Anna’s agitation against political corruption and the bill proposed by him got together the whole country specially youths. But since the beginning, many people raised questions on the appropriateness and applicability of the proposed bill. Various Hindi dailies regarded such statements as worthless.

On April 13, the editor of the widely circulated Hindi daily Dainik Jagran wrote: “It will be better if government politicians and opposition try to find out the reasons for which the common people supported Anna. It is not right that they are trying to suppress people’s demand for the bill by their hollow statements.”

He further added, “People raising questions against bill are trying to make it a subject of controversy.”

Anna Hazare on his fast at Jantar Mantar (Photo: Vaibhav Bhardwaj)

The biggest question regarding the Lokpal Bill is why only political corruption is the main point of this agitation while there is corruption in the corporate sector, big companies and other professions. Giving the answer of this question, Kumar Narendra writes in his article published in another leading Dainik Bhasker on April 15: “Now politics decides everything in our life. Our housing, food, clothing and even minor things like toothpaste, soap etc. everything is decided by it. So if the political corruption is the main focus of the movement, there is nothing wrong.”

He adds, “If an atmosphere against corruption has been created in our country, it should not to be suspected.”

The government has accepted Anna’s demand to draft the bill, and different thoughts and reactions of the people from different sectors are obvious. In this regard, the statement of Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumarswami is really absorbing. He said, “Had Mahatma Gandhi been alive, he too would have not be able to find out a way to escape from corruption and he would started to collect the money in banks.”

He later retracted and clarified that the media construe his views inappropriately.

The editor of Amar Ujala thinks that such statements have no plea. According to him, Anna’s fight against corruption was so tenable that the whole country supported him. On April 15, he wrote,  “Anna’s hunger march presented a model of that politics where neither he  needed to hire the airplanes and helicopters nor he had to make the efforts to collect the supporters and the media.”

We later did come to know that a whopping Rs 30 lakh was spent on the campaign, he said.

Legal experts have expressed reservations on ground that the role of the civil society is limited as it is the job of Parliament to legislate. So will the Lokpal Bill pass the test on the floor? A senior journalist wrote on April 13: “Neither the Congress party nor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been able to form the government on its own with all available tools of democracy. Consequently, even Anna is not very sure about  the “new” formula.”

(Razia can be reached at razia@beyondheadlines.in)

The editorial, articles and columns of the last week’s Hindi news papers were dominated by India’s victory in the ICC World Cup 2011. The fabulous performance of Team India in the World Cup final cheered the whole country. The remarkable victory was the prominent topic of discussion for people as well as experts of the Hindi media.

Most news papers are looking this victory as a matter of great honour and pride.

The editor of leading Hindi daily Dainik Bhasker writes: “Any country scarcely witness this kind of honorable moments. The sense of pleasure and achievement can be seen in the whole country. This is importance of cricket in India. The shining star of Ranchi spread the light in the Wankhede Stadium with his companions, and it made proud the whole nation.”

The editorial of another widely circulated Dainik Jagran says, “This victory delighted not only the people living in India but also Indians living in abroad. Team India has done what the whole country dream after every 4 year. This is the time of celebration and achievements.”

Most of the experts of the Hindi media think that this the new era of the Indian cricket as Sunjay Srivatava writes in an article published in daily Hindustan,”Now we are at the same position as West Indies was in 1970s and Australia was for the past two decades.”

In the country saw allegations and blame games of many scams and scandals in the recent past and in this situation, wining the Cricket World Cup served as the great source of changing the atmosphere of the country.

People celebrating the victory forget all these political scams all of a sudden. As the editor writes of Dainik Jagran, “This victory changed the atmosphere of the country for a while and gave the nation a great pleasure.”

India’s reputation as growing super power is increasing day by day in the whole world and that is why, this victory carries its own importance to the country. Avdhesh Kumar writes in his article published in Dainik Jagran, “The assumptions of the West about India is really good and this also empowered the psychology of the Indian cricket team.”

But some experts did appear optimistic with this victory. They claim that this victory will help the game to be controlled by the corporate world, which could not be in favour of the Indian cricket. Sanjay Srivatava writes in widely circulated Hindi daily Hindustan, “This victory will associate the Indian cricket with the corporate world by which our cricketers would earn a lot of money, but the game would fall under the control of industrialists.”

(Razia can be reached at razia@beyondheadlines.in)

A book entitled “The Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India” written by UK journalist  Joseph Lelliweld remained a subject of discussion in the Hindi media throughout the week. Columnists and editors of different leading Hindi dailies have expressed their views on this topic. The titles of the published columns and editorials are different but the ideas are almost similar. Experts of the Hindi media are looking this issue as a publicity stunt. The editorial of widely circulated Hindi daily Nav Bharat Times says, “After almost every year or two, a book gets published in the United States and Europe on Mahatma Gandhi with sensationalistic issues, and it becomes a good source of earning and publicity for the publishers.”

The editor further adds, “Although the author has consistently denied claims that his book portrays Gandhi as a bisexual or a racist, this also might be an attempt aimed at getting popularity and increasing the sell of the book.”

Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Lelliweld is not a well-known personality in India. He was a foreign correspondent of the New York Times in New Delhi during 1960 to 1970. Experts believe that the controversy on the book can give Lelliweld a new identity in India as well as in Europe.

Senior journalist Priyadarshan writes in his article entitled “Gandhi Ka Kaun Kya Bigadega (Who will dare to tame Gandhi?)” published in a leading Hindi daily Dainik Bhasker, “Lelliweld was a little known journalist in India but suddenly, his book on Gandhi has given him a wide identity.”

People have faith and great respect for Gandhi, and they are demanding that the book should be banned. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is the first to raise this this demand.

On this, Priyadarshan writes, “It is my long experience that the books people demand to ban get more and more publicity. He gives the example of Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” and Tasleema NAsreen’s “Lajja.”

But there are some experts who think that the media specially the new media is inflating this issue. They have wrongly explained the terms used in book. The editorial of the one of the prominent Hindi daily Amar Ujala writes,”It is not appropriate to say that this is an attempt to defame Mahatma Gandhi,” but some media organizations along with the Daily Mail have derangement in their explanations. They  had tried to prove Gandhi as homosexual and racist.

On March 30, another Hindi daily Nai Duniya writes in its editorial, “A small part  of the UK media always tries to defame Gandhiji but the more panic is that a small segment of the Indian media, specially new media, puts it to the Indian as it is. The editor adds, “The detractors of Mahatma Gandhi should think that the title of the book ‘Great Soul’ clearly defines his image of Mahatma. The book is actually tries to explain the complexities of the personality of Mahatma Gandhi. Putting blame on Gandhiji on the basis of such a book is a crime.”

(razia@beyondheadlines.in)

As the United States, France and Britain attacked Libya, it grabbed the whole attention of the Hindi media. Media experts are seeing this attack as the politics for getting control over oil reserves and relating this attack to US attack on Iraq.

An article published in the leading Hindi daily Nav Bharat Times (NBT) entitled “aad se shikar” writes: “Only in 24 hours, Libya was attacked by hundreds of missiles and bombs. As a result, the city witnessing revolution now looking like Iraq of 2003. It is enough to suppose that the intention of the West regarding Libya is not good, and now they want to use the revolutionary movements in the Arab world for the welfare of their oil policy.”

(Courtesy: www.foreignpolicy.com)

The editorial of the widely circulated Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhasker says: “After the UN resolutions, the United Kingdom, the United States and France have taken the responsibility of putting end to war between the Colonel Muammar Gaddafi government and rebellions. Now one question arises here that what is the limit for them? If they will work within the defined limits of the UNSC, they will have to stop the attack by checking Gaddafi’s brutalities. But if these three countries would try to change the rule, there might be the situation like Iraq.”

The editorial further adds: “If they try to get control over the natural resources of the country directly or indirectly, it would be against the welfare of the country and the whole region.”

Another daily Dainik Jagran writes in an article, “ undoubtedly there are many reasons to suppose that till now the Western countries were supporting Gaddafi for oil and now for these oil resources they want to evict him.

An article entitled “Yuddh Aur Uske Baad” ( War and Situation Ahead) in another leading daily Amar Ujala says, “after Gaddafi’s eviction, the situation in Libya could be very difficult to handle for the West.”

The article further adds, “now Britain and France are playing a leading role but after sometimes, the United States might become leader, which might cause the situation like Iraq and Afghanistan in Libya. It might strengthen the anti-US views in Muslim countries.”

An article in the same Amar Ujala on March 23 says, “in the name of democracy, the West, once again, is fulfilling its own vested interests.” adding that, “whatever the Western countries are doing in Libya is open secret. It is too much more than the resolution of United States and Arab League. The civil war in Libiya has now been changed into a serious attack.”

NBT writes, “the situation in Libya is changing with a civil war. Experts say that Libya is going to become Iraq in waiting. As 7 years ago, they tried to evict Saddam Hussain, and they are now making the same attempt in Libya. After the assassination of Saddam Hussain, the situation in Baghdad is still worse. So may be in Libiya also, after the eviction of Ghaddafi, the situation might not be normal.”

(Razia Shahab can be reached at razia@beyondheadlines.in)