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| Edited By: Nirmalya Dutta |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Aug 21, 2015, 12:08 PM IST
"We seem to live in times where there's absolutely no room for a moderate, sane view. You're either a Bhakt who believes in Narendra Modi's omnipotence, omniscience and pure awesomeness or a Modi-baiter who think that he is a mix of Kim Jong-un, Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. There's absolutely no room left for a middle ground and in some ways, the media is responsible for that sad narrative. Objectivity was the first thing sacrificed on the altar of sensationalism as media houses chases one another for more TRPs, online traffic and Facebook likes.
Somewhere along the line, in an attempt to draw a fanciful Mahabharatsque (#FTIIMahabharat was the hash tag chosen by the man who speaks for the nation) narrative we lost the way. So when, five FTII students were arrested on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning, many compared it to the arrests that took place in the early hours of June 26, 1975 under Indira Gandhi.
Tall Social Media Claims
What followed was the arrest of five students by the police but the tall claims made on social media were found to be quite untrue. Some of them were:
All three facts turned out to be false. The truth is that there is something rotten at the FTII and it’s a problem that has existed at the institute for a while. But the real question isn’t what has occurred at FTII but whether this action can be considered Emergency-like.
Brutality of Police on FTII Students, didn't provide WiFi pswrd, forced to use Vodafone 3G for FB Check-in & #Selfies pic.twitter.com/B7nDEBcpY8
— Ankur Singh (@BihariTweeter) August 19, 2015
26 June, 1975 Emergency VS 18 August, 2015 FTII Raids
Journalist and author Coomi Kapoor had documented several of the incidents that took early morning on June 26, 1975 in her book The Emergency: A Personal History.
Around a hundred people of rounded, up each name checked by Mrs Gandhi. When the notice went to various police stations to pick up people, even the police didn’t know that the Emergency had been declared. Over hundred people were arrested including journalists and political opponents. Four days later, a notice came which said there was no need to communicate the grounds for detention for those arrested on 25 June or afterwards.
The only Emergency news that made the papers was a small box on the Hindustan Times, about the arrest of KR Malkani, the editor of Jan Sangh-RSS controlled newspaper Motherland. Malkani would soon be joined by others from the Jan Sangh and other people who had spoken out against Indira, and taken to Rohtak jail even without being informed where they were going or how long they’d be detained.
If one were to compare the two incidents one would realise that equating them is exaggerating to the point of terminological inexactitude. No one’s civil rights were violated. The students weren’t taken to undisclosed locations. There were no instances of police brutality.
We must as a whole always stand up to fascism and an authoritarian regime, but first let the government actually act authoritarian. The government despite being accused of being authoritarian has exhibited its desire to listen to the people. The U-turn on the porn ban was a prime example where it overturned its decision in two days. Would a truly authoritarian government ever do that?
As for Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment, we will never know exactly how accomplished a Chairman he will be without it actually occurs. Nowhere am I suggesting that he was the best choice, but sometimes the best actors don’t make the best directors, teachers or administrators. If we were to look at football, many of the top coaches like Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson and their ilk were never the top players but did go on to become extremely successful managers. Maybe, we should see if Gajendra Chauhan can fix the problems that exist at the institute.
