Mumbai, media and the "indian unity"

I have not been able to really sleep last night. At around 2.30 am there were news reports of firing occuring at the Delhi International Airport but when I went on all the TV news channels, there was nothing. I came and checked online and sure enough firings had been reported at the airport and supposedly all the airports accross the country are on high alert due to a hijack threat. 2 days ago, an 8 kg bag filled with RDX was found at the train station in Mumbai. But this was not reported on any of the tv channels. There were 10 bombs planted throughout the whole of Mumbai, or at least 10 KNOWN bombs planted, 9 have been found and defused but somewhere there is still 1 live bomb lying around.

So what is the media covering? Bollywood's reaction to the attacks. Quite literally, one of the news channels invited all the bollywood stars to comment and lament about the situation their country is in. One famous bollywood director, RG Verma and an actor Ritesh Deshmukh (who happens to be the son of the recently resigned ex chief minister of Mumbai) made the rounds of the Taj Hotel with the chief minister upon his first inspection of the site. This led to a massive outcry that RGV is conducting his preliminary research for his next movie in which he will take Ritesh as the actor. This story took on quite a bit of footage on screen until the director had to come on Tv and assure that no, he is not going to make a movie on this. The actor/son of course did not have to give any explanations. It is quite an altogether different story that the same news channel (Aaj Tak) is highly sensationalizing. It broughton all its TV staff together and they of all the people declared war on terror. Again, a NEWS channel declaring their own war on terror. They had a 3 minute pledge on TV and at first I thought this is a bad time for a joke but when I realized they were serious I literally could not stop laughing.

You might say that alright, those are the sensationalizing channels but what of those ones that still are comparatively better. Well, one of the leading Indian journalists Barkha Datta has been forced to comment and justify the media's behaviour during those 60 hours. Those who were doing the live coverage during those 60 hours have been accused by some people and some army/navy chiefs of not following safety protocol, being unsensitive to the hostages who were just released and their families as they tried getting their interviews. The allegations are numerous and if you are curious you check out what Barkha wrote here: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/showcolumns.aspx?id=COLEN20080075194

And what are the politicians doing? Well, they are doing what they are best at. And that is playing politics. When the country was going through those 60 hours, all of them went into hiding. Not one comment anywhere. Yes, the president of the country, Pratibha Patel came on and gave a barely 2 minute TV statement that was worse than pathetic. Yes, we have a female president. But that means absolutely nothing and in infact harmful to a country like India when she is so incredibly inarticulate and lacks all possible credential to be a president. The chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi went to the Oberoi hotel while the hostages were still inside being murdered and declared that he will give Rs. 1 crore ($ 260,000 CAD) to the families of each of the victims. Why this is inappropriate, people are still inside dying, and here is a chief minister (premier) of one state coming into another at an extremely sensitive point and already playing the who can doll out more money to the victims game. His presence was highly criticized and unwelcome. After the attacks, when the politicians were going out to victim's families homes, they were literally shunned. People were closing their doors on the faces. One infamous case, the chief minister of Kerala commented on the army officer, a native of Kerala, who died during the fighting, that had it not been for him, not even a dog would go to his families house. He was shunned and not allowed inside. There was some "outcry" that he needs to apologize but I believe that story has lost its retail sale value now. The day after the attacks, another minister stated that in a city like Mumbai, these "incidences" occur, so not exactly a big deal. I believe he was forced to resign. And so did the Indian home minister, and the chief minister of Maharashtra (the state Mumbai is in).

And what of the people? Well, those 60 hours it seems the entire country had paused for some time. I was sick during those days so all I was doing in my waking hours was watching tv news channels, reading newspapers and going online to read whatever news i could. The attacks started on Wednesday night and we thought, alright by morning things might be under control. To everyone's dismay, the morning came and went and things were still going in full gear even on Thursday night. 2 nights had passed by. I was up till 3.30 am on Friday morning watching the news until I couldn't stay up anymore. I went to bed hoping that this will be over when I wake up in the morning. It wasn't. 7.30 am and it was still going on. At 8 am Friday morning reports starting coming in that the last operation at Taj Hotel is over and they are doing a final combing operation. During these 60 hours, it was almost surreal to see what was happening. It seemed like a movie that has dragged on and on and on but you just can't look away. In the aftermath, when the casualty figures started pouring in, the country was waking up, in shock, in rage, in anger, and in grief. People wanted answers and all fingers were pointing towards the politicians to provide answers. "No politics please" ran news channels themes. Yes some fingers were also pointing towards the failure of the Indian bureacratic system as well as the failure of the indian intelligent services. People were gathering together and all started talking about how the terrorists have not won because India is still united. There were massive peace marches, 2 minutes of silence, flags were guarded, people were chanting slogans and wearing white. The major muslim organizations in Mumbai declared that the slain terrorists' dead bodies will not receive burial room in their cemetaries. There are 7 muslim cemetaries and none of them will be letting the bodies in. (This declaration has led to massive internet discussion rooms on what should be done with these bodies and the suggestions vary from digging a shallow pit, putting the naked bodies inside with pig intestines and blood to rot, to butchering them and displaying this on national tv to instill some fear etc etc. People's imaginations are running wild). The police at the moment is wondering what to do with the bodies and hasnt come up with solutions yet I think. Not to mention, major hostile feelings towards Pakistan right now. Many people are itching to just go and bomb Pakistan, declare war and bomb them until they hand over India's most wanted men who are said to be residing in Pakistan. The one captured terrorist, a young boy of 21 years age has stated that they were all trained in camps in Pakistan, and the men who trained them were ex-Pakistani army officers. While the pakistani government maintains that it is outrageous and "ridiculous" for the Indian govnt to point fingers at Pakistan, many Pakistanis are getting hostile themselves that why are they being blamed for this. Finger pointing, hostility and rising tensions. While the Indian government is currently not declaring war against Pakistan, I won't be surprised if that day is near.

In all this finger pointing, I feel angry at the Indian people. Before pointing fingers elsewhere, first look at yourself. This country is so ridiculously divided in so many ways that it is difficult to even begin. While Mumbaikaars can stand side by side with hotshot bollywood actors and chant that India is united and terrorists have not won, where the hell was this declaration of unity when bomb blasts were going off throughout the rest of the entire country during this year. Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Surat and yes Mumbai. Did people not die in these attacks? So why was this outcry of unity not visible then? Was it because "only" 10-15 or 20 people died in each of these cities? Was it because that the areas where the bombs were placed were in the poorer/older parts of the cities, and the people who died were poor? So perhaps their lives have lesser value? When all these attacks occur in the other cities, it is easy for the middle class outrage to distance themselves and say "very bad very bad, what will become of India". I think at that point what they feel is that alright, these bomb blasts can only and usually take place in older parts of the city, at least it's not blowing up in my neighborhood, me and my family are safe na? But the moment a bomb blows up in Oberoi or Taj, all hell breaks lose perhaps because the realization comes in that if these elite areas are not safe, then they are definitely not safe. They can no longer afford to distance themselves from terror, they can no longer remain desensitized to it. Yes people died at the Taj and the Oberoi, but so did people at the CST (train station) but the media coverage was not nearly as extensive here compared to those at the hotels. Why?

I guess like any disaster, this one has also shown the good and bad side of the Indian polity. Divisions in government, in media in bureaucracy and the biggest menace of all, the divisions among the people themselves have weakened this country to a point where the same old story of divide and conquer keeps repeating over and over again. So in the meantime, I refuse to buy the whole "India is united" rhetoric. The day when the streets are flooded with people, protesting and organizing peace rallies for those people dying in bomb blasts in smaller cities in poorer areas is the day I will start reconsidering my stance. While writing this, I do not demean the lives that were lost during this attack. They were equally precious and every life lost to such senseless attacks is a heinous crime that must be condemned. My frustation and anger emerges when this national and international condemnation comes ONLY when the lives of 22 foreigners and other elite Indians or army officers are lost. When a historic hotel like Taj is blown up as opposed to a crowded market in Old ahmedabad. Why are people not outraged then? Where is the Indian unity calling for action then?