NEW DELHI: The Indian Press has been at pains to suppress reports of large scale violence being witnessed in most parts of India today. Just last week over 400 Muslims were murdered in cold by rampaging Hindu mobs in Gonda district on the Bihar UP border. Most papers took a greater interest in listing the names of the VVIPs who descended on Varanasi to pay homage to Kamlapati Tripathi than in reporting how many and who had been roasted alive in Gonda. The editorials do speak of the unnecessary bloodshed, but what they say is completely different from the newspaper reports. Dainik Jagran does not mention the VHP or the BJP in the context of Gonda. Its editorial accuses some Muslims of misinterpreting the state government’s pioneering effort to promote communal harmony. The October 8 editorial says quite clearly that Muslim leaders, in particular a Member of Parliament known to be close to the chief minister, responsible for instigating the Muslims to attack the Durga immersion procession. “Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav must order the arrest of this agent provocateur. If he fails to do so it will be clear that the chief minister is afraid of losing the Muslim vote bank,” says the daily. While the minority Urdu press accuses the state government of indulging in a shameful cover up to hide the extent of the carnage, several Hindi newspapers accuse Mr Yadav of indulging in a cover up to hide the role of some Muslim leaders who in their view, are deliberately fanning communal tension in the state.
The minority press is furious at the mass murders of the Muslims in Karnataka. Gujarat, Rajisthan, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, during the September riots in the wake of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. Rehnumay Deccan (Hyderabad) accuses the communal minded police of Adilabad for the bloodshed in that city. Akhbare Nay (Delhi) holds the RSS and the BJ Responsible for the first ever incidents of communal violence in Madras’.”Mr Karunanidhi, once a strong critic of Hindu fundamentalists is frightened of the BJP of these days.” Siasat Jadeed (Kanpur) on the Baroda riots: “The BJP’s motive is to cripple Muslim enterprise in Baroda and Ahmedabad by instigating communal not.” Radiance ‘Views Weekly. “The chief minister, Mr Chimanbhai Patel is only interested in protecting his gaddi in Gandhi agar. To appease the BJP he released those arrested in connection with the Baroda riots.
The Daily Salar (Bangalore) holds the police responsible for the carnage in Ramana gram. The tension is palpable, reports the Salar correspondent. “Every train leaving the silk town is carrying 300 Muslims fleeing from the atrocities of the police. There is no problem with the majority community, it is the police which has changed Ramana tha puram to Ravananagram.
The media’s communal divide extends even to the tears shed over the dead. The Hindi media is stunned by the self-immolation of middle class children but never a word about Muslims killed.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 26, 1990
