Sunday, May 30, 2004
PERPETUATING A MYTH
"Rural India asserts itself","NDA disconnected with the masses"...
These are some of the headlines that have been splashed across the front-pages of a number of newspapers and magazines over the last fortnight!As per the informed
opinion of many of these self-styled analysts,the disgruntled masses of the countryside
were solely responsible for the defeat of the ruling coalition.But it matters very little to these hacks that the facts are very much to the contrary!
Let us sit back and analyse this election in terms of hard numbers:
The Congress has won 6 out of the 7 seats in Delhi,the national capital.
The NDA has been able to salvage just 1 seat in Mumbai,the commercial capital.
The NDA has fared abysmally in the 2 other metropolises,Chennai and Kolkata.
Two of the states where the BJP bucked the national trend were M.P and
Rajasthan,both of which are predominantly rural.
Thus,it is evident that any attempt to interpret the results as a veto of the alleged urban-centric policies of the previous govt is nothing short of plain propaganda.But yet,day in and day out,one keeps reading experienced reporters,who ought to know better,leaving no stone unturned in perpetuating the myth about the 'rural vote'!And the worst part is that there is not much that we can do about it except to watch these egregious and blatantly false pieces of journalism being inflicted upon unsuspecting readers.Don't we,as discerning readers,have a right to demand better fare from the media ?
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"Rural India asserts itself","NDA disconnected with the masses"...
These are some of the headlines that have been splashed across the front-pages of a number of newspapers and magazines over the last fortnight!As per the informed
opinion of many of these self-styled analysts,the disgruntled masses of the countryside
were solely responsible for the defeat of the ruling coalition.But it matters very little to these hacks that the facts are very much to the contrary!
Let us sit back and analyse this election in terms of hard numbers:
The Congress has won 6 out of the 7 seats in Delhi,the national capital.
The NDA has been able to salvage just 1 seat in Mumbai,the commercial capital.
The NDA has fared abysmally in the 2 other metropolises,Chennai and Kolkata.
Two of the states where the BJP bucked the national trend were M.P and
Rajasthan,both of which are predominantly rural.
Thus,it is evident that any attempt to interpret the results as a veto of the alleged urban-centric policies of the previous govt is nothing short of plain propaganda.But yet,day in and day out,one keeps reading experienced reporters,who ought to know better,leaving no stone unturned in perpetuating the myth about the 'rural vote'!And the worst part is that there is not much that we can do about it except to watch these egregious and blatantly false pieces of journalism being inflicted upon unsuspecting readers.Don't we,as discerning readers,have a right to demand better fare from the media ?
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