Stampede of the Indian Media

The Indian media has once again shown its capability of being more BJP than the BJP itself. The Maha Kumbh has unmasked it in a very brutal way

The Indian media has once again shown its capability of being more BJP than the BJP itself. The Maha Kumbh has unmasked it in a very brutal way.

Hiding the wrongs of the government is what the Indian media is best at. They did it in COVID and are doing it now with the stampede of Maha Kumbh.

The lives of at least 30 devotees were snuffed out and more than 60 were injured in a pre- dawn stampede on Mauni Amavasya, the biggest bathing day of the mela. There are fears that the death toll could rise.

Officials have blamed the incident on people breaking barricades in the rush for a dip in the holy waters on the auspicious occasion. A wave of pilgrims heading towards the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, reportedly crashed into those on their way back after the ritual bath.

In the chaos, a section of the crowd jumped queues, broke columns and trampled over devotees resting near the Sangam.

Uttar Pradesh government delayed declaring the death toll till Wednesday evening. Later, it also ordered an inquiry. That will, no doubt, throw more light on what actually went wrong.

One thing, though, is clear: The incident calls for reflection on crowd management strategies.

The UP government that counted “crores of pilgrims” had to wait for almost the entire day to know the exact number of people died and injured. All thanks to the Media that once again gave escape route to the ruling dispensation.

“Journalism is publishing what others doesn’t want to be published, everything else is PR”. Basically journalism is speaking out the truth, the truth that people in power don’t want to come out and revealed.

The media has always been under attack. Be it the British rule in India or Emergency, the media has been one of the main targets. Journalists back then were professionals of truth. Truth used to be circulated. The wrongs of the government used to be put forth to people, so that they could decide what’s wrong and what’s right. But, the journalists, with some exceptions, never succumbed to the pressure tactics.

In British era, people like Raja Ram Mohan Roy confronted the British using his newspaper Mirat-ul-Akabr and Sambad Kaumudi. Sambad was a weekly newspaper published from Kolkata. Despite various restrictions, he didn’t stop publishing the truth. His newspaper was banned because the British were fed up with is reporting and were forced to ban his newspaper.

Not only he but many people who tired to confront the British were put behind bars and their newspapers were banned. But the history stands witness that they didn’t bow down and kept working hard with courage to look directly in the eyes of British.

After Independence of India came the time of Emergency. During this period media again had a very big challenge to confront. When the Emergency was imposed the first thing that was targeted was the media.

All those outlets that spoke against the Emergency were arrested and put in jails and the outlets were sealed. But the staff ran the newspaper secretly and spoke against the government for the rights violations. Many new newspapers were set up during the Emergency, they were run in undeclared places.

The media has seen much worst times but it has never fallen the way it has fallen today. Today it has sold itself like never before. It’s not that the present Prime Minister or Home Minister is first of its kind.

Much worst were there. But, what wasn’t there are these sellout media outlets. In those days, media was all about News and Truth. But today, it’s all about getting closer to the establishment and get TRP. That’s what media is all about.

Journalists back then used to be torch bearers of truth but today they are no less than actors who take different roles as per the situation demands. The professionalism of journalist is lost.

People now look down on those who call themselves journalist. And this shame to the profession has been brought to this profession by majority of journalists.

The media during those days was bold and used to hold the government accountable when everyone wanted to be safe and have good relationship with the government. The print media used to print at undisclosed place and used to bring out the truth, until the government was able to locate their secret place.

During the British era, an act, “Vernacular Press Act”, used to govern what should be published in India. The act was proposed by Layton, the then Viceroy of India. The act was passed on 14 March 1878. The act controlled what they called seditious writing. The definition of seditious writing during British India and Modi’s India have no difference.

The act gave powers to magistrate or Commissioner of police to call upon any publisher to enter bound, undertaking not print a certain kind of material, and could confiscate any printed material it deemed objectionable.

The Seditious material was to be decided by the police and not by the judiciary. We see a similar kind of media policy enforced in Kashmir where the District Magistrate has the power to decide whether the news printed is seditious or not.

Kashmir journalists have faced the worst time for reporting the truth. Many had to shut their press while others were forced to vacate the accommodation whereas some other had to spend years in jail for reporting the truth.

[Raqif Makhdoomi is a student of law and human rights activist. View are personal.]

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