by A. J. PHILIP
Unfortunately, we believe what we want to believe. When we read newspapers, we look for subjects that are dear to us. I know a priest, whose Sunday sermons are a litany of crime stories that appeared in a mass-circulation daily the previous week. It even compelled me to tell my father that there was no need to subscribe to the newspaper when the priest was there to recite all the sensational stories the next Sunday.
The priest’s standard practice was to begin with a verse from the Bible and then jump to the conclusion that crime was increasing because people were moving away from the word of God. He would not realize that when the world was as less populated, as it was when Adam and Eve decided to raise a family, there was an unholy murder. My reference is to the Cain, the first human born, who turned out to be the first murderer!
Just like the priest looking for crime stories in the newspaper to fill the blanks in his sermons, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi looks for anti-Sonia Gandhi stories in Gujarati newspapers. I remember how some Gujarati newspapers played a sinister role in the Gujarat riots in 2002.
I had read a detailed study with translations in English of the kind of stories and sensational headlines the Gujarati Press carried those days when Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee had to gently remind the Chief Minister about his “Raj Dharma”. As a journalist, I felt a sense of shame at the conduct of the Gujarati Press.
I am not at all surprised that Modi’s eyes fell on a report a Gujarati newspaper carried about Congress chief and United Progressive Alliance head Sonia Gandhi’s medical expenses. It said her visit to the US a couple of times for treatment cost the nation staggering Rs 1880 crore! Modi could not have got a better weapon against the MP from Amethi, whose description of him — “maut ka saudagar” — he will probably hold against her forever.
Modi knows what sells in his state. He won an election campaigning against “Mian Musharraf”, whom he wanted to teach a lesson for eyeing Kargil. If some illiterate voters thought that Musharraf had filed his nomination to contest to the State Assembly, they could not be blamed. After all, the fierceness with which Modi campaigned against the Pakistani President had to be seen to be believed.
The Chief Minister used the news clipping to attack Sonia Gandhi during his ongoing tour of the state in a specially decked up vehicle he borrowed from Lal Krishna Advani, the master of “rath yatra”. Modi was not content with the figure. He added Rs 120 crore to make the amount easier to remember: Rs 2,000 crore. Since his credibility is limited to his hardcore supporters, he mentioned that the details were obtained under the Right to Information Act.
What more was needed to drive the Congress chief to a corner? Picking up the thread from where Modi had left it, a BJP spokesman wanted all the details of her disease and the expenses incurred on it to be made public. He even made the point that while there were “20 Indians” in US President Barack Obama’s “medical team”, she did not trust any Indian hospital or Indian doctors.
It is a different matter that nobody asks any questions about Vajpayee’s illness or the money spent on it. Even when, as Prime Minister, he went to Mumbai for a knee operation, overlooking the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, which has the best faculty in India, nobody questioned him on his decision.
The Herald of India for more