Ravish Kumar - a rare sensible voice from Indian news channel

It is more than a couple of years since I started following NDTV anchor and journalist Ravish Kumar, the only program from any Indian news channel show that I watch consistently is his show called "Prime Time." I also follow his blog Kasba, which is a Hindi blog where Ravish shares his personal opinions and experiences. His TV show is so familiar in our home that if my kids see me watching something on my tablet they by default think that I am watching Ravish's program, they also know his name, voice, and face very well. I guess he is the only Indian news anchor that they can recognize by name and face. So, what is so special about this person? Why the heck I am praising him so much and bothered to write a blog post about him? He is not even an English journalist or someone to whom so-called powerful and popular politicians from India even grant a one-to-one interview. Many anchors from the same channel are known to be very powerful and influential, they can call so-called big ministers and key people on their show. No doubt that they all have earned their reputation by their hard work and dedication, but none of them are as unbiased as Ravish is. Actually, it is not easy to be unbiased as more power comes into your hand, be it power via politics, power via journalism, or power via anything else. Many journalists are active members of some political parties and still hold positions like editors in media houses. There are media houses whose political inclination is clearly known and one can easily see this bias in their reporting. There are also people from the media who are members of Rajyasabha from some political party.

There are quite a few reasons why I got attracted to his show and watch it regularly, one of the major reasons is the diversity of the subjects he chose for his show. He dares to touch very simple but important subjects for common people which many other anchors don't even bother to mention because they are not controversial. Even during the 2014 general elections in India, his reporting was very different than all others. I think he is the only anchor who clearly says that in his show he is going to present only one side of the story and requests people to go and check the other side of the story as it is important to know both sides. I think he is one of the rare TV anchors who consistently accepts the futility of having TV debates where people either shout at each other or give sanitized politically correct answers, both hardly result in any informative discussions. He is one of the rare people who says not to believe in whatever he says just because he is a TV anchor, he requests his audience to go and verify themselves and form their own opinions. He shares many interesting views, maybe I got attracted to his show because I also share somewhat similar views. I guess if someone is looking for motivation to learn Hindi, then his show is one of the great reasons to learn it, as this show is exclusively in Hindi. His fearless reporting is another interesting aspect, he dares to touch the subjects that many others don't, and this makes his show unique in its own way. He raises many uncomfortable questions that very few politicians like to face, maybe this is the reason why very few of them dare to give him an interview. When I heard about recent personal attacks on him on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, I really felt bad. This is also a sign of increasing intolerance and fanaticism in our society. Any sane voice which dares to raise difficult questions is not welcomed, rather every attempt is made to silence it. I am sure that Ravish won't get perturbed by such attacks, but I can see that he is bothered about them. He sounds disturbed sometimes in his blog posts which is a normal reaction from a sensitive person like him.

I have one personal request for Ravish, I know it is tough to be an independent voice, but please keep on doing what you do best, write your blog and express your opinion fearlessly. Please carry on with your TV show by reporting on various issues that are important for our society. I also understand that it is really hard to relax when you and your family get attacked on social media for no fault of theirs. These goons are dangerous, and I hope you have the strength to deal with them. You know very well that there are very few independent and sane voices left in the Indian media and you are one of them, so, it is very important for people like you to stay there. Please don't even think of quitting, many people like me are willing to stand behind you. Maybe you can set an example for many misguided people, maybe by watching you one day they all will realize that there are peaceful, democratic, and civilized ways to raise their questions and resolve differences. Maybe they will realize that it is not a good idea to become a fan of anyone (including you). So, for all this to happen people like you should stay and continue doing their work. Thank you very much for your efforts, I and many people really appreciate it.

In general, very few independent voices are left in Indian media and I hope Ravish continues to be independent. I am not his fan, rather I am no one's fan to support or follow anyone blindly. It can become really tough and sometimes really frustrating, but carry on with your journey my friend. I expect to hear these lines regularly for many more years "नमश्कार, मैं रविश कुमार."

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. http://naisadak.org/
2. http://www.ndtv.com/video/list/anchor/ravish-kumar?pfrom=home-nri_anchors

Dr. Vedik's case - display of double standards by BJP

A recent meeting between Dr. Ved Pratap Vedik (known to be close to Baba Ramdev, BJP, and RSS) and 26/11 terrorist attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed created a lot of controversy and uproar in Indian media and political circles. This event was heavily politicized just because of the involvement of these organizations. As a reporter Dr. Vedik has the right to meet anyone and conduct an interview, this view was expressed by almost everyone involved in this discussion. But he should tell for which newspaper or magazine or channel he conducted this interview? Where did he publish it so that people can know the contents of that interview? Is he an active journalist, if yes, associated with which journal? He was part of some delegation when he visited Pakistan, I assume that this delegation must have got the Indian government's permission to visit Pakistan as Pakistan is not like any other country where any Indian can go and visit without going through a rigorous review process. Did he inform anyone from the delegation about his plans to conduct this interview? It will be also interesting to know who sponsored his trip to the residence of Hafiz? This guy Hafiz Saeed is an internationally wanted terrorist, and he is accused of carrying out some major terrorist attacks on India which killed hundreds of people. If Dr. Vedik was aware of all these facts then he also must have been aware of the repercussions of this meeting in India, so what was his purpose behind interviewing this terrorist? Why did he publish a photo of his meeting before publishing the interview? He needs to give satisfactory answers to all these questions.

Another interesting thing was the response of the Indian government headed by the BJP. For some reason, they responded by defending Dr. Vedik's actions indirectly. This is the same party that reacted very aggressively when Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik shared the stage with the same terrorist in 2013. They demanded strong action against him (like revoking his passport and arresting him), but they didn't say the same things about Dr. Vedik. Dr. Vedik also gave one interview to some Pakistani media in which he talked about the possibility of granting independence to Kashmir. I have no problems with his personal views about Kashmir or any other issue and he has the right to express his thoughts, he should be able to share his views without worrying about any intimidation from the government or anyone else. But it seems the BJP and its supporters don't believe in the existence of freedom of expression when it doesn't suit them, and I am saying this based on their reactions to such statements in the past. Many times in the past they tried to vandalize homes and public buildings or even attack people who made controversial statements related to Kashmir or said anything that didn't align with their stand on any sensitive issue. Their silence in this case was a pleasant surprise. It is not that I would have liked their violent reactions but I am surprised to see that they base their reaction on who is making the statement but not the content of the statement. So, it seems to them the person who is making the statement is more important not the content of the statement. If the person is from their party or a supporter of their party or someone close to their associates (which Dr. Vedik is) then it is fine if they say anything but the same courtesy is not offered to other individuals (the example of Mr. Prashant Bhushan must be very fresh in people's memory). 

This is a blatant display of double standards by the BJP. If they believe in freedom of expression, it is really great news and I congratulate them for this. But they should show it in their behavior towards everyone irrespective of their party affiliations or political ideologies not only for selected individuals otherwise it is called double standards or hypocrisy. Surprisingly they are doing this when they have no pressure of coalition politics (this excuse was used by Congress on many occasions). The BJP has an absolute majority on its own in the parliament. It is easy to be harsh and critical about people from the opposition party or other people not related to you but when a person from your own group does something serious and you keep mum or try to justify their actions then it is hypocrisy. So far, the BJP's attitude is the same as Congress which used to justify each and every action of their leaders in the past. I hope the BJP realizes its mistake as they have a long way to go, these are just the initial days of their new government so I hope that they will take necessary corrective measures not to repeat these types of mistakes. If not, then we all know what happened to Congress same thing will happen to them sooner or later.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]