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The Naxals, the PM and the Indian
media
WSN Media Watch
NEW DELHI:
Nation states often find it hard to see a 300 pound guerilla in the
room if they decide not to take note. For years,
India's
approach to the valiant battles being fought by its many ethnic
nationalities has been to ignore the guerilla, and the Naxalism
battle was not any different. It was almost a surprise that Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh made some reference to economic disparity
having some link with internal security matters. "Thank you very
much!" was the reaction in the WSN editorial room. "Oh really,
that's news!" must be the reaction in the editorial rooms of some
Indian newspapers which found it big news that vast number of people
pushed to the edge, displaced from their homes, edged out of forest
lands and deprived of any welfare measures of the state may fight
back. So the PM's words were front paged.
"The Prime
Minister today linked economic inequality to internal security when
he said “uneven development” was giving rise to many of the security
problems within," shouted leading Indian daily The Indian Express in
its December 21 edition.
“Development and
internal security are two sides of the same coin. Each is critically
dependent on the other. Often, the lack of development and the lack
of any prospects for improving one’s lot provide a fertile ground
for extremist ideologies to flourish,” the PM was quoted as telling
the chief ministers of India called to discuss internal security.
Good the PM mentioned this to the CMs. Why not share new found
knowledge?
In a country of
wide “developmental divides” — the inter-regional divide, the
rural-urban divide and the inter-sectoral divide — how ready is the
media to toe the government policy of seeing all peoples' battles as
law and order problem?
Even as the
Prime Minister said the "divides and disparities lead to
disaffection, large-scale migration and discord,” he did not forget
to term it as the "single biggest security challenge" to India and
asked states to establish specialized and dedicated forces to
eliminate this virus.
“Left-wing
extremism continues to affect many districts of our country. Not a
day passes without an incident of Left-wing extremism taking place
somewhere or the other. It continues to be single biggest security
challenge to the Indian state and we cannot rest in peace until we
have eliminated this virus,” the PM said.
Next day, The
Tribune, the Chandigarh-based newspaper that has seen the rise of
militancy in Punjab, knows very well the factors behind it, and
clearly realizes the gross human rights abuses that happened in
Punjab and the wages of seeing the problem only as a law and order
issue, thought it prudent to write in an editorial titled "The naxal
menace __ The nation must fight it out " that "Successive
governments ... gave a long rope to the killers hoping against hope
that they would hang themselves. They did not and it is the
governments which are now tied in the knots." The Tribune advocated
an entire editorial to stress how urgently must the law and order
forces must fight Maoists, made no reference to the key point of
economic disparities and then, to save face, added the below as the
last para:
"At the same
time, it is also necessary to tackle socio-economic factors like
poverty and widespread unemployment which help in the spread of Left
extremism. It all boils down to good and responsive governance. Pity
that instead of giving that to the public, most governments are
unable to tackle naxalism even as a law and order problem. The
menace will spread if it remains unchecked."
Inference: If
you can't alleviate poverty and provide employment, at least run
some good governance and kill the Naxals in larger numbers. There
will always be mainstream Indian media which will label them as a
Menace.
26 December 2007
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