Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 21:40:32 +0700 From: "Prof. Singh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Piyush Singh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "WPAA" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Gajendra Singh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [WPAA-ML] Re: FW: An interesting article on India by a French journalist
Dear Pantnagarian, Hope you find the article interesting and thought provoking. Best wishes for a HAPPY HOLIdays, Gajendra Singh > ------------------------------------- > Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 12:45:46 -0500 > An article by Francois Gautier, a French journalist on the Indian media. > --------------------------------- > India is a country of wonderful people.Warm,hospitable, tolerant. Its > intellectual elite, in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Bangalore, are good friends > to have, fun-loving and always cordial with westerners. > Intellectually, the journalists and writers of this country are often witty, > brilliant, speak good English, and write even better. In fact, quite a few of > them, Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Upamanyu Chatterjee and others, have become > households names in the English literary world and have brought a good name to > India. Arundhati Roy has even shown us that one can be a successful writer and > also work for a social cause - even going to the xtent of going to jail for > that. Yet, there is something that I have never understood: Although most of > India's intellectual elite is Hindu, the great majority of them are Hindu > haters - and it even seems sometimes that they are ashamed to be Hindus. They > always come out with the same cliches on Hindutva, the Saffron Brigade, the > Hindu "fundamentalists" and if you listen to them, you get the impression that > India is in the hands of dangerous Hindu fundamentalists and that the Christian > and Muslim minorities of India are being cruelly persecuted. > > Recently, Courier International, a very prestigiou French magazine, which is > read by > diplomats and politicians, published a special issue on "Hindu > fundamentalism" with a cover photo of RSS members doing their lathi drill. > > The ignorant Westerner who read it must have had the impression that India > indeed is in the grip of fascist, nazi-like Hindu groups and that civil > liberties are curtailed here. When the editor-in-chief of that magazine was > contacted, he pointed out that all the pieces had been translated from > articles... written in the Indian Press by Indian journalists... > > If I did not know India, I would tend also to believe what I read about India > in the Western press: A nation torn by caste discrimination, poverty, > corruption, Hindu extremism and natural calamities. But after living more than > 30 years in this country, my experience is totally different: Hindus are > probably the most tolerant people in the world - they accept that God manifests > Himself under different forms, at different times, according to the needs and > mentality of each epoch: Krishna, Christ, Mohammed, Buddha... Thus they always > allowed throughout the centuries religious minorities who were victimised in > their own countries to settle in India and to prosper and practice their > religion: The Syrian Christians, in fact the first Christian community in the > world, the Jews, who have been persecuted all over the world (including in my > own country France), but were left in peace in India; the Armenians, the > Parsis, and today the Tibetans... ; > > As a Westerner, living in India, apart from the obvious bureaucratic hassles, > the slowness of everything and the dirt, being here has also been a dream: I > have never been mugged in 33 years, no policeman has ever asked me my papers in > the street (see what happens to you if you are dark-skinned and without a tie > in the metro in Paris) and I have always been made welcome even in the remotest > villages of India. As a journalist, it is even better: I do not have to ask > permission to go out of Delhi and submit the subject and route of the features > I propose to do outside the capital and I do not get kicked out of India, even > if I criticise its government - all this contrary to China, which even then > remains a more coveted post for a foreign correspondent than India. > > It is true that for a western journalist, coming to India can be a baffling > experience. The diversity - going from one state to the next is like passing > from one country to another - the language is different, so is the food, the > habits, the political setup; the complexity of India's political life, its > heavy subtleties; the incredible religious, social and ethnic diversity... > > So what does the new correspondent do, when often he has at heart to do justice > to the country he has been asked to report about? He turns to his Indian fellow > journalists for enlightenment. Regrettably, the first input he is given by his > Indian colleagues, is very negative: The black mark of Ayodhya on India's > secular fabric, the heavy hand of the Army in Kashmir, the terrible castes > abuses in Bihar, or the Taliban-like Bajrang Dal. And this is why if you read > the Western reports on India, however good their styles, however well- meaning > they are, they all say the same thing with infinite monotony (and often > nastiness). > > Again, it is absolutely factual that there are unforgivable things done in > India in the name of caste; that the disparity between rich and poor is > shocking, that affluent Hindus have very little concern about their less > fortunate brethrens, or else have no respect for their environment. But it is > also true that there is so much positive things to be written about India, so > many great people, so much tolerance, so much talent, so many fascinating > subjects. Nevertheless Western journalists seem only to concentrate on the > negative. > > This is the vicious circle of journalism and India: The negative goes from the > Indian journalist to the Western journalist... and comes back to India under > the form of unfriendly reporting.... The recent Sabarmati burning followed by > the rioting in Gujarat, showed again the veracity of that phenomenon. Here you > had 58 innocent Hindus, the majority of them being women and children, burnt in > the most horrible manner, for no other crime but the fact that they want to > build a temple dedicated to the most cherished of Hindu Gods, Ram, on a site > which has been held sacred by Hindus for thousands of years. > > When a Graham Staines is burnt alive, all of India's English press goes > overboard in condemning his killers, but when 58 Graham Staines are murdered, > they report it without comment. No doubt, the revenge which followed is equally > unpardonable. No doubt, Indian and foreign journalists who rushed to Gujarat, > wrote sincerely: after all they saw innocent women, children, men being burnt, > killed, raped. Which decent journalist, who has at heart of reporting truth > would not cry out against such a shame? But then history has shown us that no > event should be taken out of context, and that there is in India, amongst the > Hindu majority, a simmering anger against Muslims, who have terribly persecuted > the Hindus and yet manage to make it look as if they are the persecuted. > > And once again, the Western press coverage of the Gujarat rioting comes back to > haunt India: Hindus targeting Muslims, fundamentalism against innocence, > minority being persecuted by majority... But when will the true India be > sincerely portrayed by its own journalists, so that the Western press be > positively influenced? > > (Gautier is the correspondent in India and South Asia of Ouest-France, the > biggest circulation French daily (1 million copies) and for LCI, a 24-hour TV > news channel. He is also the author of Arise O India and A Western journalist > on India.) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Greetings - send holiday greetings for Easter, Passover http://greetings.yahoo.com/ ================================================ To subscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with 'subscribe' in subject header To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with 'unsubscribe' in subject header Archives are available at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ =================================================
