MJ – a youth icon; courtesy media!

Media all over the world mourned the death of rock star Michael Jackson, Jacko as they fondly called him. It was on expected lines, given the fact that MJ had fan-following across continents. He has traveled through lengths and breaths of all continents popularising his brand of music and dance. It was also but natural that media celebrated the unique talent of MJ, hailing him as a born genius. No doubt, he was a born singer and musician and dancer. In fact, he is considered the creator of what is now known as the break dance.

What is perhaps missing in all the eulogising across media is MJ’s compulsions to metamorphose himself into a white. Was he not proud to be a black? Was he ashamed of his race? Or was he not sure of his success with his colour?

We are not sure. But he was one of his kinds among blacks to be so gifted in several arts – music, singing and dancing. Perhaps, he felt it was impossible to survive as black singer in racist country. Or may be he was apprehensive as to how people would accept him as a black rock star. Be that as it may, media’s portrayal of him as a youth icon, somehow, does not seem to go well with those who would think that some of his eccentricities would more be a challenge to youth spirit than to enthuse it.

Attaining fame and name seems much easier than living up to their demands. We have seen this in the case of many celebrities, including Murline Munroe and Elvis Presley. What brought end to MJ was his own fame. He took it very seriously and thought that the glory he had attained was a licence to live a horrendous life, courting women and finding comfort in drugs and narcotics. His changing of religious faith into Islam does not seem to have done any good to him. In fact, one wonders whether religion was important to him at all.

Coming back to Media, some newspapers and news channels carried the news of his death and tried doing a post-mortem of the possible causes of his death. However, what is surprising is that media went amuck describing him as a model which every youth must follow. Sorry! MJ is a good musician, singer, dancer. His hard-earned achievements are definitely worthy of emulation. But not so his un-inspiring life. It is a irony that a person who lived among crowds died a loner. One is naturally distraught at the sheer cruelty of the turn of events. However, in the case of MJ, at least, it seems he cared less about life and more about his glory, which is not one of the subjects any youth must emulate.

Online campaign: Why did Advani fail?

Two major elections took place in two of the world’s largest democracies within a matter of six months. While the result of the first one (USA) was on expected lines, that of the latter (India) threw some surprises. However, in the end both results reaffirmed people’s faith in democracy, despite all its shortcomings.

If there are any significant similarities in the two elections, it is in the online campaign that was extensively used by leaders in both countries. This was for the first time that online campaign was used so widely to woo the young voters. In fact, much of Obama’s success lay in his ability to attract youngsters through his online campaign.

Obama laid great emphasis on convincing the GenNext to vote for change. Through systematic research he found out that youngsters were very slow in voting and he took it upon himself to make them politically active. He did not rely only on advertisements, though he spent the maximum in various types and forms of advertisements. He recruited volunteers throughout different communities to work for his campaign. Through his charismatic approach he built up a network of very loyal supporters to build newer personal relationships.

Apart from TV, radio, advertising, events and press releases, online campaign was key to his successful campaign. His website was linked to his personal blog and social networks such as facebook, myspace, youtube, dig and twitter. Also the whole archive of videos of his speeches was available online. People could even sign up on his website to receive regular updates about the campaign.

The result? Over 130 million people turned out to vote, out of whom 67. 7 per cent voted for him as against 32.3 for McCain. The voter turn out in some states was as high as 82 per cent.

L. K. Advani, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate too tried a similar online strategy. A committed team of 20-30 young professionals worked hard for months to make a successful ‘Advani-for-PM’ online campaign. In fact, Advani’s picture appeared in over 2000 important and popular websites throughout India. Even when one typed words like Congress, Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh etc. Advani’s picture would pop up on the right side of the screen. It is learnt that BJP’s IT team had chosen more that 1000 important key words which would lead to L. K. Advani’s ad. Many bloggers expressed their dissent at being subjected to view unsolicited political ads with not-so-pleasing picture of Advani. According to the BJP, though, they were able to attract more than 25,000 online visitors daily as the election date approached.

Despite all this systematic work why did Mr Advani’s online campaign fail? Simple answer: Advani is not Obama and India is not US. In India only five per cent of people visit the internet. In fact, for 34 per cent of our people such campaign makes no sense, because they cannot read and write. Nearly 70 per cent of our people still live in villages, hundreds of them remote having no electricity connection. So the BJP’s online campaign reached only the urban net savvy generation most of which cares a dime for voting. Accordingly, the BJP’s strategy was doomed to be a failure even before it was kickstarted with much fanfare.

Then, or course, there was the Advani factor. No one questions Advani’s physical fitness despite age and his oratory skills. But age can still be a factor. While American voter saw youthfulness and newness in Obama, Indian voter was not so sure about Advani. Added to this was the youthful factor of Rahul Gandhi who brought in a lot of youngsters into the party and eventually was responsible for the victory of many of them.

So what has the online campaigns to tell us? In an American context it is crucial and can make a difference in the election of the President, as the percentage of online visitors is very high. However, India has still a long way to go. The government’s over-concentration on cities year after year has only alienated the rural population, especially from benefiting from the fruits of IT revolution. Even in the next General Election it is unlikely that the online campaign will make a difference for the election of our Prime Minister.

Election 2009: many surprises and media celebrations

The 2009 General Elections have indeed thrown up major surprises. Very few, perhaps, would have predicted a substantial 206 seats for the Congress. Many political analysts and media pundits have termed the UPA victory as a victory of secularism. Though UPA in general and the Congress party in particular may like to consider themselves secular, secularism for them is more a tactic or means to garner a vote base than an ideology to stand by. However, among the plethora of political parties one would agree to the fact that the UPA, by and large, was closer to secular ideals.

The voter in the country, it seems, has not voted so much for secularism as for a stable government. This was reflected immediately in the markets when they opened on Monday, May 18, when the Sensex went up over 2000 points, mainly with the excitement of a stable government in the centre. Added to this was the NDA campaign which backfired. While in 2004 they tried to fool the country through their India Shining campaign and paid for it, this time round they once again tried a similar strategy by attacking an honest Prime Minister calling him weak. Their usual hate campaign against the minorities (cf. Modi and Varun) and projecting Modi as the Prime-Minister-in-waiting, too did not go well with the voters. Be it as it may, the common man is rejoicing because he/she can expect at least a stable government for five years.

The media too were upbeat. Strangely, almost all news channels and the print media in their Exit Poll predicted an edge for the UPA. It is a known fact that Exit Polls reflect more the desire of the particular media organisation than the opinion of the voter. So there was a visible rejoicing among media institutions at the UPA’s victory. They know very well that the UPA will be much more corporate in its approach, unlike the NDA which is ambivalent and not sure as to which road to tread on. Further, the absence of the Left parties in the UPA was another cause for celebration, as the UPA government got a free hand to further their unfulfilled agenda of privatisation of important sectors like Insurance and Banking.

But the media have their task cut out now. In the absence of the Left parties, the UPA will be emboldened in its endeavour for aggressive privatisation. It is here that the media have to play the watchdog and constantly keep the government on tenterhooks by critiquing its policies. Further, the government has the responsibility to fulfill all its pre-poll promises. Now is the golden opportunity for the media to be the fourth estate in true sense of the term.

A book with shocking Kandhamal facts

Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh termed Kandhamal carnage as a ‘national shame’. But if one were to lay hands on a recent book on Kandhamal, one would realise that it was more than a national shame – it was a blatant denial of the constitutional privileges of Fundamental Rights.

Kandhamal: a blot on Indian Secularism is a book, perhaps the first of its kind, that vividly portrays the violence that took place in Kandhamal last year. The author, Mr Anto Akkara, a senior freelance journalist, visited the ravaged villages over six times to get a first-hand information and document it. His search has resulted in the revelation of certain shocking and hitherto unreported details of the Kandhamal issue in the mainstream media.

72 killed, not 32

For example, the Orissa government claims that only 32 persons were killed in the communal violence. But the author has given a list of75 with their names, villages they belong and the date on which they were killed. He has procured this list from the affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court by the Archbishop of Bubeneswar, Rev. Raphael Cheenath. Says the author, “The government refusal to acknowledge the murders also means that there will not be any prosecution either in majority of the killings in Kandhamal.”

The funeral procession

There is also another chilling detail of the funeral procession of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati who was killed allegedly by the Maoists on August 23. The procession was taken out for over two days. The author holds that the procession went along the puzzling difficult route covering 250 kilometers which could have taken along main roads and completed in few hours. “This has been done deliberately by the communal forces to whip up communal passions,” the author holds. Hundreds of houses and religious centres were torched as the funeral procession traversed along the rugged path. The author gives a total list of 5031 houses that have been burnt or damaged in Kandhamal in the communal violence.

Godhra vs Kandhamal

What makes Kandhamal different from Godhra? It is true that in the Godhra carnage over 2000 Muslims were killed, compared to the 72 or so in Kandhamal. Had the people not fled to the forests the number in Kandhamal also would have been much higher. Nevertheless, there is no big difference as regards the intensity of the damage. Both incidents have dented the faith of the minority communities in the government machinery and its commitment to uphold secularism.

Perhaps, what sets Kandhamal apart , as claimed by the book, is the media notice or the lack of it. While Godhra saw a minute by minute coverage by the media – both print and electronic – Kandhamal was not adequately reported in the mainstream media. There are several reasons for this. First of all, Kandhamal is over 220 kilometres away from the State capital, Bubeneswar. It is covered by dense forest and reaching there is quite an agonising experience. Secondly, the communal outfits saw to it that media did not reach Kandhamal for weeks together. Even the ministers could not enter the territory as the roads were completely blocked and the situation was really tense.

Due to all this, people in general have not got a comprehensive picture of Kandhamal. This book, no doubt, gives readers very many details of the violence that took place for months together. Author’s painstaking efforts have brought forth many first person narratives of many victims, the reading of which is very disturbing.

Curious case of Niladri Kanhar

Among the many narratives in the book, there is one by Niladri Kanhar. He was a hard core Sangh Privar activist who masterminded several attacks on Christians and their institutions earlier.

However, his family underwent a series of major problems which resulted in the whole family becoming desperate and on the verge of losing hope. It is at this point that a pastor, Pavitra Mohomo, seems to have prayed over the family for many days and, as a result, all the suffering just vanished. This was a moment of conversion for Niladri who along with his whole family became Christian.

A hardcore Sangh Parivar activist becoming a Christian was too much to bear for the saffron brigade. They harassed him repeatedly and finally burnt his house and beat him and left him half dead. Niladri survived, not before undergoing several surgeries. “Jesus was crucified. It is a joy for me to carry an injury for the faith in him,” he says.

One fails to understand if Niladri’s case was a forced conversion or a result of inducement. Here is a clear violation of a person’s fundamental right of religious freedom. If this could happen to a redeemed Sangh Parivar activist, one can only imagine the plight of the ordinary tribals and dalits. “Threats, intimidation and boycott to force the returning Christians forsake their faith is continuing unabated in many villages in Kandhamal,” explains the author.

Releasing the book in Bangalore on April 24, former justice of the High Court, M. F. Saldanha said, “The government should take suo moto cognizance of a well-documented report like this book and stop wasting money on commission reports which run into thousands of pages only to gather dust in libraries.”

Recently in a television debate, Seema Mustafa, senior journalist and the editor of Covert, said, “Incidents like Godhra and Kandhamal should be treated as issues directly related to Indian Constitution. It is unfortunate that political parties are turning them into election issues for their vote bank politics.”

One only waits for such a day when political parties will stop playing cheap politics on the lives of people. Otherwise it will not be a surprise if more Godhras and Kandhamals take place in India.

The rise of regional parties: boon or bane?

The writing on the wall is fairly clear: the days of single-party rule at the centre are over for Indian democracy. Today only a coalition government which can hold its partners together through thick and thin can hope to form a government at the centre. What has given rise to such development is the rise of regional parties which try hard to make their presence felt at the centre as well.

When Indian democracy had its first elections in 1952 there were hardly any regional parties. In fact, it was the Congress party which held its sway over the nation. Even in the sixties the national parties won nearly 90 per cent of seats. That trend has changed considerably today. In the 2004 general elections, regional parties won as many as 43 per cent of the total number of seats and national parties 57 per cent. Today there are 47 regional parties and over 400 smaller parties vying with one another for their share of pie.

It is not at all surprising that today two states are ruled by independent regional parties and in as many as eight states there is an alliance government of regional and national parties. In Tamil Nadu, for example, national parties have hardly a chance. The regional parties have dominated the scene since 1967. Andhra Pradesh was ruled by the Telugu Desham Party between 1983 and 1989 and between 1994 and 2004. Uttar Pradesh has also been ruled by regional parties for greater part of the last two decades. National parties do not seem to make any significant progress in their voters’ share in UP.

Whether such a trend is good for Indian democracy can be debated; but one cannot ignore the fact that in a large democracy smaller parties do have a place and also have a crucial role to play. It is possible that in the larger interest of the Nation, the local aspirations of people can be totally forgotten by national parties. It is here that local and regional parties can bargain hard to get fair representation of local needs.

Recently Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said that regional parties were responsible for the backwardness of several states and that they lacked a national perspective, much to the ire of many regional parties. What he meant to say, perhaps, was that regional parties indulged more in regionalism rather than having a broader vision of the country. At times it is difficult to draw line between regionalism and nationalism. If a nation is a sum total of multi-cultural, linguistic and ethnic regions, regionalism is a natural fall out and cannot be ignored easily. Though regional parties try to draw greater political mileage out of regional issues, no one can deny the fact that all regions must be given adequate attention.

The other important aspect is that in several instances regional parties eventually grow to become national parties. The present Bharatiya Janatha Party had its origin in the erstwhile Jan Sangh which was a regional party. The Bahujan Samaj Party is contesting independently in all Lok Sabha constituencies in these elections. The Left parties are no longer regional parties as they have their strong presence in several states and are contesting Lok Sabha elections in many states. Even National Congress Party and Samajwadi Party are contesting in several states. While regional parties want to strengthen their base in their core states, they also want to grow nationally as a power to reckon with.

The rise of regional parties can only be attributed to the failure of national parties to give due importance to the regional aspirations of people. While it may be true that regional parties fail to have a national vision and think only of their region, single party rule, as history has shown, can be authoritarian, caring little for the regional issues. It is here that the formation of the Third Front consisting mostly regional parties can make a difference. Combining both national and regional aspirations, though difficult, is not impossible. If they are able to put their sectarian politics behind and concentrate on more pertinent issues that trouble the country, indeed, the Third Front can bring about a breath of fresh air into the Indian democracy.