harsh in kinesphere

Politics evolves, that’s what some people say. I started believing it too, especially after reading some of the events in the papers or the ‘merchants of death’ remark by some party during the Gujarat elections. The series of events, the debates that raged on weeks and the entire speculation was very … entertaining yet thought provoking to say the least.

Thought provoking because both the parties involved had something to say about the opponent’s statement. No one, not even the media bothered to highlight that everyone was just busy fighting over the remark (lets not get into whether it was made or not!!). The portfolio was literally thrown out of the window. Nobody wanted to know what work the candidates were going to do if they were elected.

Perhaps there was nothing to be offered! May be Gujarat is at the pinnacle of development and there is nothing the politicians can do to stop its progress! Or may be the state is lying in a abyss and they don’t know from where to begin! Whatever the case, the option chosen by the politicos is definitely admirable. Whoever thought of using ‘merchants of death’ as the keyword of the elections is a sheer genius! He must have gauged the situation, ‘since the public is already bored with the politicos promising blab la…, the only way to spice up the situation is using something the opposition said!’

Nonetheless, it was the feast for the news channels, people ought to be jumping with joy in their offices as they finally had something to chew on.

This is what politics had evolved into, Diversion tactics!

Remember the ‘bhoomi putra’ campaign that was started by the Shiv-sena some years back? What happened to that? Sure some guys were beaten-up and I even remember that when it was doing the rounds there were people/parties that suggesting amendments in the constitution! Or reservation for locals!

These topics are seasonal. It’s only a matter of time when some Bangladeshis get beaten this time!

If there was a manual that taught how to go about in politics; the following sentence would be written in bold in case there is an emergency

Just divert the public eye away from the grey areas to something made-up or of utmost importance, caution: plan may backfires!

The same old urban story…. couples go out to a New Year bash, party till late night, have a good time, head home after the party is over. But that’s not it!!

You know what I am talking about; if not then u r too happy in your own little world, so don’t bother!

The stories have been doing rounds of almost all the media available. On every channel the horrendous acts are repeatedly shown through the photographs taken by couple of reporters who were near by. Sure the photos do account for evidence, but the television channels should do more than blurring the faces of the victims and reporting the ire of the cops who refused to lodge a complaint because ‘the victims had to catch a flight back home’. I am not going to say, ‘oh how shameful!!’ or ‘mumbai is not what it used to be anymore!!’ coz I believe that we should already be past the mourning phase after infamous marine drive rape case. The news channels should stop restating the time, date, occasion and god know what trivial details of such cases. They should also stop bombarding their reporters (who fan out in all the directions possible to get a new ‘angle’ in the case) with questions like ‘jab ye ghatana hui tab aap udhar hi the. To kya aap bata sakte hai ki kya ho raha tha??)……they focus more on the act and the statistics rather than the course of action taken by the authorities. Simply interviewing the victim’s friends and asking them again and again ‘what happened?’ and ‘what do they feel?’ all this is victim centered. The victims deserve more secrecy and protection. So just flashing the graphic images of the barbarous act and just describing what happened to them after that is not enough.

They need to handle such cases very carefully; they ought to pressure the government that is certainly not very difficult, courtesy the nationwide coverage. Also public opinion is a sure shot way of getting things done from the government. Ask the people what needs to be done to curb such crimes, make a television guidebook, and showcase some defensive measures that could be taken.

Ask for public opinions I’d say, but they’d rather ask ‘who are you going to vote for in the nach baliye3 finals ???!!!’

Is any one listening?

Ps: everybody knows that I’ll be a matter of days till the steam runs out and news channels find something else.. .. but doesn’t everyone deserve a follow-up???