[Urbanstudy] Posting Two- Media Representation

[mayuri samant]

In my second posting I am trying to explore the role
that media and especially print media played in this
whole issue of desecration of statue and the kind of
violent reaction that it received by Dalit masses.

Various reactions to the issue of desecration of the
statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Kanpur took
violent turn in all over Maharashtra, which further
gave rise to intense debate both among activists and
academicians. An important incidence in this chain of
events was setting ‘Deccan Queen on fire’1. Almost all
the newspapers condemned this event by arguing that,
though the anger of Dalit masses is justified the kind
of reaction that they gave can not be justified on any
grounds. It is interesting to recall a kind of
scenario that was there at the time of Gujarat riots. 
At that time almost all the news papers filled their
columns with articles in which the out dated Newtonian
principles of action- reactions (that is every action
has a reaction) were used very conveniently to justify
  the massacre that victimized Muslim community in
Gujarat. Since media is an integral part of the public
sphere, this issue of ‘different treatment’ compels us
to ask question that ‘how secular is the public
sphere’.   In other words, these issues tend to show
how ‘public’ of some specific caste, community, class
and gender has more importance that that of ‘others’.
Thus, before going in to further discussion of the
issue of collective action let us first discuss the
role that these newspapers played in creating the
public opinion, which might help us to throw some
light on some of the important questions regarding the
construction of public opinion in urban spaces with
respect to collective action. 
In modern society media holds a great responsibility
towards construction of public opinion. Though today
the electronic media has acquired a special importance
the print media continues to play a vital role. One of
the reasons for this is that even today, in this
electronic world, the ‘printed material’ still
continues to have great impact on the minds of the
people. So, there is a great tendency to accept
whatever has been published in the newspapers without
enough scrutinizing the same. For instance, often the
‘proof’ of authenticity of any news or event is based
on the fact of it being published in newspaper. A
common man always uses this to prove his/her point to
others because he/she believes that whatever has come
up in the newspaper is ‘The Truth’. Apart from this
newspapers also work as a pressure group by
persistently writing and focusing on particular issue
of public interest because of which they are also
called the ‘fourth pillar of the democracy’. While
taking in to consideration this vital role that
newspapers play it is essential to ask the question
whether they do justice to this. For instance, it is
important to look critically in to how these news
papers ‘covered’ that whole incidence of the violent
upsurge by Dalit massed not just after the desecration
issues but the one that took place also after the
event of organized killing of a Dalit family in
Khairlanji village of Bhandara district of
Maharashtra. 
In this case they were expected to play the most
patient and responsible role. However, if one does a
chronological analysis of the news that appeared in
different newspapers one can argue that the whole
focus of the ‘reporting’ was on the violent upsurge of
Dalits and on ‘showing’ how Dalits have become
‘victims of hatred’. The only paper that up held the
issue of Khairlanji was ‘Samrat’2.  So called
mainstream newspapers such as Lokasatta, Maharashtra
Times and even Times of India, initially did not even
take the notice of the event. But later on they
started giving some news regarding Khairlanji
occasionally in some ‘corners’. 
During the course of this time one of the news
channels brought ‘breaking news’ of desecration of the
statue of Dr. Ambedkar in Kanpur. As the news spread
Dalit masses all over Maharashtra expressed their
anger through various violent acts. One of the acts
that caught the attention of all the newspapers was
that they set Deccan Queen on fire near Ulhasnagar,
Bombay. But it is important to note that it was done
only after making all passengers getting off from the
train. So, not a single human calamity took place.
Next day it was the headline of almost all the
newspapers with the pictures of the burning train
covering almost half of the front page. Not just that,
but even in the subsequent pages there were articles
under very provocative headings such as ‘Queen of
Deccan on Fire’ along with the reactions of common
people on the whole incidence. One of the leading
newspapers in Marathi called Lokasatta gave the
picture of burning train with the heading “Anarchy”!
All other newspapers including English newspapers
emphasized the fact how law and order in the state is
now on the verge of collapsing. It is really
disturbing that the newspapers, which maintained
convenient silence about the brutal murder of a Dalit
family, were calling unrest among Dalit masses as
anarchy. The main reason behind showing the pictures
of burning train was to create an impression that how
‘Dalits have created great problems because of such
immaterial issue of desecration of just one statue’. 
Some newspapers also reported it as the ‘glory of
Maharashtra’ getting burnt. Here it is interesting to
see for whom it is a glory.  It is important to notice
that Deccan Queen has always been a symbol of glory
only for few upper case/class people of the city of
Pune and Mumbai. So, the act of burning of Deccan
Queen without causing any human calamity was in a way
a symbolic attack on the middle class/upper caste
mentality of these two cities who were least bothered
about the issues of desecration of the statue of Dr.
Ambedkar which meant an insult of not just Dalits but
the whole Ambedkarite community in general.

Here the attempt is not to justify the violent
upsurges which do in a way cause some kind of law and
order problem but as a student of social sciences one
should be able to politically locate such events in
the broader context. It requires asking critical
questions such as on what background this upsurge
happened, what were the political as well as social
factors behind it, can one call this upsurge as
‘anarchy’ or it was a collective reaction given to the
deprived and so a secondary status that Dalits have in
society. Without dealing with such critical questions
the one-sided role that newspapers played really makes
one question their ‘unbiased ness’. Though the
presence of newspapers like ‘Samrat’ openly advocated
the voice of Bahujan Samaj brings some hope the
mainstream newspapers continues to represent a higher
caste/class voice in the society.   
 



1 The Deccan Queen is an Indian passenger train that
connects Mumbai with Pune. It is a daily means of
transport for thousands of passengers traveling
between the two cities. It is also called ‘Dakkhan chi
Rani’ in Marathi, which literally means the Queen of
Deccan. 
2 Samrat is a Marathi daily newspaper in Maharashtra,
which is considered to be representing the voice of
Bahujan Samaj, which is considered to be
anti-establishment, and so differs radically from
other mainstream newspapers. 
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