Column

It is difficult to say that the media is deliberately ignoring the issues of a certain community (Muslim). When the media thinks that a certain story can be played up as a Hindu-Muslim story, only then they take it up. It is not a manifestation of hatred or dislike, it is sheer indifference. The areas where Hindus and Muslims live together are becoming fewer and fewer. In fact, more and more Muslim ghettos are emerging. The result is that a whole middle class has emerged which is very happy the way life is and whenever a minority issue is raised, they feel there is somebody who is about to spoil their name. Now how do you activate affirmative action in the media for the minorities? The big question is where is the minority in the media? Muslims constitute 15 per cent of the total population but only one or half of a per cent is represented in the mainstream media. So when an event like Malegaon happens, Muslims are at the mercy of those elements in the majority community who care to take up their issues.

When the Sachar Committee was formed, various Muslim groups came to Delhi to meet Justice Rajinder Sachar, Abu Saleh Sharif and others.

One such group came from Gachrauli. They handed over to Justice Rajinder Sachar and, as of my knowledge, to Sonia Gandhi the photographs of certain persons with skull caps and beards, who masquerade as Muslims and create mayhem. But no action was taken. Every time a bomb blast takes place a Muslim name comes up. The blast takes place at 12 noon but information about the entire lineage of the accused’s family is available in the next day’s newspaper. But that enthusiasm is missing when a Sadhvi or Major Purohit is named conspirator in a blast case. Take the case of Gopal Garh. You have a very colourful community called Meos there. They are the only Muslim community who give equal respect to their Hindu past. Gujjars also live there and they have traditional antipathy against the Meos because Meos and Meenas are of the same Gotra, and Meos treat Meenas as their own. The police is Gujjar dominated. There was a dispute on a small piece of land. People were shot dead, burnt alive and bodies were thrown into nearby wells. This went on for eight days, but not a single media organisation other than The Indian Express came for coverage. The media explains its inaction saying that this might raise communal tension. The solution is that we need to have a Public Service Media where the views of every section of society is reflected in the right perspective. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a Rs 1,000 crore rupees fund for multi media. To run that, it was suggested there should be a a body consisting of people like Fali Nariman whose integrity and credibility is beyond doubt. Today media houses tell us they have to carry a particular programme because it boosts their TRP ratings. So we should have a media insulated from both government and market pressures. We need to have overall reforms in the media.