Gujarat Polls 2007 – Now Hindutva is Psuedo-Secular

The?24×7 news channels are on the verge of losing all credibility with their bias now becoming a joke. With phrases like “in a shocking coincidence” they all covered an ad from the BJP questioning the commitment to Justice and Convictions in the Godhra Case, courtesy the U.C. Bannerjee Commission.

If the mere mention of Godhra by the BJP in one ad was “shocking” to them and amounted to “playing with fire” one wonders what the many reports they themselves have been carrying for weeks now on the 2002 riots should be characterised as??

?Perhaps in the alternate reality in which they the news channels dwell in incessant reporting on the riots starting with the Tehelka expose were both “natural” and amounted to something “benign “like playing with water”.

Now here is one “shocking” headline they could have used but then it would be politically incorrect, wouldnt it.

Hindutva is not necessarily non-secular

Btw that is no fiction manufactured by Offstumped, it is a direct quote from a Congress man.

Now guess who said it ?

Son of former chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki and Anand MP Bharatsinh Solanki does not represent the quintessential Congress politician. He is the face of a new Congress, with a mission and a clear vision according this report in the DNA that quotes him saying

Congress in Gujarat will show the world secular Hindutva

There in lies the paradox of the Congress campaign in Gujarat. Any wonder you dont see Rahul Gandhi jumping the fray in Gujarat. Imagine how slogans like this would play out for the Congress elsewhere in India. If this line by Bharatsinh Solanki is anything go by one can expect the Central Leadership of the Congress to maintain more than an arms length distance from the dust and din of the Gujarat campaign lest their psuedo-secular credentials get tainted by talk of Hindutva.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi meanwhile filed his nomination yesterday, to make up the other half of the “shocking coincidence” from above. The bookies punting on Modi is the toast of news reports today. While the object of all the betting himself is betting less on “Hindutva being secular or communal” and more on other issues including the UPA’s dismal record on Terrorism. One development issue that seems to have caught the fancy of the news channels is the water situation in Kutch. This report in the IBN, thin on facts and heavy on soundbites, ?is symptomatic of the superficial reporting this and other channels have been carrying out which often results in framing the issue based on generalisations and oversimplifications.

To wrap up this post ?look who is defending the ban on TV channels airing the Tehelka expose in Ahmedabad ?

?No other collector in Gujarat except Mr. Dwivedi showed the courage to ban the telecast of the expose. Even the Election Commission later approved of his action,?

That was Information and Broadcasting Minister P. R. Dasmunsi who also claimed here was some ?deep-rooted? conspiracy behind the telecast of the Tehelka expose on Gujarat riots. With no takers at home, Tarun Tejpal meanwhile was busy peddling his fiction in far away New Jersey.

Offstumped assessment of the race so far – With the polls just a few weeks away the race appears to be superficial at this stage with the macro level debate pretty much stuck more on Mr. Modi’s personality and less on specific aspects of his record. With no defining state-wide issues emerging yet, at this stage it appears that it will be the sum of all incumbencies and mutinies that will likely determine the final outcome.

Filed under: Gujarat Polls 2007, Uncategorized