Friends, One thing that I strictly object to is the process of glamourizing and deifying Kasab, the only survivor of the Mumbai attacks. That these attacks were the most dastardly acts on the Indian soil during the last so many years, in which a very large number of innocent citizen got killed along with some of the finest officers of Mumbai police including the redoubtable Hemant Karkare and the resilient Ashok Kamte is a fact which we all know very well. But surprisingly while everything else is being rapidly forgotten this murderer and the filthy demon is being deified day and night. No day can pass without a few mentions of Amir Ajmal Kasab along with a few of his photographs, including the now infamous one from the Taj hotel where he is shown standing in an attacking position with a gun. Every thing related with this person, who is among the greatest enemy of the State as of humanity, is being made the leading news through so many news channels who are relaying them in a mindless cacophony , followed by reels after reels of the newspapers being devoted to him. If the matter is of any real consequence and importance, then it is understandable but when it is completely trivial or senseless then it pains? Is this the way the responsible media of any country shall behave? There are so many important issues that our country faces and there are many people who are actually doing wonderful things with the greatest devotions which might be given the due credit by the media. Yet, such persons won't find a place in these crazy news channels and newspapers while things such as Kasab's likes and dislikes and tidbits from his personal life would be dug deep into to earn a few extra TRPs or to increase the readership a bit. I don't know how far such acts help the media groups but even if they do, one would agree that so many factors restrain them from falling into the trap. Firstly, Kasab is no great person. On the other hand he is the most condemnable and loathsome person we have on the Indian soil, who not only waged an open war against the Nation but also committed the most hateful and dastardly act of killing so many innocent lives for no particular reason, except being governed by some kind of dreadful hate philosophy. Secondly, this person needs to be given the due punishment as fast as possible, certainly within the four corners of law so that the nation gets rid of his mere presence and his foul air. Thirdly, whenever the media starts showing this person in so many ways, sharing a very large number of irrelevant and nonsensical details about him, he slowly tends to acquire a larger than life demeanour where his meanness and cruelty get coated with so many imaginative attractions adding different flavours to his character and image. Thus he starts getting an aura and a halo around himself. The result is that slowly but surely this man is acquiring a large than life image and is turning into a role model for many others of his kind. It is this phenomenon that is most dangerous not only for our country but for the entire world because there are a very large number of such disgruntled and derailed young persons everywhere, who in their aimless and desperate fashion, are searching for some aim. Naturally a Kasab, who is being given so much attention, is the one who catches their imagination and thus they have before themselves another Osama Bin Laden. It is like the Raktabeej in Hindu mythology who gets multiplied every time his blood drops on the ground. In the same way, we have so many more number of Kasabs to deal with every time he is on the TV screens holding his gun like a hero in action. To do such a thing is not only a crime against the Nation but is also a crime against humanity because people like Kasab have no nationality, no religion and no morals and no scruples. All they know is to kill people in the most sinful manner for their selfish aims in a brainwashed mechanical manner. Hence the media must also help him in dying in the most silent and undisturbed/ unperturbed manner as the law takes its own course instead of transforming him into a hate-icon with a huge clout and enigmatic halo. It is imperative to bring the Media groups within the purview of RTI.
Dr Nutan Thakur Nutan Satta Pravah Lucknow UP
