Role of media

I am amused at the prominence that the media is giving to the "pub"controversies in the recent past. And this transcends states wheredifferent political parties are at the helm - The Congress in Rajasthanand Delhi, and the BJP in Karnataka. I personally condemn anyone takingthe law into their hands, in the name of culture. But the way the mediaprojects these incidents irriates me.The Chief ministers of Rajathan and Karnataka have come out in public stating that they believe that this pub culture is not good for theirstates' long term interests and therefore they would not permit it. I amnot, for a moment, commenting on whether this is right or wrong, It isfor the people to decide. However, I am plainly irked by the media calling it "moral policing". If the elected leader of a state pronouncesactions on something that he/ she believes is against the interests ofthe people he/ she is leading, then one would automatically assume that he is speaking on behalf of the Govt. as it's leader, and , bydeduction, speaking on behalf of the people themselves. If anyone has aproblem with this stand. decision, then the right place to debate is theLEGISLATURE, not in the media, calling names, which I think demeans the elected Govt. Let the media lobby with MLAs/ MLCs on this and get themto get a previlage motion in the floor of the House, and get thisresolved. The media cannot act like a proxy govt. by themselves, comingsuch judgements based on what they perceive. This, to me, clearly steps on the toes of the Legislature. But then, sadly, in India, we have seen umpteen instances where the Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and the media stepping on each others' toes in the past, and this is yet another instance in this long list.

Kashmir Elections

I had been pre-occupied with my father's illness and recovery and could not continue. By God's grace he is now stable.

I was watching with interest , the media coverage on Kashmir elections. The biggest news item being analyzed was neither PDP's loss not NC's lead, nor the decline of the Congress, but the "ominous rise of fundamentalist forces" ... ahem, they meant the BJP, nor the LeT or the PDP...

It may be noted that barring the odd mild protest on the PDP's pro-secessionist position, there was hardly a whimper of protest on their "right to self determination" position... I am sure the Election Commission was looking away askance, at the Dal Lake... and had clearly not looked into this worrying psoturing by the PDP.

On the contrary, the biggest arguements were reserved for the BJP's rise in Jammu region ( they won 11 seats). It was painted as a victory for the Amarnath Shrine zealots.... and that therefore " it has permenantly divided the valley along religious lines". Funny as it sounded to me, because if the NC or the PDP openly tout the cause of the Muslims that is being viewed as aceptable and Secular, whereas the BJP's vistory is straightaway being ascribed to the rise of an unfathomable faultline....

In my opinion, Arun Jaitley gave the right response, when he said that the people in Jammu were feeling highly "marginalized" , since all the attention and development money was going to the Kashimr valley and practically nothing for the Jammu and Ladakh regions. I think that is a very fair assessment, and that it is high time the authorities corrected this.