Skip to main content

Indian media "displaying" Brahmanical bias towards Backward class, Dalit leaders

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*
A Hindi reporter of a Brahmanical channel has tweeted about former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi wondering whether she knows the spelling of 'tweet'. We all know well the background of Rabri Devi who was the chief minister of Bihar for two terms.
A few days back, another channel termed Lalu Prasad Yadav as 'Lalua' in a public meeting. Those who knows about Bihar's caste prejudices know well that the anchor speaking 'Lalua' was deliberate to hurt the OBCs and Dalits in Bihar.
The CBI in the Supreme Court speaking against Lalu Yadav has said that he is indulging in politics and must be prohibited from doing so. But the same CBI has now provided clean chit to all the criminals of Gujarat accused for 2002 massacre and other related cases. It is the same CBI, which is unable to pursue against Pragya Thakur, who is allowed to contest from Bhopal.
Indian media's caste identities are well known. The janeu that they wear even while claiming to be a 'progressive' has been exposed very well. This is an age of information and nobody is depending on these paid trolls of Sangh Parivar masquerading as journalists.
Media these days speaks deliberately the language of contempt towards those who challenge the status quo and are assertive, who refuse to surrender to Brahmanical hierarchical order. Lalu Yadav is one of the biggest political leaders in our political history since independence who challenged this order in Bihar and gave people a voice.
But the Brahmanical narrative on Lalu Yadav is that he is 'most corrupt'. They don't see corruption in Modi who, even if you give full proof, begin engaging in below the belt discussion.
Remember how media legitimised those who abused Mayawati and spoke about her in absolutely filthy language? Even today, read the comments section of any news item related to Mayawati, and you will find the hidden hatred of the janeudharis towards her.
Phoolan Devi was humiliated in a very similar way for long but all those who demolished Babri Mosque are heroes! The same media people are unable to remind BJP its absolutely filthy role in defending the rape accused of Unnao, Kuldeep Singh Sengar. The Kathua story of Brahmanical lies and crookedness is well known.
The savarna media is prostrating before the Maharajas of Hindutva. They can't do anything wrong. They are now the 'greatest' of our leaders. A leader who was despised by the media several years ago as criminal is today the hero of media, its Chanakya, and those fighting against his politics of hatred and divisiveness are being abused.
Why has media become a party in propaganda of hatred and contempt? They have lost their credibility. Frankly, they never had, and can only be said to be destroying the lives of millions.
Indian media lacks diversity in its newsrooms. It is blatantly casteist and racist in nature particularly the electronic media. Its Hindustan is twice born. Its nationalism is nothing but Brahmanical nationalism. It caters to these twice born, build up narrative as per their thinking. Today, the entire media is building up narrative to suit the interests of BJP and Hindutva, and for that it is going extra-miles. It is, however, afraid of the rise of the Ambedkarites and Dalits who have challenged the savarna narrative.
Mayawati, Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi, Phoolan Devi, Akhilesh Yadav are the targets because they challenge the monopoly of the savarnas, are contested it and breaking their ego. More than 30 years after the Mandal Commission report was accepted, the savarnas still hate VP Singh the most, which explains their mindset and fear of losing power.
Fact is that you cannot hold on to this power for long. Hindutva or no Hindutva, the political power will have to be shared with India's Bahujans, who want to treated as equal partners in India's decision making bodies.
In the 21st century, this contempt and misuse of privileges will not work in long term. The Dubeys, Jhas, Chaubes, Tripathis, Chaturvedis, Guptas, Chawals, Aggarwals etc. will have to respect people's mandate as well as the Constitution to treat people in equality, and must be made to feel that casteism is as dangerous as racism.
In any other country, these party propagandists would have been thrown out of the organisations to protect the credibility of the institution, but in India, the media houses are 'bania kee dukan' (shops of banias) run by Brahmins, so they remain without any action being taken against their mischief and caste prejudices.
One hopes people will give them a good answer.
---
*Human rights defender. Source: Author's Facebook timeline

Comments

TRENDING

India's chemical industry: The missing piece of Atmanirbhar Bharat

By N.S. Venkataraman*  Rarely a day passes without the Prime Minister or a cabinet minister speaking about the importance of Atmanirbhar Bharat . The Start-up India scheme is a pillar in promoting this vision, and considerable enthusiasm has been reported in promoting start-up projects across the country. While these developments are positive, Atmanirbhar Bharat does not seem to have made significant progress within the Indian chemical industry . This is a matter of high concern that needs urgent and dispassionate analysis.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Remembering a remarkable rebel: Personal recollections of Comrade Himmat Shah

By Rajiv Shah   I first came in contact with Himmat Shah in the second half of the 1970s during one of my routine visits to Ahmedabad , my maternal hometown. I do not recall the exact year, but at that time I was working in Delhi with the CPI -owned People’s Publishing House (PPH) as its assistant editor, editing books and writing occasional articles for small periodicals. Himmatbhai — as I would call him — worked at the People’s Book House (PBH), the CPI’s bookshop on Relief Road in Ahmedabad.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

As 2024 draws nearer, threatening signs appear of more destructive wars

By Bharat Dogra  The four years from 2020 to 2023 have been very difficult and high risk years for humanity. In the first two years there was a pandemic and such severe disruption of social and economic life that countless people have not yet recovered from its many-sided adverse impacts. In the next two years there were outbreaks of two very high-risk wars which have worldwide implications including escalation into much wider conflicts. In addition there were highly threatening signs of increasing possibility of other very destructive wars. As the year 2023 appears to be headed for ending on a very grim note, there are apprehensions about what the next year 2024 may bring, and there are several kinds of fears. However to come back to the year 2020 first, the pandemic harmed and threatened a very large number of people. No less harmful was the fear epidemic, the epidemic of increasing mental stress and the cruel disruption of the life and livelihoods particularly among the weaker s...

Muslim women’s rights advocates demand criminalisation of polygamy: Petition launched

By A Representative   An online petition seeking a legal ban on polygamy has been floated by Javed Anand, co-editor of Sabrang and National Convener of Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), inviting endorsements from citizens, organisations and activists. The petition, titled “Indian Muslims & Secular Progressive Citizens Demand a Legal Ban on Polygamy,” urges the Central and State governments, Parliament and political parties to abolish polygamy through statutory reform, backed by extensive data from the 2025 national study conducted by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA).

Bangladesh alternative more vital for NE India than Kaladan project in Myanmar

By Mehjabin Bhanu*  There has been a recent surge in the number of Chin refugees entering Mizoram from the adjacent nation as a result of airstrikes by the Myanmar Army on ethnic insurgents and intense fighting along the border between India and Myanmar. Uncertainty has surrounded India's Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport project, which uses Sittwe port in Myanmar, due to the recent outbreak of hostilities along the Mizoram-Myanmar border. Construction on the road portion of the Kaladan project, which runs from Paletwa in Myanmar to Zorinpui in Mizoram, was resumed thanks to the time of relative calm during the intermittent period. However, recent unrest has increased concerns about missing the revised commissioning goal dates. The project's goal is to link northeastern states with the rest of India via an alternate route, using the Sittwe port in Myanmar. In addition to this route, India can also connect the region with the rest of India through Assam by using the Chittagon...