TeaThe Narendra Modi government on Wednesday banned Popular Front of India for five years, but if you were watching television news from yesterday morning, you would have thought that it works on behalf of news channels.
“Does the government listen? Navbharti says, “said Times now navbharti, quite hilarious with self-congratulations. ,news nation Started agitation for a ban against PFI,” claimed news nation, With pride “We told about this ban…,” declared india today, “We were the first to tell you about it,” insisted TV9 Bharatvarsh – Oh really, does this mean even before the Union Ministry in its written order told about the ban?
and what to make republic tv Who claimed that it was “PFI’s Enemy No. 1”? Here we have been thinking that the Indian state was its primary target.
oh well
all things pfi
To find out that the ban was imminent did not come to Ramanujan’s mind. republic tv Put the sequence of events in the most concise way possible: “Raided and Banned in 7 Days.”
Last week, we saw “Maha” TV coverage of “Operation Octopus”, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raids on PFI offices across India. like the channel republic tv Often ignored the “high voltage political drama” of Congress (mirror now) after “failed” in Rajasthan done high command of Project Pilot” (Till date) to focus on the PFI “Showdown”.
These days, TV coverage mainly consisted of scenes showing the PFI office, the PFI flag, and footage of the PFI protests. In its campaign, the NIA was heavily backed by news channels, which referred to the “radical” PFI (CNN-News18) For this “terrorist” activities (zee hindustan,
Some went even further: times now Anchor Rahul Shivshankar was so impressed by the NIA’s “unprecedented scale” raids that he confidently promised, “The central government will end Hinduphobia in the country”.
republic tvK Arnab Goswami was equally emphatic: it is the “fight for the real Indian identity”, he declared, “and therefore, ladies and gentlemen, the PFI must be destroyed.”
bragging rights go too NDTV India For Tuesday evening’s debate: “After the biggest ever action against PFI, will it be banned?”
See, on Wednesday morning, the channels got what they expected: “PFI banned” (india today), “PFI banned for five years” (CNN News 18) Excited channels fell at each other to criticize the group and praise the government: “This organization is a disease,” said an ailing republic tv Reporter. “PFI is directly or indirectly involved in any kind of violence in UP,” said one India TV anchor. ,there was one pfi, cheap country,” was TV9′Patriotic tagline. Zee News’ Because of the love for the melodrama, “Murder, violence and riots – the agenda of the PFI?”
“PFI footprint erased / Largest country sent the first message / Compromise Act,” wowEd republic tvTo illustrate the point, we saw Muslim men holding anti-PFI posters – saying “India welcomes the ban”. news nation The obituary consisted of four words: “Chapter closed for PFI”.
Pictures of PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah adorned these reports, just in case the audience had any doubts about who ordered the ban.
Subsequently, the channels made a case for banning the PFI and its associates based on the findings of the NIA. The items reportedly found by the agency included maritime radios, swords, weapons, cash, bomb-making manuals and of course the Vision 2047 document. was worse to follow: according to TV9 BharatvarshThe channel claimed there was a magazine with a cover photo of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden – he was the “poster boy” for the PFI.
Zee News Foreign lands for PFI – tracked the money trail in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, while Till date It cited evidence of its alleged links with foreign terrorist groups. All part of the PFI’s “secret agenda” were training and preaching camps, self-defense classes, and manuals on violence and protest.
times now There was a good powerpoint on why the ban was implemented, CNN-News18 An excellent explainer of what the restriction means.
Then came ‘Ugly Rajneeti’
Once the celebrations and explanations were over, news channels followed “Ugly”. Politics on the PFI ban” (india todayIt started as usual with the Congress. One of its MPs from Kerala, K. Suresh had also sought a ban on the latter, to compare the PFI and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). it led CNN,News18 The anchor asked his colleague whether there was any evidence of crimes by the RSS to substantiate the demand. “Absolutely zero,” replied the reporter, “(he) is playing in the gallery.” Well, Suresh achieved his objective when all the news channels played his sound bite, and for a few hours, he almost became famous. Major General GD Bakshi said, “It is an external and external terrorist organization, they want to isolate India” (times now,
Most opposition parties have used the tele-opportunity to mention the RSS and suggest that the BJP is doing electoral politics, in view of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh due later this year. . News channels didn’t care to hide their annoyance with this ‘ecosystem’: “Why is the ban on PFI giving stress to the Congress SP?” Asked zee hindustan, “Congress, NCP, NC, SP are in hand,” added CNN-News18,
Some Muslim leaders were singled out for speaking out for and against the ban, and the Social Democratic Party of India, known as the political wing of the PFI, gave its point: “‘SDPI’ slams centre.. . Calls it an undeclared emergency.” ,CNN-News18) Abdul Majeed of the party told times now It was the “toolkit” of the BJP.
By the way, where was the Aam Aadmi Party in all this ruckus? missing in action. Was it because two more people – Vijay Nair and Sameer Mahendru, who were allegedly close to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia – have been detained in the last 24 hours?
Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Likes)