or individually). These dimensions are namely Masculinity and Feminity respectively. Some culture tends to respect and protect its weak better than the others. I.e. the degree of both varies in a continuum with two dimensions at the extreme.

Unfortunately the so-called religions are trying to strengthen such dimensions like Masculinity. I can give good number of examples when a lot of influential religious heads with substantial following give discourses which propagate a belief “the survival of the fittest”. And no more one can depend on the religious leaders to purify such social evil. In modern days it’s the responsibility of the Governments to bring in fool proof systems so that such undesirable trends are not prevalent in our civil society. And sometimes it may have to take a stand against the majority, when the majority choose a path which is not ethically right!