Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Why Do Indians Hate Biased Reporting? - An Open Letter to Rajdeep Sardesai

Dear Rajdeep,

How do you sleep in the night? What is your agenda? Do you think you can drive it blatantly when you are losing credibility every second? Yes, I am talking about intolerance reports about Shahrukh Khan!

Just to clarify, I am not a die-hard SRK fan, nor am I a blind BJP voter. I have voted for congress when they made sense, supported TDP when they talked about better governance. Yes, once upon a time I was your fan and Pranav Roy's fan when you put news in front of us with balanced analysis. But now, forget the analysis even your questions are biased.

There was no need to bring up intolerance issue - which in any case is a media-made issue- to the birthday boy. What personal perspective would SRK have on intolerance? Most of the people he meets everyday would only savour their meeting as lifetime experience and probably not wash the hands he shook for weeks. Did you see the pictures SRK released on his FB? Thousands of people gathered outside Mannat just to see him from a distance and wave to him. He knows he could not be where he is if India was intolerant. It was very cunning of you to slip in this question amidst all personal questions.

I have seen the telecast interview multiple times. While SRK was answering intolerance it appears that he is actually referring to impatience among youth world over. He makes an oblique remark that the non-secular noises have grown slightly - just a little bit ( halakasa - just in case you prefer hindi) Then he narrates how they celebrate Eid and Diwali etc. His message was quintessentially that of unity, respecting all religions to become superpower. I felt it was quite a positive message which you chose to twist and report as growing intolerance.

Rajdeep, I had never believed that your reporting was biased till I saw you in action in Madison square. You were out there instigating people with the intention of getting beaten up to improve TRP. That was a lowly act. Dadri incident is condemnable, the mob has no right to kill person. One needs to understand cow in rural India's context. In rural India, unlike rest of the world, cows are not reared for meat. They have status equivalent to a pet in the house. Cows and Bulls have pet names, kids and women-folk talk to them, cows are fed with the same food. Cows make Bulls that are work animals, loved like pets so you don't eat them. Simple. Ask a dog owner or cat owner what they would feel if their pet meets similar fate - you will have your answers. I am a Hindu, I don't eat beef, nor do I support the ban, nor do I like to be mocked or questioned about my food choices. You want eat beef go ahead, don't tell me that I am a fanatic if I don't eat it.

Rajdeep, most precious thing a reporter has is credibility, faith that general public puts on them for unbiased reporting. By this biased reporting you are creating Hindu-Muslim divide in the country. There are many who just reacted to the report rather than seeing the entire interview and started spewing venom against each other - which is probably what you wanted. People like you are the threat to secularism in the country. Its high time you stop doing this, may be take a break, travel around multiple countries to see what intolerance actually is. Today you may have more money than when you started but you have lost your credibility so you are bound to die poor unless you mend your ways.

In shudhdha Hindi - sudhar ja abhi bhi vakt hai |

We Indians are tolerant, we forgive those who change for better.

- V
A face in Indian crowd