Readers’ Comments: Arnab Goswami is a true and patriotic journalist

Media circus

What Arnab Goswami has done is right (Watch: TV anchor Arnab Goswami resigns from the Editors Guild of India, live on air). The Editors Guild of India is a purchased institution and acts on the directions of a particular community. There is no need of such a handicapped organisation. The Guild is biased to the Left and to Muslims. This theory is justified when they are silent on the lynching of sadhus in Palghar. I hate the Editors Guild. Shame on them for the naked bias. – Pranab Roy Chowdhury

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Arnab Goswami resigned from the Guild because of prominent partisan members who would not condemn the Palghar incident irrespective of which community perpetrated the crime, whereas these enlightened vigilantes of the so-called secular forces jumped to accuse the majority community even before investigations. – Sampath

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I read your report on Arnab Goswami’s attack and watched the 52-minute video attached to it (Caught on TV: Anchor Arnab Goswami blames Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for Palghar lynching). For years, I have watched a frightful Indian press rise on the derision of anti-Bharatiya Janata Party agenda ignoring the essential home truths on the Congress. In 2004, India became a nation where one person of foreign influence wielded the power – much like the East India Company and the Mughals. It gave rise to a Scams Raj, and was ultimately electorally uprooted in 2014.

The question is: Where is Arnab Goswami wrong? Why are his questions an anathema for a party that came on board on anti-BJP agenda? Don’t hark back to the history of violence that lent incredible silence on many events since 1947. The present lesson is important: press which informs less and spreads disinformation. To give a clean chit to the Maharashtra government, it announces, within a day, a list of over 100-arrested persons. Surprise – there are no Muslims.

Palghar is a tribal area and I am not sure of its residents’ religious affiliations. I know for certain that there are no mosques within 50 km. In a land of Hindus, where Hinduism is the ethos, in any event one can easily point finger at the majority. But when declaration of violence allegedly from mosques arise, we are expected to dismiss it as a one-off case. Don’t be embarrassed. Practice journalism rather than be preachy. – Swapan Chakravarthy

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Arnab Goswami has rightfully asked questions as a true and patriotic journalist (Arnab Goswami moves SC, seeks stay on FIRs filed against him for comments against Sonia Gandhi). Sonia Gandhi is responsible for giving a reasonable answer as her party has a stake in the state where the crime was committed. The people of the country are with you, Arnab. Justice will come to you, your wife and the channel. People know the history of the Congress right from beginning. – Raman Pillai

Communal divisions

At a time such as this, when the country and the entire world is struggling with the coronavirus it is astonishing that the police are harassing the citizenry of the country and carrying out their master’s business (CAA protests: Over 20 film personalities call for release of arrested Jamia students). Are we living in a totalitarian country? Isn’t citizens’ right to engage in peaceful protest a human right?

It’s shocking that the Delhi Police is blindly carrying out orders that smack of high handedness and abuse of law. When the riots broke out, a few weeks ago in the capital, the Delhi Police were alleged to have been either complicit in the riots or invisible as fascist forces had free run for days. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured in the violence. The poor and vulnerable were the biggest victims.

The police in Delhi and many states elsewhere, have been conducting themselves in a manner unbecoming of law-enforcement authorities. It is essential and urgent that reforms be carried out so the police are insulated from political interference and pressures. When will this happen? – Albert Colaco

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The plight of the victims of Delhi violence is indeed pathetic (Coronavirus: Two months after Delhi violence, victims struggle for food, compensation amid lockdown). It is unfortunate that sanity does not prevail on the perpetrators of these communal crimes where innocent citizens are the one who suffer. Once the perpetrators are caught – and they will be for sure – their lives will be confined to the corridors of courts with the members of their families reaping the consequences of their nefarious background. Just because they acted on behalf of one of the two sides, no one rescues them.

By the time this wisdom dawns on them, it may be too late and those who instigated the violence may not even be accessible to them. The question is: what should be done? Shall we allow the nation to be a hotbed of such brutal incidents with virtual lawlessness and let innocent people lose their lives? Is it not a fact that in a clash of communal hue, both sides lose lives?

Who should bear the compensation for the affected families? Is it not time that certain fixed amounts are automatically sanctioned for death and damage to property? It is time. These questions must find suitable answers. – Ramana Gove

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A section of media has launched an offensive attack against Hindutva and Hindu bodies. They do not spare a single chance of maligning all Hindus because of the actions of a few. Meanwhile, they defend all Tablighi Jamaat attendees. Media reporting is biased. Not a single media house has reported about the attacks on doctors, medical staff and policemen across the country. They sensationalise violence and lynching if it is directed against the minority community.

The sham secularists and so-called progressive Hindus won’t speak on the Palghar incident, because those lynched were sadhus. Maligning Hindus is secularism, but questioning the Tablighi Jamat is communalism.

These vested media are trying to suggest that Hindus were behind the Delhi violence and questioning the arrest of Umar Khalid, who orchestrated the riots. The World Health Organisation and Bill Gates have hailed Narendra Modi for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, but none of them reported this. The secularists can go any extent to abuse and castigate Modi, but preach to others to not cross any limits. – MK Shah

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Whoever has penned this highly opinionated and baseless article is not helping Scroll.in’s cause of getting subscribers (Now that the world has spotted Hindutva bigotry, Modi insists that coronavirus doesn’t see religion). In your zeal to demonise Narendra Modi, you have demeaned and maligned our nation. Of course, such articles garner a lot of clicks and hurrah in the Western media, but they also alienate you from the people of this country. And anyway, shall we debate how many riots happened during the “secular” regimes? But then, writers like this one always avoid debates because they fabricate lies. – Sumit Sengupta

Pandemic and its side effects

The coronavirus pandemic has affected public transport across the globe leading to cancellation of bus services. The move has been considered to be in the best interest of public health and safety, while encouraging people to avoid public transport and thus stay at home safely (Post Covid-19 lockdown, will India’s public transport systems be able to maintain social distancing?). It is now imminent that bus services will resume immediately after lifting of lockdown, post the extension to be announced accordingly. The authorities then need to plan accordingly to ensure social distancing and safe access to the public. It is thus suggested to introduce mandatory online booking of seats in all buses. The mandatory online booking facility will enable authorities to continuously track and monitor passengers. The step will help authorities inch closer towards the goal of eliminating the pandemic to an extent, only by encouraging safe public transport through effective social distancing measure. – Varun Dambal

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I feel that this article is totally off the mark when you assert that it is only in the slums that social distancing is an issue (In India, urban design must evolve to allow social distancing in slums). Just casual observation should tell you that in most urban areas, there is absolutely no social distancing – whether on trains and buses, markets or the local kirana shops. With illegal hawkers usurping most footpaths and narrow to non-existent roads, just walking on the streets is a nightmare. While Mumbai has grown exponentially and vertically, the infrastructure is abysmal. Roads so narrow that it is impossible to cross the road, there are no open spaces, and there is overcrowding wherever you go.

The only way out of the current mess is to plan the growth of our cities in a sensible manner. Cities should grow horizontally, not vertically. The population density per sq km must be limited. No buildings should be taller than three stories, proper footpaths should be ensured on each side of the road, local roads should be at least eight lanes wide, and highways should be at least 12 lanes wide. Every few km there should be a huge park or playground like Shivaji Park at Dadar. These suggestions will ensure that people are spread out and not cramped in a small space. And yes, urban areas do have a lot of empty space where development can take place. China has done it, USA has done it, and India can do it do too. If India wants to be a super power in future, then it will have to plan its cities like those of existing superpowers. – Dilip Bhagat

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This is not time to have an analysis, as it does not help either the victims or the authorities who are managing the Covid-19 crisis (What explains the low coronavirus numbers in poor, densely populated South Asia?). After the crisis is over, a detailed statistical analysis by experts, and not journalists, can be undertaken to analyse the various parameters such as climate, ethnicity, food habits, pre-existing health, lifestyle and affluence. This will help reach a conclusion about how to change the lives of people in each nation. – R Venkat

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It is good that at least someone is raising the issue of Indians stuck abroad, as it seems that even the media is not concerned about it (She went to Antarctica on her dream holiday and is now stuck in US. Indians like her can’t come home). There are lot of people, like me, who work in different countries and want to leave as soon as possible and reunite with our families. The Indian government’s blanket lockdown is taking us nowhere. It is killing people in silence, if not coronavirus and we need a proper plan. There are also a thousand people who want to leave India. A petition has been signed by around 3,000 people requesting the government to restart flights, but officials have turned a blind eye towards people like us. – Gaurav Kaintura

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