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Indian media fights war against
terror, with coffee mugs and fake victims
WSN Network
 MUMBAI: The
World Sikh News brought to you in its previous issue (Visit
www.WorldSikhNews.com for reference) how Indian establishment,
police and intelligence agencies have been bad-mouthing Muslims and
minority groups in the name of fight against terror. Anyone looking
for evidence should simply read our coverage of
Hyderabad
people's Tribunal, but here is some proof of how Indians are fooled
by the electronic media.
Given to
hyperbole and turning most serious subjects into entertainment shows
(news bulletins not excluded) Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar
introduced a widow on an episode of the musical show War-Parivaar
she hosts on Sony TV. The theme was fighting terrorism, and the show
was supposed to bve a tribute to the victims. The widow, Shubhda
Santosh Niwate, Matondkar said, had lost her husband in the
July 11, 2006,
Mumbai train blasts.
“Between raising
our voices against terrorism, we want to introduce you to a family
which has seen the ghastly face of terror from very close quarters,”
Matondkar said, as the camera panned on Niwate and her two young
daughters, Sayali, 7, and Granthali, 8. “My husband worked at the
Nagpada police hospital. He died in the Dadar blast on
July 11, 2006,”
the widow said, speaking in Marathi.
Matondkar joined
in on the episode which was shown on August 11. “Her husband was
working with the railway police. So I appeal to the railways to do
their best for her and her daughters,” the Rangeela star said in an
emotional plea and then went on to hug Niwate and her daughters and
also gave them some gifts.
But suspicions
arose because Dadar was not among the seven locations hit by serial
bomb blasts. An English daily Indian Express had profiled all the
Mumbai blasts victims and it naturally led an investigation, digging
out a rather ugly face of Indian reality TV: Niwate’s husband,
Santosh Rajaram Niwate, was not one of the 188 people killed in the
attacks.
Santosh, 35, it
was found, worked as a helper in the mortuary at JJ Hospital and
died only in February this year. He had a drinking problem and took
ill. He went to his hometown in Ratnagiri district and died there.
the newspaper found.
Shubhda, who
lives in the Nagpada police hospital quarters and works as a maid,
said she was going by the script. She said she had been approached
by Pradeep Waghmare, who works for Saibaba Telefilms, the production
house which makes War-Parivaar. “He said he was making some TV
programme on which I had to appear and say my husband was killed in
the bomb blast in Dadar and that I would be paid Rs 50,000 for it,”
she alleged.
“One month ago,
we were taken to RK Studios in a car and I was told what to say.
After the show, we were given only Rs 1,000 and dropped in Sion
instead of being dropped home. Urmila gave us three gifts. In one
packet there were two coffee mugs while the other two had dolls made
of jute,” she added. “I don’t know why they chose me for this.”
So much for
Indian media's concerns for terror victims.
3 September 2008
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