Aamir Liaquat Hussain: Pakistan's shock televangelist dies at 49 | By Simon Fraser - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61745508 One of Pakistan's most prominent and contentious TV hosts, Aamir Liaquat Hussain, has died aged 49 after being found unconscious at home in Karachi. The anchor was taken to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. A post mortem exam is being carried out. Aamir Liaquat Hussain switched from televangelism to politics, becoming an MP for Imran Khan's PTI party. His career was dogged by controversy - he gave babies to childless couples on TV and was banned for hate speech. The outspoken anchor was married three times - and was currently in the midst of a controversy after his latest marriage broke up publicly and acrimoniously. His third wife, 18-year-old Dania Shah divorced him last month, prompting Hussain to announce publicly that he planned to leave Pakistan. Pakistani television show host Aamir Liaquat Hussain (R) distributes gifts to the audience during an Islamic quiz showImage source, AFP Image caption, Aamir Liaquat Hussain was known for his TV giveaways Aamir Liaquat Hussain, who worked for many of Pakistan's leading media houses over his career, was undoubtedly popular with a section of the population but many others found him highly divisive. An eloquent speaker and a great showman who guaranteed ratings, his broadcasts were well scripted, and included religious sermons - as well as frequent abuse. There were regular complaints from those whom the televangelist named and shamed publicly on his programme. He would accuse people of acts such as blasphemy, treachery or fornication. In September 2008, he dedicated an entire programme to exploring the beliefs of the Ahmadis, a sect who identify themselves as Muslim and follow the teachings of the Koran but are regarded by orthodox Muslims as heretical. In it, two scholars said that anyone who associated with false prophets was "worthy of murder". Within 24 hours of the broadcast, a prominent member of the Ahmadi community was shot dead in the small town of Mirpur Khas in Sindh province. The outspoken anchor will also be remembered for sexist remarks about liberal women in Pakistan - often artists, authors or human rights activists. Quiz shows and product giveaways - cars, motorbikes and household electronics - were a big feature of his shows - and on one occasion in 2012, even abandoned babies. Media caption, Orla Guerin reports on the controversial TV show which has awarded babies to two childless couples He insisted at the time that the move was aimed at saving abandoned infants and was not simply an attempt to boost his ratings. "We were already top of the ratings before we gave away a baby. We took these children from the garbage, from the trash, and delivered them to the needy people," Hussain said on his website, where he described himself as "truly a legend". The TV host was a member of parliament from 2002 until 2008, when he was expelled by the MQM party. He served as the minister of state for religious affairs from 2004 to 2007 under then president Pervez Musharraf. As a politician, he was involved in several rows. On one occasion, he was held hostage by students angry at his work criticising suicide bombings. On another occasion, he declared British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdi as "worthy of death" - comments that eventually forced him to resign from parliament. In 2017 he turned back to politics again, joining the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party and became a member of the National Assembly again the following year.

How India's Right-Wing TV Networks Attacked the Celebrated Singer Rihanna After She Expressed Solidarity With India's Farmers | Feb 2021

Rihanna and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda​ lobby | TV Newsance Episode 120 https://youtu.be/d6jOiOTQVr0

India: People branded as ‘Hindu haters’ by Times Now TV, living in fear

Asia Times

Fear, loss of jobs as Indian TV brands people ‘Hindu haters’

Two of the five people named in the television show have been living in fear and are taking defamation cases against the news channel

By Vishakha Saxena April 11, 2018 11:55 AM (UTC+8)  

 

A snapshot from the controversial Times Now segment. Photo: YouTube Screengrab

 

A growing debate about the quality of journalism on Indian television and government influence intensified after the country’s second most watched news channel branded some people an “Opposition Troll Army” against the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party as well as “Hindu haters.”
In a segment aired last Friday, news channel Times Now showed photographs, twitter names and selected tweets from six users known to be supporters of the Congress party, and brandished them abusive trolls and “Hindu haters.”

“My sister got a call from her friend saying ‘your brother’s name is Riyaz, right? His photo is on TV and they are saying he’s anti-army and a Hindu-hater,'” Riyaz Ahmed, one of the people named in the segment, told Asia Times. “My mother was in shock and crying,” he added.

The segment also came at a grim time for 41-year-old writer and entrepreneur Sanjukta Basu, the fourth person mentioned by Times Now Editor-in-Chief Rahul Shivshankar.
She had spent the morning with her family, amid rituals to commemorate her mother who passed away in April last year. “My father was already in a delicate state of mind and we come from a humble middle-class family – it’s not like we are very rich, powerful or influential people – so [on seeing the segment] he just instantly went pale and needed to lie down,” Sanjukta said.

Fear and loss of jobs

“I am scared for my life … in my polling booth 97% of votes go to BJP,” Riyaz tweeted soon after the segment aired.
Riyaz and Sanjukta said that amid India’s current political and religious environment, the “Hindu hater” tag had endangered their lives. “Imagine some extremist Hindu somewhere adds my name and photo to a list of ‘anti-Hindus’ and just like that I’ll be on their target list,” said Riyaz. “If I’m going out to meet someone, my family keeps calling or messaging every 10-15 minutes to check 0n my safety,” he added.
Support from neighbors have helped calm Riyaz’s immediate fears, but he still dreaded his face or location being published in the news. “My neighbors will protect me, but I don’t know what thousands of others will do,” he said.
Sanjukta had similar concerns about the segment. “Tomorrow one Shambhu Lal Raigar might just feel like killing me because he heard I’m a Hindu-hater on Times Now,” she said. Shambhu Lal Raigar is a Rajasthan man who uploaded a chilling video of himself hacking and burning a Muslim migrant worker to death in December last year.
“They dehumanized and objectified me. They numbered me and put labels on me … we are tax-paying, law-abiding citizens with the same rights as Shivshankar. They can’t make such allegations without giving us an opportunity to be heard,”  she said.
Riyaz was also fired from his job because of the segment. “I was working in public relations, and though I have a good a relationship with my boss, he called me and said he can’t have someone branded a ‘Hindu hater’ handling his communications,” Riyaz said.
“I am not naming my employer because he will be attacked for either firing me or simply being associated with me,” he said, adding that the information will be available for legal scrutiny.
Sanjukta also said she was worried about her value in the market as a freelance journalist after being labelled a “Congress troll.”

Legal action

Each of their lawyers, now working pro-bono, plan to demand an apology from the channel and the removal of all videos of the segment and related content.
Riyaz’s legal team will also send a notice to Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT Cell, for sharing screenshots of the segment and putting his face on display.
If the channel does not respond, the two will sue for defamation. “Sanjukta’s tweets make a million impressions everyday. We will evaluate her social media presence and convert it to real popularity to ascertain the extent of defamation,” said Sanjukta’s lawyer Anas Tanwir. He added they will also file a police report against Times Now for criminal intimidation.

Problematic reportage

The premise of the segment was that Congress President Rahul Gandhi held a conclave on March 27 “to plan a social media strategy for 2019 general elections.” “Known anti-BJP trolls with odious track records” and “Modi and Shah baiters” were invited to attend the meeting, said the channel’s editor Shivshankar. He claimed his findings were “worse than Cambridge Analytica.” 
The segment was named “Rahul Gandhi’s Secret Plan To Avenge Amit Shah,” referring to political jibes made by Shah that day.
“This was hilarious, bizarre and stupid at the same time. They were alleging that Rahul Gandhi met a bunch of people on March 27 to plan revenge for a jibe that was made on April 6 … They have given up on ethics to attack individuals whose opinions run contrary to the ruling regime,” Sanjukta said. “This is trolling by a national television channel,” she added.
Sanjukta said the meeting on March 27 was not a secret and was even reported on. Both her and Riyaz claimed it was a “free-flowing” interaction with Gandhi, who invited ideas for upcoming polls.
She slammed Times Now for claiming they had been recruited by Gandhi. “He meets farmers, traders, students, teachers – do they become his recruits? They are trying to malign my voice by suggesting I get paid for tweeting in favor of Congress,” Sanjukta said, “but I will not get silenced or intimidated.
“I think we were picked out because we are strong voices. I even think some amount of profiling was done. Riyaz is Muslim and I’m Bengali, so it’s easy to brand me a commie,” Sanjukta said.
For Sanjukta, every day since last Friday has been a revelation. “I had no idea I was so important in the political scene,” she said laughing. Riyaz, on the other hand, just wants the controversy to subside. “People say I’ve become a celebrity, but I do not want it. My life has become hell.”
Asia Times sent questions to Shivshankar and Times Now Managing Editor-Politics Navika Kumar, but has not had a response. This story will be updated if they comment.

India: Abhisar Sharma on deliberate communal propaganda on TV regarding Kasganj violence

The Wire

How Much More Blood Do TV Anchors Want to See Spilled?

By Abhisar Sharma on 04/02/2018 

Some TV channels deliberately spread a made-up story of how the Muslims of Kasganj were protesting against the national flag.

Screenshot of AajTak, whose coverage of the Kasganj riot has been criticised for displaying bias.

‘They justified the killing of Hindus!”
“They ask — how dare the tricolour yatra be taken out without permission; why raise incendiary slogans like Bharat Mata ki Jai in the first place…”
These are the kind of intemperate posts that are being published about Pankaj Jha and me in a Facebook page titled ‘Dainik Bharat’, which is in the business of spreading rumours and inciting riots. The rumour machine is working overtime and an indiscriminate public is under its sway. The state of affairs is such that journalists who are bringing you the facts are being threatened with death. So much so that even their families are not being spared.
Pankaj Jha travelled to Kasganj and produced a report on the incident that had transpired there – without any hype and without blaming anybody in particular. The results of that are there for you to see. Read what he has posted on his Twitter account:

“Since morning I have been receiving one telephone call after another from a certain type of people who vilify me, threaten to kill me and provoke me by saying they will kidnap my daughter. They ask, do we now need permission even to take out a tricolour procession? But the person who said so was the DM of Kasganj. Shouldn’t this question be posed to him? In all my years of journalism I never imagined things would come to this pass. I have stopped taking calls from these telephone numbers. You want to know why — because what comes from the other side is a fusillade of abuse and threats to shoot me down.”

The threat to kidnap a journalist’s daughter marks a new low. Any Hindu-Muslim conflict takes place in an explosive atmosphere of heightened tension and emotions. One inflammatory statement is like throwing a burning matchstick in a tinderbox. If such attempts to vitiate the atmosphere were the handiwork solely of some extremist organisation, it would still be understandable. In this instance it was mainstream journalists who conveniently dispensed with facts to present a patently false picture of the incident before the people of the country.
Pay attention to this one TV news anchor’s hectoring statements/questions:

• Are we going to have conflicts over the issue of flying the national flag within our own country?
• If not in India, where will the tricolour be raised? In Pakistan?
• Who are the real enemies of the tricolour in Kasganj? Why isn’t the police disclosing their names?
• How many such Pakistans are flourishing in India?
• Are Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai communal slogans?

Note the tenor of the third statement/question – who are the real enemies of the tricolour in Kasganj? The Muslims too were waving the national flag – why was this fact hidden? This fact has been confirmed by pictures and by the statements of IG Thakur himself. You don’t even need to do some great investigative journalism for it.
The administration has admitted that permission had not been granted for the tricolour procession. However, the anchor of that news channel conveniently branded a specific community as Pakistani on day one itself.
Considering that the Muslims  of Kasganj were also raising the Indian flag, why were they declared ‘enemies of the tricolour’? Moreover, when the Muslim community too was raising the Indian tricolour, how right is it to make statements about Pakistans flourishing in India?
When the atmosphere is rife with tension as it is, what is the need to bring Pakistan into the debate? For whose political benefit are such statements being made?
The matter does not end there. There is no apology forthcoming even after the lie has been caught. No action is taken against those who willfully spread falsehoods. A journalist belonging to the same flock went so far as to declare dead a man who is alive and well, bless him. But on social media, what made waves was the ‘news’ that along with Chandan Gupta, one Rahul Upadhyaya too fell victim to bullets fired  during the clash.
Since when has the media started dealing in erroneous statements, plain lies and partial facts, that too with regard to a communal clash? It is not that the media is error-proof but to do so deliberately is another matter. Is it not true that the news channel in question had to send another reporter to Kasganj to rectify its earlier version by filing a new report – a report that is exactly the opposite of the earlier programme of falsehood? If what you said then was the truth, why didn’t you stick to it? That is because the television news channel in question knows it committed a mistake. Except it is not an ordinary mistake.
Through your programme you have ensured the spread of an entirely make-believe protest against the Indian national flag by the Muslims of Kasganj. The consequences of this anchor’s lie will not be borne by members of just one community; the hatred that is being sown will be reaped by anybody who is touched by it. The raging fire of communalism is not in the least selective; it doesn’t ask for someone’s religion before burning his house down. Its fury is democratic – it devours everybody equally.
Journalists like Pankaj Jha and I also happen to be among those who are bearing the brunt of this anchor’s lie. I challenge you to prove that Pankaj and I have held Chandan Gupta’s killing to be justified. Whatever we had to say is out there in the public domain – in our reports and blogs.
We were only interested in being factual, as it should be. The question however is this: what is the accountability of the kind of news anchoring that fans violence in society? By keeping Hindu-Muslim tensions on the boil, whose political vested interests are they promoting? Did the District Magistrate of Bareilly, Raghavendra Vikram Singh, not ask as to why such processions were taken out through Muslim dominated neighbourhoods and why such inflammatory slogans were raised? Let me clarify once again that Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram are not provocative slogans, but to enter that neighbourhood and raise taunting slogans about Pakistan most definitely is.
For that matter, did the Uttar Pradesh governor, Ram Naik, not describe the Kasganj riots as a blot on the state? Now what do you have to say about him? We can’t dub him anti-national, can we?
The problem is that reporting on communal clashes is becoming more and more difficult by the day. In a conflict between two communities, there are those from the majority community who want the media to declare the other community as eternal villains of the piece.
The thing is, reporting by its very nature cannot be majoritarian. It is true that Chandan Gupta was a Hindu, but that is no excuse for you to broadcast a lie and vitiate the atmosphere even more. How many more Chandan Guptas do these anchors want to see sacrificed?
Most importantly, you are not even speaking in the interest of Hindus. You are just an unofficial spokesperson of one particular political party. By fomenting tensions between Hindus and Muslims you are merely carrying out that party’s political agenda.
Spoiling the atmosphere, spoiling the peace – is this your idea of love for your country? Your desire that the country is kept on the boil – is this your idea of patriotism? Why are you intent on distracting the people, drawing their attention away from fundamental issues such as farmers’ woes, the concerns of employed sections, and the failures of the government? For a moment let’s accept that you are a hanger-on of the political party in question. However, by fomenting instability in the country how are you helping to make Modiji’s dream of ‘Make in India’ become a reality? Demonstrate your political loyalty skillfully at least.
If extremist groups are entering the political mainstream, it is because they know a sizeable section of the media, commanding a huge audience, is willing to project them. There is nothing cloak-and-dagger about the crimes committed by these groups either; on the contrary, they capture their misdeeds on camera because they know a part of the media is all prepared to derail the issue by showing them as the victims.
By providing a platform for such groups you are putting the lives of ordinary Indians in jeopardy, toying with our children’s lives and their futures. You are not just indulging in dishonest journalism but also committing injustice against the country’s most important and fundamental unit – our families. You are attacking their peace of mind and well-being. Both as a journalist and as a father this is completely unacceptable to me.
The writer is a senior television journalist with ABP News. This article was originally published on his Facebook page.
Translated from the Hindi original by Chitra Padmanabhan

India: TV telecast of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat speech on state run Doordarshan is clear case of misuse of Tax payer's money for propaganda by an NGO

via scroll.in - 2 October 2017

Doordarshan telecast of Mohan Bhagwat speech is a challenge to constitutional ideals

The Big Story: Misusing a medium

by Sruthisagar Yamunan

On Saturday, national broadcaster Doordarshan decided to telecast Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat’s traditional Vijayadashami address, ignoring the widespread criticism that emerged in October 2014 when the channel decided to cover his speech live for the first time.
Bhagwat used the religious occasion to articulate his organisation’s positions on an array of topics, including cow protection, the Rohingya refugee crisis and Kashmir. Though the telecast of his speech on the state-funded channel has become routine, this year’s event was marked by a sharp irony.
Only in August, Doordarshan refused to broadcast the Independence Day speech of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. The democratically elected leader’s address to the people of his state was halted at the last minute, as the Doordarshan management asked him to tone down some of his remarks, which presumably criticised the Narendra Modi government and its perceived divisive policies.
The RSS, the fountainhead of Hindutva, the ideology followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, is an organisation that has been banned three times since 1947. RSS chiefs have frequently made inflammatory comments that run contrary to the constitutional ideals of the country. On Saturday, Bhagwat chose to address the Rohingya refugees problem, describing the embattled community as a national security threat, an allegation the Centre is currently struggling to substantiate before the Supreme Court. He also chose to defend cow vigilantes, claiming that gau rakshaks were not involved in the incidents of violence reported against cow traders that have been over the last two years. In fact, he claimed that many gau rakshaks have themselves come under attack. On Kashmir, he sought amendments to the Constitution to protect Hindus in the Valley. The Jammu and Kashmir government and members of civil society have been up in arms against attempts to alter the state’s Constitution, a matter now pending before the Supreme Court.
By allowing Bhagwat’s comments but censoring Manik’s speech, Doordarshan, managed by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry, has once again proved that it lacks the independence essential to run an impartial national broadcasting agency. Given the profound impact that unfiltered, divisive statements from the leader of a powerful organisation could have on social peace and their potential to undermine some of the very basic tenets of the Constitution, the foremost being its secular nature, broadcasting Bhagwat’s speech is positively dangerous. Doordarshan cannot afford to relinquish its responsibility to the Constitution and become a propaganda machine for the ruling party’s ideology.

The Big Scroll

• RSS broadcast is only one indication of rising control over Doordarshan, insiders complain.
• Censoring the Tripura chief minister: How Prasar Bharati became a propaganda tool for the Modi government.

NDTV Hindi: गौरक्षा, इतिहास और कुछ अनसुनी कहानियां..

प्राइम टाइम : गौरक्षा, इतिहास और कुछ अनसुनी कहानियां...

PUBLISHED ON: April 7, 2017 | Duration: 41 min, 14 sec

1.2k  

गौ रक्षा के नाम पर हिंसा, राजनीति के अलावा इन्हीं मुद्दों के संदर्भ में बहुत सी ऐसी कहानियां हैं जिन्हें हम जानें तो उनकी मदद से राजनीतिक मसले को बेहतर तरीके से समझ सकते हैं. गौ रक्षा को लेकर टीवी और अखबारों पर चलने वाली बहसें हर घटना के बाद उन्हीं सारे दावों के साथ हाज़िर हो जाती हैं. जैसे बहुत से लोग इसी बात से हैरत में थे कि पहलू ख़ान गो पालक थे, रमज़ान में दूध के कारोबार के लिए गाय खरीदी थी. हमारे सहयोगी हर्षा ने एक रिपोर्ट भेजी है मारवाड़ मुस्लिम आदर्श गौशाला की. जोधपुर के बाड़मेर रोड पर बुजवाड़ गांव में ये गौशाला है. 2004 से चल रही इस गौशाला को मौलाना आज़ाद स्कूल के संचालक चलाते हैं

NDTV discussions on cow vigilantism & violence

 Truth vs Hype: The Gau Rakshak Deception 24:40 
So-called cow vigilantes have struck again, killing one man in Rajasthan and wounding several more. Gau Rakshak violence is not new, but what is changed is that the ideology they use to justify their violence - the idea of the "cow in peril" - is being amplified by the BJP at its highest level. Senior leaders and chief ministers of the ruling party keep the "cow under threat" rhetoric alive, through statements and policies. But as we uncover this week, these claims are not grounded in facts, nor in ideology, and yet they are being used again and again, regardless of consequences.
http://www.ndtv.com/video/news/truth-vs-hype/truth-vs-hype-the-gau-rakshak-deception-454039?vod-related

Is Mob Vigilantism On The Rise?

PUBLISHED ON: April 8, 2017 | Duration: 50 min, 34 sec

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Of late we have been noticing instances where either the law is being subverted or mobs taking the law into their own hands. From an unruly Shiv Sena MP beating up an Air India staffer following an altercation to vigilantes beating to death a person in Alwar, Rajasthan for transporting cows, are we seeing a rise in vigilantism? To make matters worse after banning Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad from flying with Air India the Ministry of Civil Aviation has buckled under pressure and revoked the ban while three people, accused for beating to death a man in Alwar for transporting cows, are still at large. Are we becoming a nation of law breakers where VVIPs, vigilantes can get away by subverting the law? Is it time for PM Narendra Modi to rein in the fringe?

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India: For a pop culture expression of resurgent Hinduism, turn to Hindi TV channels

The Indian Express

Telescope: Where the gods dazzle
For a pop culture expression of resurgent Hinduism, turn to Hindi channels.

Written by Shailaja Bajpai | Updated: December 1, 2016 12:06 am

Since everyone else is talking about demonetisation, let’s talk of other things. For instance, are you even aware of the number of new Hindi regional news channels now available on your DTH server or cable system? News channels, perhaps serving their individual regions earlier, now show up on your menu: India Watch, Janta TV, News World India, Live Today UP, KNews, JK 24×7, News 11, News State UP/UK (Uttarakhand not the United Kingdom), India News MP and Chhattisgarh, Samay Rajasthan, MP and Bihar, UP Live, etcetra, etcetra.

No wonder we have 400+ news channels in this country. And many of them belong to the same stable: ETV has a pan India footprint with news channels in different languages — something Samay, for instance, emulates. Cannot comment on the journalistic quality of these channels but they are playing, and will play, an increasingly important role in delivering news and views in the Hindi heartland — where many states are due to hold assembly elections by 2018. Watch the UP/Uttarakhand ones closely for the next few months as the two states go to the polls; they will carry more news and debates, rallies and speeches than any of the “national” news channels.

They are also devoted to non-news news: The body build-up of Aamir Khan for his latest film was the subject of intense scrutiny, Tuesday night, on several of them — for example, News India, India News. The latter looked at how Adnan Sami, Anant Ambani and Arjun Kapoor won the battle of the bulge with photographs to illustrate their bodylines. In an aside, Aamir was asked about demonetisation which he wisely ducked, saying only that he hoped it would not affect Dangal.

Another trend: The number of mythological, historicals across general entertainment channels. If we were looking for a pop culture expression of the rise of resurgent Hinduism with the success of the BJP, it is here, it is here. Some examples: Santoshi Ma (& TV), Chandra Nandini (Star Plus), Karmafal Daata Shani (Colors), Jai Jai Jai Bajarangbali (Big Magic), Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanuman (Sony) and Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik (EPIC) in which Pattanaik explains the epics — on Monday, he spoke of Karn and his mother Kunti before he goes to battle.

Forget about the content — which is quite evident from the names — and admire the sets instead. In Shani, nothing is smaller than a kingdom — or so it seems — ergo, Surya’s palace, abode, the likes of which you have never seen before — ornate, cavernous, lit up with the light of the world. And the costumes are of so much gold, they should be surrendered to the RBI forthwith. You are so bedazzled, you almost miss Shani’s stout defence of his mother and by extension, of women (Friday).

And then, of course, there are the snakes. Or series based on the supernatural inspired by myth. None more so than Naagin (Colors), currently the top-rated series. Don’t even go into the plot, it is too confusing and you’re not really meant to go there. It’s the snakes and serpents and giant flies — computer graphic wonders of the world — the extraordinary evil which resides in the human heart, plus what one of the characters defines as “overacting ki dukaan’,” that will leave you in shock and awe.

The gods are present in many other soaps too, often playing a defining role. In Yeh Vaada Raaha (Zee), as Tai mercilessly scythes Survi, Ganesha is repeatedly shown to be standing between Tai and Survi’s death. Unfortunately, Tai — the most villainous-looking female you have encountered recently on TV — succeeds and Survi dies, leaving behind her mentally-challenged husband, Kartik and daughter Kushi. But, Ganesha is still very much in the picture.

Now, if only he or the other gods could solve the currency crisis.

India: Govt vs Urdu writers - Attack on freedom to express? (India Today TV debate)

India Today - March 22, 2016

Govt vs Urdu writers: Attack on freedom to express?

NCPUL, which comes under the union HRD ministry-led by Smriti Irani, said that the declaration form to be filled by authors under its bulk purchase scheme was only to ensure that the content should only create harmony and goodwill among various sections of the society and not otherwise.

New Delhi, March 22, 2016|Posted by Avarnita Mathur

The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) recently introduced a form, requiring authors of the books that it acquires annually, to declare that the content will not be against the government or the country.
NCPUL, which comes under the union HRD ministry-led by Smriti Irani, said that the declaration form to be filled by authors under its bulk purchase scheme was only to ensure that the content should only create harmony and goodwill among various sections of the society and not otherwise.
Karan Thapar on his show 'To The Point' today asked whether this decision by NCPUL is a terrible mistake or is this move justified. His panel included writer and lyricst Javed Akhtar, editor of Nai Duniya, Shahid Siddiqui, BJP leader Suddhanshu Mittal and columnist Aakar Patel.
"This diktat on Urdu writers by NCPUL must be withdrawn," said writer and lyricst Javed Akhtar.
Slamming the move by NCPUL, Akhtar also emphasised that all major Urdu writers are progressive. "Urdu is the most secular language of the world, but is treated like RDX," added Akhtar.
However, NCPUL said the form, to be filled by authors, is not something new and this has been the practice for the last many years for the books sponsored by NCPUL.
"It is not for the academy or the govt to decide who is anti-national or not. If a mistake is made, it is the job of the publisher to correct it," said editor of Nai Duniya, Shahid Siddiqui.
"NCPUL is an autonomous organisation but appointees are political," added Siddiqui.
BJP leader Suddhanshu Mittal said, "In a democracy, anybody can criticise anyone within the framework of constitution."
"A writer's job is to look at the reality and then criticise," said columnist Aakar Patel.
This move has once again triggered controversy over nationalism putting government at the centre of the debate.


"This diktat on Urdu writers by NCPUL must be withdrawn," said writer and lyricst Javed Akhtar.

Slamming the move by NCPUL, Akhtar also emphasised that all major Urdu writers are progressive. "Urdu is the most secular language of the world, but is treated like RDX," added Akhtar.

However, NCPUL said the form, to be filled by authors, is not something new and this has been the practice for the last many years for the books sponsored by NCPUL.

"It is not for the academy or the govt to decide who is anti-national or not. If a mistake is made, it is the job of the publisher to correct it," said editor of Nai Duniya, Shahid Siddiqui.

"NCPUL is an autonomous organisation but appointees are political," added Siddiqui.

BJP leader Suddhanshu Mittal said, "In a democracy, anybody can criticise anyone within the framework of constitution."

"A writer's job is to look at the reality and then criticise," said columnist Aakar Patel.

This move has once again triggered controversy over nationalism putting government at the centre of the debate.

India: NDTV report on Trilokpuri - प्राइम टाइम : त्रिलोकपुरी दंगों का क्या है सच?

प्राइम टाइम : त्रिलोकपुरी दंगों का क्या है सच?

Published On: October 27, 2014 | Duration: 46 min, 25 sec

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/prime-time/prime-time-truth-behind-trilokpuri-violence/342895?hphin

RSS broadcast is only one indication of rising control over Doordarshan, insiders complain

http://tinyurl.com/nr9yzjp

MEDIA MATTERS
RSS broadcast is only one indication of rising control over Doordarshan, insiders complain
Not since the Emergency has the government watched the public broadcaster so closely, officials say.

Dhirendra K Jha

Doordarshan has always been accused of being misused by the incumbent government and the party in power. But the public broadcaster seemed to cross an irrevocable line on Friday when it conducted a live telecast of the annual Vijayadashmi address of Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the twice-banned Rashtriya Swayamasevek Sangh.

The RSS is at the centre of the network of the Hindutva organisations of which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is a key member. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent much of his career as a full-time RSS worker. The controversial organisation has not bothered to tone down its chauvinism since he assumed office. Only last month, Bhagwat had stated: “Hindustan is a Hindu nation. Hindutva is the identity of our nation.”

Doordarshan's decision to broadcast the speech is in keeping with the new pressures that have been brought to bear on the organisation by the Narendra Modi government, insiders say.

“Everyday at sharp 9.30 in the morning, Information and Broadcasting Minister holds meeting with the Director General (News) of Doordarshan,” said a senior DD official. “This was never so under the previous regimes. I did not witness this even in the days of [Atal Bihari] Vajpayee’s government.”

This is a control reminiscent of the Emergency era, information officials said.

The decision to telecast the RSS speech, an official said, pushes the limits of the Doordarshan broadcast code. Though Bhagwat did not attack other religions, he continued to advance his claim that all residents of India are Hindu.

The characteristic of Hindutva, he said, "is that despite the natural plurality of languages, geography, faiths and sects, castes and sub-castes, food habits, traditions etc., it assimilates and accepts all of them with full respect and takes them along in the direction of welfare of the entire world. It offers complete freedom in matters of one's search for truth in life, experience and its inference."

Bhagwat added, "Full freedom of unrestricted debates on opinions about faith and beliefs intellectually, at the same time respect and acceptance of each other's faith, harmony and cooperation is the hall mark speciality of Hindu culture."

The Vijayadashmi event at Nagpur has been an annual practice ever since the RSS was formed in 1925. Every year on this day, the RSS chief lays down – for the workers and activists of the organisation – the Sangh’s vision and analyses the situation in the country.

Doordarshan’s Director General (News) Archana Datta attempted to rationalise the live telecast of Bhagwat’s speech, telling Times Now that the station had treated the address like “any other news event”. But in fact, the speech was broadcast in its entirety.

Many of her colleagues failed to agree with Datta’s argument. “Once you have identified your interests as being synonymous with the interests of your masters, the question of taking a stand for the institution never arises,” one official said. “Any act you commit then would always have a justification.”

Finaly Congresss Moves its Ass it is planning to do a sit in at Doordarshan over airing of Mohan Bhagwat speech

Daily News and Analysis

Congress to gherao Doordarshan over airing of Mohan Bhagwat speech
Saturday, 4 October 2014 - 9:37pm IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI

Slamming the government for live telecast by Doordarshan of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's address in Nagpur, Delhi Congress on Saturday said it will gherao the state broadcaster tomorrow to protest against the "misdeeds".

Chief spokesperson of Delhi Congress Mukesh Sharma said RSS was a controversial religious and political organisation and showing Bhagwat's address live on Doordarshan was not at all acceptable. The live telecast of Bhagwat's address in Nagpur yesterday by Doordarshan stoked a controversy with almost all major opposition parties slamming the government for "misusing" the state broadcaster while BJP defended it.

"The Doordarshan is being saffronised. This is a very serious issue. Showing the speech live was an attempt to propagate a certain ideology," Sharma said. He said scores of Congress MLAs, municipal councillors, leaders and workers will launch an agitation against the government and Doordarshan tomorrow.

"We will gherao the Doordarshan headquarters," he said.

The decision to launch the agitation was taken at a meeting of DPCC office bearers. The meeting was presided by DPCC president Arvinder Singh Lovely.

India: A dangerous line was crossed when Doordarshan telecast Bhagwat’s speech live (Chaitanya Kalbag)

http://qz.com/275648/a-dangerous-line-was-crossed-when-doordarshan-telecast-bhagwats-speech-live/

A dangerous line was crossed when Doordarshan telecast Bhagwat’s speech live

Bhagwat's 70-minute speech was telecast without interruption by the state broadcaster.AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi

Written by
Chaitanya Kalbag is a former Reuters Asia Editor and former Editor-in-Chief of the Hindustan Times.

October 3, 2014

A line was crossed this Dussehra when Doordarshan broadcast the Vijaya Dashami speech by Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat, the Sarsanghachalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). That line divided the state and religion in India. We do not have a state religion, and we are not a religious state like Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia, or Iran. Our constitution says we are a ‘secular democratic republic’.

The division between church and state has been debated for centuries in Europe and the United States, with good reason. Democracy and freedom of expression do not dovetail with the absolutism of religion. Pope Francis is the head of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics but does not exercise temporal power. Nor is Bhagwat the sole pontiff of about 900 million Hindus. By giving him a televised pulpit that carried his 70-minute speech far beyond the thousands of men in black caps, white shirts and brown half pants wielding long staves who listened to him in rapt attention in the Reshmibagh Maidan in Nagpur, Modi’s government has made clear that all Indians may be equal, but Hindus are more equal than the others.

This supremacy is deceptive, because Hinduism is riven by divisions. If Hinduism were all-embracing we would not have the problems that we have had with jatis (castes) and varnas (classes). The RSS leadership, for instance, is dominated by the Deshastha Brahmins. Although Bhagwat is 64 years old, the same age as Narendra Modi (the two men were born six days apart) he has a huge advantage over the prime minister. It would have been very difficult for Modi, had he continued in the RSS, even with his formidable talent and organisational skills, to rise to the top of the organisation, because he does not belong to the top echelons of the Hindu caste ladder. Modi must see that to be a statesman, he must abjure religious overtones. For four and a half months, Modi has tried quite hard to tread a non-partisan line in all his public utterances, although he started his career as a humble RSS karyakarta (worker). But Modi’s overwhelming personality does not sit well with the RSS. Bhagwat’s advantage is that he does not hold an elected office and can comment on everything, and he has not held back from reminding us that we are a Hindu nation.
Modi spoke for an hour from the ramparts of Delhi’s Red Fort on Independence Day. Today’s spectacle was designed to eclipse that patriotic event.

The Vijaya Dashami speech is the annual State of the Hindu Rashtra statement, but never in the history of the 89-year-old RSS has it been propagated so instantaneously, so widely and so unquestioningly. In today’s Internet-savvy India, reaching every volunteer, or Swayamsevak, across more than 50,000 shakhas or branches could conceivably happen via a live webcast or podcast, but this was far more powerful. For the state-owned television broadcaster to give Bhagwat an hour and ten minutes, not interrupted by a single commercial, to deliver his sermon to a vast national audience over its huge terrestrial network sets a dangerous precedent. Make no mistake—Doordarshan’s autonomy is fictitious. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar was silent on Bhagwat’s speech, which lays the Modi government open to demands by every religious group in the country for air time. Modi spoke for an hour from the ramparts of Delhi’s Red Fort on Independence Day. Today’s spectacle was designed to eclipse that patriotic event.
Modi eclipsed

Ironically, Bhagwat upstaged Modi, who just over an hour later broadcast the first of his weekly radio talks, titled Man ki Baat (from my heart) over state-owned All India Radio. Modi spoke for a modest fifteen minutes in a friendly, inclusive tone, encouraging his listeners to send him ideas and tune into future broadcasts which he said would move to Sundays. Bhagwat did not mention Modi’s radio talk, although Modi tweeted later that Bhagwat had raised “very relevant” issues. Among them must surely have been Bhagwat’s assertion that over the past thousand years, Bharat (India) has been the only nation to strive for peace, happiness and a beautiful world “through the path of truth and non-violence. Right from times immemorial to this moment, the unbroken current of national thinking that has prevailed in the vast region between the Himalayas and its extensions on one side and the sea on the other, [which] has been known as Hindutva”.

Yes, we are a Hindu-majority nation, and that is coming through in many ways under the new dispensation, from the vigilante ring-fencing of the dandiya-garba festivities in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, to the near-lynching of three blacks in a New Delhi metro station to cries of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”. These images do not go with a democracy partnering the US in counter-terrorism, climate change and technology that aspires to be an economic superpower.

More directly than Modi has thus far, Bhagwat spelt out what he saw as the dangers posed by unbridled infiltration of “a particular community” into West Bengal and Assam, and “the serious upsurge in jihadi activities in the southern parts of Bharat, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu”. He saw a new horizon of victory looming “as our goal of developing Bharat into the guide and torch bearer of the whole world” and ended with a call for even greater propagation: “That is why we should take the Sangh Shakha to each home in every village, street and community.”

Not surprisingly, Bhagwat’s speech set social media a-flutter; some tweets argued that Doordarshan was merely ‘covering’ a news event. But this was not a garden-variety speech, and there was no reporter thrusting a microphone in Bhagwat’s face. This was the medium becoming the message.

Follow Chaitanya on Twitter @chaitanyakalbag. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

India: Propping up RSS is a dangerous idea (Editorial in Decan Chronicle)

Propping up RSS is a dangerous idea
DC | October 04, 2014, 03.10 am IST

In his Krishna Janmashtami speech in August, within barely three months of Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister with his party BJP having a comfortable parliamentary majority of its own, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had declared “Hindustan” to be a “Hindu nation”. This is against our Constitution. India or “Bharat”, as it is officially referred to in the Constitution, is a republic not identified with a religious faith. The dangers of doing so are obvious and our Constitution-makers, among whom there were no RSS votaries, were wise people. However, in spite of the retrograde views he holds, the leader of the Hindu supremacist organisation, the progenitor of the ruling BJP, has now been permitted a live broadcast on Doordarshan on Friday, which coincided this year with Vijayadashmi, the RSS’ foundation day.

Officially the state broadcaster said it chose to let Mr Bhagwat go live because in its judgment the RSS supremo’s views were “newsworthy”. That’s really odd. The RSS boss speaks to the faithful on Vijayadashmi every year, but never has he been given space on DD, not even when Atal Behari Vajpayee, also a BJP leader from the RSS stables like Mr Modi, was Prime Minister. Evidently, the reason for this is that under Mr Vajpayee the BJP didn’t command a Lok Sabha majority and was hobbled by the presence of its NDA partners to run the government.

Mr Modi faces no such restraint. In fact, in the face of sharp criticism of the DD by various Opposition parties for giving air time to the RSS leader, the PM came to the defence of the national broadcaster. The cat is thus out of the bag. DD let the leader of a sectarian outfit like the RSS go on air because it was aware of the PM’s outlook on this matter, not because Mr Bhagwat is so “newsworthy” that he can be given free air time by any television station, leave alone the government channel.

The PM and his handmaiden Doordarshan are, no doubt, being short-sighted. By pampering the head of a Hindu majoritarian outfit, the national broadcaster has paved the way for demands to be heard on an equal basis by sectarian leaders of every stripe, as the historian Ramchandra Guha has sought to point out, while giving the call to “resist” such a deviation from the template of our Constitution.

Propping up the RSS — and Mr Bhagwat once again harped on “Hindutva” — with the help of DD is a dangerous idea. We fear Mr Bhagwat may soon be making All India Radio his next pulpit. It is not wholly clear why the Modi regime is opening the floodgates of communal propaganda when he was elected to take the economy forward. We need to look sharp.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/141004/commentary-dc-comment/article/propping-rss-dangerous-idea

India: Political impudence (Editorial in DNA on Broadcast of RSS chief Bhagwat's speech on Doordarshan News)

Daily News and Analysis - 4 October 2014

dna edit: Political impudence
Agency: DNA


The live telecast by Doordarshan News of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s speech violates the public broadcaster’s norms of non-partisanship

Minister for information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekar came up with an ingenuous and sheepish explanation that if private television news channels could telecast live the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s speech at the organisation’s Dussehra rally in Nagpur on Friday, it is unreasonable to prevent Doordarshan News from doing the same. He did not dare to admit that the BJP-led NDA government or Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the I&B ministry itself, had issued directions to the DD to do so. Javadekar had also tried to use the fig-leaf of the autonomy of Prasar Bharati, which includes the DD and the AIR, and he had tried to give the impression that the decision to telecast the RSS chief’s speech was an independent editorial decision made in the newsrooms of the public broadcaster.

The BJP and the RSS, Modi and Javadekar might feel that they have cocked a snook at critics because technically they did not violate any law, and as to norms they are always elastic which can be stretched and twisted to suit one’s own ulterior motives. What they seem to forget is that this is where the corrosion of credibility begins, and that parliamentary majority cannot save the party and the government from public scrutiny and opprobrium, that the people will remember these acts of brazenness at the time of the next election. When Indira Gandhi and the Congress manipulated the official media before and during the Emergency of 1975-77, they were contemptuous of norms and decencies, of criticism and public outrage. But the people spoke at election time in 1977.

The RSS occupies the no-man’s land where it claims to be a cultural organisation but it engages in political activities, serving as an extended arm of the BJP. Some BJP insiders even argue that it is the BJP which is an extended arm of the RSS. Whatever the truth about the confused and indeterminate identity of the RSS and whichever way the BJP and the RSS choose to interpret it, it is clear to an independent observer that the RSS is the ideological and propaganda wing of the BJP. Any time given to the RSS on the public broadcaster is nothing more than propaganda time given to the BJP. It is not our concern whether the RSS is secular or communal, though the organisation is viewed by the minorities — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain and Parsis — with apprehension and suspicion. The RSS is a controversial organisation. The RSS is newsworthy because it is both the mentor and the mouthpiece of the BJP but it cannot be given the same kind of prime coverage which is given to the Prime Minister. Modi can use the official media to speak his mind and put forward his ideas. It will not be adequate if Javadekar offers a weak rationalisation, and Modi lauds Bhagwat’s speech, that RSS should get prime coverage on the public broadcaster. RSS lacks the legal and constitutional legitimacy that Modi enjoys.

Even if one were to accept on face value the RSS claim to be a cultural organisation, Bhagwat’s speech belies that. His speech was an endorsement of Modi’s successful trip to the United States and the performance of the Modi government. This is political propaganda, pure and simple. Private news channels which turn themselves to be propaganda vehicles of political parties lose their credibility and consequently their commercial viability. If the DD is seen as a propaganda channel of BJP-RSS, then it will lose the little credence it has. The Prasar Bharati is meant to be autonomous and independent but it has never lived up to the ideal. The Modi government can spurn criticism at the moment, but that is not what is expected of an elected government.

India: Doordarshan's Explanation for Broadcasting RSS Speech is Just Plain Stupid (Brinda Karat)

NDTV.COM - 3 October 2014

Doordarshan's Explanation for Broadcasting RSS Speech is Just Plain Stupid

Brinda Karat


(Brinda Karat is a Politburo member of the CPI(M) and a former Member of the Rajya Sabha.)

It is a reflection of dark times that the day after the country celebrated the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, an organisation which had been implicated in his assassination gets to have the speech of its leader broadcast, and that too, live, courtesy of the national broadcaster Doordarshan. This is a complete misuse of official machinery to promote the ideology and leadership of an organization which has no constitutional status. It also signals an ominous development that under the Modi Government, the RSS will have access to the institutions of the State.

The explanation given by Doordarshan that the speech was broadcast because it was newsworthy is just plain stupid. The speech of the RSS Chief is an annual event on Vijaya Dashami, which is also observed as the foundation day of the organisation. It may have warranted a para or two in the newspapers or even a mention in a news bulletin, but a live broadcast? Get serious. It hasn't happened in the decades since DD was formed. What is so special and newsworthy to warrant a live broadcast in 2014 ? The only difference is we have a pracharak as our Prime Minister.

Who took the decision? It is an open secret that Prasar Bharti, which is supposed to be an autonomous body, had no idea of this plan. The supine bureaucrats in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued the orders, and the Directors of DD jumped to attention, rather like the swayam sevaks they were mandated to cover live.

The Director Generals of the News Divisions of All India Radio and DD are appointed directly by the Ministry without any consultation with Prasar Bharti. What worth is such autonomy, when the heads of news channels owe their posts to the Government? Can any of them dare to refuse an order?

There was a time under the Congress regime, when Doordarshan, when it had a monopoly of the airwaves, was referred to as His/Her Master's Voice. The complaint was that it was the Government and ruling party leaders which got all the coverage. But in this case, under the Modi dispensation, DD has gone a step further, and given live coverage not to the Government at the expense of the opposition, as it was earlier, but to an extra-constitutional authority.

The RSS is a self-proclaimed sectarian organization which does not claim to represent all Indians but just one section - those who are Hindus. It is an organization which has been banned twice, which has been indicted by several commissions of inquiry as being responsible for the many cases of communal violence in independent India. More recently, its leaders and its cohorts have been instigating a highly coloured communalized campaign against so-called love jihad, spreading hatred against Muslims.

If the speech of such a leader is broadcast live, it is an assault on the constitutional values of secularism. What is his locus standi? It also leaves the door wide open for leaders of other equally sectarian organisations functioning in the name of Islam or any religious sect or "godmen" and "godwomen" to demand equal time on national TV for the rantings of their leaders.

When political parties recognized by the Election Commission of India speak on behalf of their parties during election broadcasts on Doordarshan, they have to submit written texts of their speeches which are then vetted by DD officials. Sentences and paragraphs are removed if they are not in consonance with the code of conduct set by the Election Commission. These, remember, are recognized political parties - yet even their leaders have to subject themselves to a code and are not allowed to make extempore speeches live. Did Mohan Bhagwat submit his speech to Doordarshan? Obviously not. He did not need to because it would seem that in Modi's India, the RSS is above the law and has special privileges.

Broadcasting the speech live meant that words and ideas which should have no place in a secular society were beamed across the nation. It was shameful that Doordarshan should provide its platform for such a distorted perception of history and culture. The speech was replete with references to Hindutva and Hinduness as being the core of India. Bhagwat once again asserted " all-encompassing truth is what we call Hinduism. It is our national identity." Further, "unbroken current of national unity is known as Hindutva."

No religion can be equated with national identity in a secular country. India is not a Hindu nation. The founder of the Indian Constitution rejected Hinduism and wrote an impassioned document as to why he had converted and become a Buddhist. Is it then not abhorrent that Ambedkar should be referred to in the same sentence as Golwalkar, the RSS leader who epitomized Hindutva sectarianism, and that they should be equated as great leaders by Bhagwat?

In his speech, he referred to the RSS sevaks as a workforce "energized with the pride of their Hindu national identity." Is this the kind of sectarian stuff that the national broadcaster wants to promote? If you can propagate men being energized with Hindu national identity, then why not Muslim national identity or Sikh national identity or Christian national identity? What happens to Indian national identity?

The Information and Broadcasting Minister has much to answer for.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/article/opinion/doordarshan-s-explanation-for-broadcasting-rss-speech-is-just-plain-stupid-601559