Even in this year too the role of
press and electronic media to the rally of Hindu Samhati on February 14 at Rani
Rashmani Road in Kolkata remained unchanged. Well, there was indeed no such
expectation too but none conceived that custodians of press freedom in Bengal
would stoop such to placate the cardinal mantra of secularism in the state. Naturally,
there was no report on next day’s newspaper despite the fact that it’s
difficult to remember any other such jam-packed mass meeting by any Hindu
organization in the city of Kolkata. What was published in newspapers then? It
was nothing save for harassment of public owing to the mass meeting and concocted
reports of peoples’ anguishes were also included in the report. But none did
care to accentuate the meeting’s significance in the contemporary
socio-economic and political scenario. Now let’s compare this stance of press
and electronic media to other recent developments.
Two weeks before the rally of
Hindu Samhati on February 14, 2014, Kolkata remained witness to three
successive public meetings at the Brigade Parade Ground and without a shred of
doubt, thanks to all these, traffic system in the metropolis was thrown out of
gear almost. But no report on this decline of traffic system then was perceived
in any newspaper, let alone in the electronic media or any news channel. They
were more interested to eulogize the concerned political parties and also their
leadership for mere benefits only. How can this be termed other than
parochialism?
This is not all as one Bengali
newspaper (taking pleasure in its reincarnation while its assets and also benefactors
are shrouded under mystery) termed Hindu Samhati as hate monger and the public
meeting on February 14 organized by its as the biggest show of communalism in
recorded history of Kolkata. Well, India or the largest democracy across the
globe is known for letting its citizens enjoy the Fundamental Right of Freedom
of Speech and in this respect, one has the fundamental right to express his own
opinions. This happens to be the guiding force behind press freedom as well.
But, at the same time, the voice and reality of the newspaper or persons
responsible for penning it must also be ascertained. He, according to records
of Government of India, happens to be the founder of outlawed SIMI (Students’
Islamic Movement of India) and even intelligence agencies are learnt to keep a close
watch on him. Yet he could manage to get favor of Bengal Chief Minister and
Mamata Banerjee, either due to compulsions or weird factors, nominated him as
Trinamool Congress candidate to Rajya Sabha.
The
sole intention of this tainted and communally biased newspaper is to provoke
religious sentiments in the state of Bengal and to feign as ideal secular
through publicizing reports of communal disturbances. In a way, this newspaper
is best paradigm of contemporary definition of secularism prevailing not Bengal
only but the whole of India also. Secularism, if truth be told, is nothing save
for a cloak to these divisive persons and to maintain this tradition, they do
not even blink to publish fictitious stories. In Naliakhali at Canning
residences of more than 200 Hindu families were bunt down and it emanated from the
murder of a person. But the newspaper did all ranging from perverting the truth
to publication of fabricated reports. Is this secularism or the repetition of
Taqiya only? It’s the time to get conscious or else the decline of Bengal soon
can’t be checked.
