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by B. Raman
(
October 15, 2012, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) October 14,2012, was a sad day
for Shri Salman Khurshid, India’s Law Minister, and the “India Today” group ,
which owns a number of print journals and TV channels.
2.A
non-governmental humanitarian trust for assisting physically disadvantaged
people with which his wife Ms.Louise is reportedly associated has been the
target of allegations of wrongful use of funds amounting to about eight million
rupees sanctioned by the Government for humanitarian relief.
3.A
Hindi TV channel of the “India Today” group and the India Against
Corruption (IAC) group headed by Shri Arvind Kejriwal, a non-governmental
activist, seeking to enter politics by highlighting instances of political
corruption have been spearheading the campaign against Shri Khurshid on these
allegations against the humanitarian trust.
4.The
two campaigns have been trying to project themselves as separate from each
other without any orchestrated co-ordination, but an undeclared, but evident
convergence of objective between the two is discernible to any objective
observer. That objective is to exploit the suspected misuse of the funds to
cause public discomfiture to Shri Khurshid .
5.
The agenda of the IAC against Shri Khurshid is obvious. Shri Khurshid as the
Law Minister was in the forefront of a group of Ministers of the Dr.Manmohan
Singh Government which had mounted a spirited public defence of Shri Robert
Vadra, the husband of Ms.Priyanka Gandhi and son-in-law of Mrs.Sobnia Gandhi,
the Congress President, who has been accused by the IAC group of
accumulating huge wealth beyond his known sources of income. The IAC group is
trying to use the allegations against the humanitarian trust for discrediting
Shri Khurshid and disabling him from defending Shri Vadra. The agenda of the
“India Today” group in its campaign is not clear to me.
6.
A campaign whose objective should have been to ensure that public funds meant
for humanitarian relief of the physically disadvantaged are properly used
for their benefit has been submerged in an overall political campaign to weaken
the credibility of the Law Minister and add to the public anger against the
Congress and the Government of Dr.Manmohan Singh.
7.
The allegations against the Trust are very sensitive from the point of view of
the likely impact on the public mind. Any allegation or suspicion that the
physically disadvantaged were sought to be exploited for individual financial
benefit will go to the heart of any right-thinking person.
8.
Shri Khurshid is a highly sophisticated Minister and individual with a
sophisticated mind. He should have immediately realised the implications of the
likely public impact of the allegations and taken action to establish the
truth. The proper course of action for him would have been to step aside from
the post of Law Minister by either resigning or asking the Prime Minister to
transfer the portfolio to another Minister and to order an impartial
enquiry into the allegations.
9.
Instead, Shri Khurshid got involved in an unedifying and undignified slanging
match with the IAC and “India Today” groups. His Press Conference on October
14, which was totally unnecessary, was a spectacle of outbursts of anger and
intimidation unworthy of him.
10.The
equally unworthy behaviour of the IAC group is understandable because of the
political ambitions of Shri Kejriwal. What is not understandable is the
unworthy and unprofessional behaviour of the “India Today” group in this
controversy. One had never seen such media viciousness as one saw in the
behaviour of this group.
11.
A highly reputed and highly admired journalist member of the “India
Today” family kept disseminating gleeful Tweets from the Press Conference about
the discomfiture being caused to Shri Khurshid and about the way he was making
a spectacle of himself through his self-righteous outpourings.
12.
In a brilliant article in the “Hindustan Times” of October 13,2012, Ms.Barkha
Dutt, Group Editor of NDTV, who is presently on a three-month fellowship to the
Brown University of the US to write a book, has drawn attention to the
phenomenon and perceptions of bias in the conventional media and the
counter-bias in Net-based new media and social media networks.
13.
Bias has always been there in Indian journalism since we became independent in
1947. This has become aggravated due to the growing polarisation of the Indian
society. What is new is the growing viciousness in the Indian media. We saw an
example of such viciousness directed against Shri Khurshid on October 14,2012.
14. There is a need for an introspection by the Indian
media over the direction in which it has been going.
(The writer is Additional Secretary
(retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently,
Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai
Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter @SORBONNE75)
 October 14,2012, was a sad day for Shri Salman Khurshid, India...){kind=link}