Truthfulness or objectivity is an ideal that mortals freely profess but rarely practice. Same is true of the professional ethics. It is particularly so in professions that deals with a cross section of a society. Judges, doctors, teachers, journalists, etc. all tend to be swayed by their subjective views and angles. To a degree this subjectivity is natural and understandable. But when professionals dealing with sensitive areas of socio-political interaction discard even the pretense of objectivity and indulge in vulgar partisanship, then, the loops binding disparate elements are seriously hurt and inevitably lead to a process that spells disintegration.
Indian media suffers from this malady to a point of madness so far analysing the problem in Punjab is concerned. Day in and day out, the leading journalists spin stories and suggest jaundiced solutions. The national dailies magazines that specialize in speculative journalism regularly publish features by stalwards like Kuldip Nayyar, Rajinder Sareen, Pran Chopra and a host of other scribblers of their genre who under the deceptive facade of fairness operate with insidious intent. They have perfected the art of developing fictional premises and, then, constructing a seemingly logical argument to drive home misleading conch Instead of examining the Sikh grievances and demands in the context of Delhi’s treacherous betrayal and systematic usurpation of Punjab’s constitutional rights, they distractingly shift the focus away from the essentials and concentrate on the by-products of the Sikh struggle. One does not have to read between the lines to discover their communal bias against the Sikhs. It is splashed all over their writings. In his article “Ending the Punjab Impasse”, published in the Indian Express, Mr. Pran Chopra, while ‘suggesting that dialogue should be opened with “the other side”, justifies it by concluding that “it makes victory 10t more difficult, if you fight the enemy while trying also to understand him”. The central point is not dialogue but fighting the enemy. Obviously in his psychological frame a Sikh exists only as an enemy and the collective voice of the Sikhs, therefore, is treated in the same way as. Enemy troops at the troubled border. “Honorable” pillars of the Indian media privately accept but refuse to publically highlight the truth about Indira Gandhi’s real intent in attacking the Golden Temple. They know that the attack was not to flush out the mythical militants but to secure electoral advantages through communal appeasement of Hindu fundamentalists, yet they keep repeating the lies manufactured by her to justify the sinister action.
Again, they have turned blind eye to the ruthless killing of innocent Sikh youth by Ribeiro. Rather they recommend arming him with still more powers, they want Punjab to be made a non-regulation state and suggest replacement of fake encounters by fake trials so as to eliminate Sikh young men through judicial murders. For them there is nothing communal in the demand of Punjab Hindus for de-affiliating D.A.V. schools from the Punjab School Education Board and affiliating them with the Central Board of School Education in order to enable their children to use Hindi instead of Punjabi as the medium of instructions. No concern is expressed when a Punjab Hindu leader, Mr. Hit Abhilashi opposes the installation of a big multi-national project like Coca Cola in the Punjab that promises tremendous fill up to the State economy besides holding the Prospect of generating large employment opportunities.
The in-bred communal bias of these “honourable” men prevents them from adopting the correct persepective. Victims of this tragic flaw, they stumble from one hollow hypothesis to another and thus contribute only to further confound the issues, the answer lies in recognizing
The reality, the reality is that Sikhs fully support the freedom fighters and they will never; never accept a dis honourable peace. Sikh masses, to-day, are not yearning for peace as is
Being made out by them but for freedom, whatever be the cost.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 25, 1987
