Psuedo Secularism of The English Media

In my last post, I said that people are going to pay the price for clash of ego between Congress and Shiv Sena. And so did it happen - we had a bomb blast at the German Bakery in Pune, a place which I frequented regularly during my engineering days in Pune. Most people say that had the police force not been diverted to multiplexes, the blast could have been avoided. But I disagree with this opinion. I will try to explain this with a hypothetical situation. Imagine that there is a single terrorist and 100 possible targets that he plans to blast. Government has 100 police officers. Knowing that this terrorist is planning to blast one out of these 100 targets, the government assigns a police officer to each target. So then are we safe. No, because after a few days, atleast a few police officers will definitely get bored of doing the stupid, monotonous work of patrolling. And the terrorist has ample time to wait and frustrate the police, choose the weakest link among them and plan and execute the blast. A better strategy would be to send 10 of those 100 policeman to find that terrorist and eliminate him. But then, why do not we do this. Because of psedo secularism that is rampant in India. In India, terrorists are not terrorists, but poor innocent muslims who have been pushed to the brink of terrorism by attrocities done to them by hindus. And killing a terrorist will give produce 10 more terrorist. And any Indian who demands a more proactive approach towards terrorism is branded a right wing hinduist by pseudo secularists, as if protecting the lives of hindus in a hindu majority country is a crime.

With in the context of recent event, I would like to analyse the biased behaviour of our so called secularist media in the past few day in regard to the Shiv Sena - Shahrukh issue. Here are few observations regarding the role of media :-

1. Shahrukh made a statement regarding inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL. Shiv Sena opposed this view and demanded an apology for making the statement. I do appreciate the fact that not letting a film be released may not be the right way to oppose, but then Maharashtra is a land of Shivaji & Veer Savarkar and not Mahatma Gandhi. The media made this an issue of right to freedom of speech, supporting Sharukh's right to have and express an opinion. But then is it not a right of people to oppose something that is against national interest. No single news channel or newspaper analysed the appropiateness of statements made by Shahrukh and criticised him for having a view that may be detrimental against national interest.

2. One of the reasons why MNIK got released in Maharashtra was that Sharukh is close to Gandhi family. Two days before the release of film, there was a tacit understanding between Shiv Sena, state government and multiplex owners that multiplex owners will not release the film and the issue was resolved. But the state congress government was pressurised by centre to get the film released. Central goverenment threatened to send central paramilitary forces to Maharashtra if the state government is not able to release the film. Multiplex owners were forced to release the film by threatning them that their licenses will not be renewed. Why did the media not focus on this abuse of political power by the Gandhi family to get the film released.

3. There was a blatant misreporting by media of events unfolding on the ground. Release of film in 10 to 15 multiplexes in Mumbai was declared as a victory of "Shahrukh Sena over Shiv Sena". There are 75 theaters in Mumbai, which means the film did not get released in 60 to 65 theaters in Mumbai (almost 80% of theateres) and none in the rest of Maharashtra. Infact the movie was not released even in some parts of Gujarat & Madhya Pradesh. This at a time when the state government used its full might and the central government was willing to send paramilitary forces. Yet this was reported as a rout of Shiv Sena in Mumbai and liberation of Mumbai from Shiv Sena.

4. The most ridiculous thing about this contraversy is the way in which media projected the movie MNIK as being hit. To be fair, its an average movie, but the movie was given comparatively high ratings. Ratings are subjective and I will not argue on that, but occupancy and boxoffice revenues are objective. Occupany levels were 80% for first three days in big cities and less than 50% in small towns. Global box office revenues were 25 crores on friday, thanks to the contraversy created. For the first 3 days global box office revenues are 40 crores, with 2/3rds of revenues coming from overseas. Fox Searchlight bought the distribution rights for this film for 100 crores (Big Cinema paid 40 crores for 3 idiots). Revenue sharing in on average 50% between distributors and exhibitors. So MNIK will have to generate 200 crores on box office just to break even. On sat and sun revenues were 7.5 crores on average. Even at this run rate it will take the movie another 3 weeks to garner 200 crores. And without the help of Shiv Sena, the film may not stay on box office for another 3 days. Yet for the media, this movie, which technically will be a flop if it does not breakeven, is a hit.

5. Lastly it has been projected by media that Shiv Sena has lost its clout in Mumbai after getting fewer seats in assembly polls. In the recent assembly elections in Mumbai, the voting % were as follows - Congress - 28 MNS - 24 Shiv Sena - 19 BJP - 12 NCP - 6. Votes of Shiv Sena + MNS is 43% which is 15% more than that of Congress. On a combined basis Shiv Sena + MNS has increased its vote share, while Congress, BJP and NCP has lost vote share. Shiv Sena & MNS is getting stronger, rather than weaker as projected by the media. And thanks to Mr Rahul Gandhi(hope he will be able to compensate for Congress' loss of votes in Maharashtra with gains in UP and Bihar), Congress is increasingly being perceived as a North Indian Party in Maharashtra, and this perception will make Shiv Sena even stronger in Maharashtra.