A lot of people in private e-mails over the last fortnight have asked me why I am *after* St. Rajan Narayan (RN), the 2nd Patron Saint of Goa. Why I don't leave him alone and let his Independent Goan Observer (IGO) flower and flourish for the greater glory of Goa...
I shall reply in a collective manner. First and foremost, to those known (and at least three I don't have the privilege of personal acquaintance) who said that although they couldn't agree with my views on RN but respected me as a person and therefore didn't wish to drag me to a public forum, my thanks. Though I would consider nothing objectionable if their responses were posted on public fora, since my own posts were on such fora. Permit me to reiterate: 1. I am NOT *after* RN, the individual. My observations and opinion on RN's IGO were based on hard FACTS, quoted by me from www.rajannarayan.com. 2. I am discussing issues, not persons. Though one must admit when a person is so inextricably linked to an issue, if not the centre of the issue itself, one can't help but touch the person too, however inadvertently. 3. I am not *pulling down* the IGO idea. Matter of fact, as a former working journalist and aware of both the bright and dark alleys of the print media world, I may actually support the idea - even if only from a purely economics point of view: more the competition, better for the consumer (the Goan English-language reader, in this case.) What, however, I object to is the manner in which RN has gone about (after being left with no honourable option but to quit the Herald) selling the IGO idea to people. More specifically: 1. Writing potentially dangerous (for the communal well-being of Goa) pro-*Cristao*, pro-Church/anti-Hindutva editorials on a liberally-laced bogey of *Secularism v/s Saffronisation*. Only to garner financial and readership support for the IGO. In other words, for stoking a powder keg for totally selfish reasons, not for the good of *Cristaos* his heart bleeds for, nor for the good of Goa - but only for the good of his IGO. 2. Misleading lay *Cristaos* (who he reads as DK - Dukhor Khaire) with lies and half-truths. Again, for purely selfish gains - such as these that the IGO would be: a) *wholly owned* by the readers; b) supervised by a Board of Trustees; c) by men of impeachable honour; and d) structured as a Public Limited Company, i.e. IGO Ltd. - not Pvt. Ltd. (all the above assertions were quoted by me from the October 5 upload at www.rajannarayan.com) 3. After my repeated focusing on such illegal, false and absurd declarations, RN has quietly and without any explanation (so much for his concern for readers, so much for his professed transparency!) removed all those damaging claims and substituted these with legally acceptable ones - without the barest courtesy of a duly-merited *Thank You* to me (not that I want or expect one!) Remember that on the mere (but false) claim that it was IGO Ltd. instead of IGO Pvt. Ltd., RN could have been legally prosecuted by the Registrar of Companies or by any concerned citizen of India! [If RN is the journalist committed to openness, as is claimed or believed, the way out was not to hide something he had so proudly announced just a week before, but to have kept that October 5 declaration (with explanations for the subsequent amendments) available on the web-site by way of a page-link for any interested visitor to access and read.] 4. RN's steadfast refusal to respond, make amends or come clean on the charges made his former colleagues - in the cyberfora debate that his resignation spurred - that he played reporters one against the other, often *killed* news reports or had them written the way he wanted. Are these the hallmarks of a free, fair and independent journalist who bears such lofty integrity, probity and transparency to be Goa's fearless conscience-keeper? 5. And instead, to impute, in a most unbecoming manner, that such colleagues were the most imbecile of kids who had to be *lassoed* from Miramar beach or be locked into the newsroom from the outside during X'mas, New Year and Carnival revelries? In the context of (4) & (5) above, I shall quote only journalist R.K. Nair (there are others), who, in his chapter titled, *The Herald of A New Ethos* in the recently published e-book, *Behind The News: Voices From Goa's Press* freely downloadable from: http://www.mediaah.com/Mediaah!DownloadManager.htm writes: Rajan Narayan failed to rise to the occasion and offer a credible alternative. HERALD behaved like a spoilt brat throwing tantrums. It lacked a sense of proportion. Too often, it played to the gallery, fanned sectarian passions and threw norms to the wind. With its rabble-rousing shrillness, HERALD managed to gain a foothold among a section of the Goan population, especially in South Goa and again: The arrival of GT had a big impact on the HERALD too. Rajan Narayan began to behave like one possessed. He blamed Chief Minister Pratapsing Rane and the NT for all the ills of the world. His frustration was beginning to show. He railed against the NT and Rane at the drop of a hat. and again: Rajan Narayan is essentially a rhetorician. He has a way with words and can argue his case convincingly. But his writings carried little conviction, which was the major reason for HERALD's credibility crisis in those days. But the fact that he changed the media scene there cannot be disputed. In my view, the fundamental error he made was to plunge into the middle of things, rather than remaining a level-headed observer that a good journalist is supposed to be. or this: And HERALD did manage to provide some relief (comic relief, according to critics) from the tedious fare offered by the NT. It was sharp and pungent ñ too pungent for many. Almost every report packed a sting in its tail. Some of the fare dished out in the guise of investigative journalism was just gossip laced with outrageous bias. or even, in the context of his errant Goan juniors, this: I met Rajan Narayan only once; but then it was hardly a meeting. Rather, I saw him from a distance at a midnight carnival in Panjim. After the edition was over, my NT colleague Anthony and I decided to take a round. We saw Rajan Narayan surrounded by a group of revellers. In a red Tshirt and bermudas, with a red ribbon around his head and a glass of feni in hand, a wobbly Rajan Narayan with bleary eyes was quite a spectacle. Anthony nudged me and asked, "Can you imagine Mudaliar in such a scene?" Now pray tell me. Does a journalist of RN's calibre have the right to spew ridicule on home-bred Goan journos, just to avoid answering the many charges leveled against him? Why does he so often have to take recourse to subterfuge instead of directly answering a question? No prizes for the correct answer! 6. As an upright professional, why does RN not launch his IGO the way any professional publication ought to be - instead of resorting to cheap gimmicks to woo the *Cristaos*? 7. And finally: why, if he is the kind of human being he claims or is believed to be, does he refuse to come clean, by showing the courage to admit past mistakes, the openness to correcting the ones that can be corrected, the charity to former subordinates who might have wronged him and lastly, the grace to those like me who have in a round about way helped him correct indefensible bluffs and saved him from further embarrassment? Until such day dawns, as a concerned citizen, I shall continue to comment on the bluffs, lies and half-truths dished out in an area where I have some knowledge and experience, to help, in howsoever small and modest a manner, an informed public opinion. Regards/Valmiki ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################