The pot calling the kettle...

BY ALKA GURHA| IN Media Practice | 26/11/2014
In covering controversial godman Rampal, news channels ignored their own role in promoting superstition.
Why do they give air time to fraudsters, asks ALKA GURHA (PIX: Sant Rampal after his arrest)
The visuals emerging from the sprawling Satlok Ashram in Barwala, Hisar, raise several questions about blind faith and political patronage.  From Chandra Swami to Asaram Bapu, it appears that most godmen thrive under a political umbrella. Regardless, one felt sorry for the thousands of ignorant and illiterate devotees present inside Rampal’s ashram. 
 
Most followers had come from the villages of UP, Bihar, MP and Jharkhand. And many, according to a report in the Times of India, had become devotees after listening to Rampal on Sadhana TV and Nepal 1. While reporters were upset about police brutality against the media and viewers were blaming the politicians, what about media responsibility?
 
After Rampal’s arrest, reporters rushed inside the premises to show us the visuals of the swimming pool, X-ray machines, spurious drugs, petrol bombs and metal detectors. One reporter told us that Rampal was a dhongi goon who exploited the emotions of gullible followers. Surprisingly, an hour later, the same channel was telecasting a promotional programme called ‘Horoscope’. 
 
When someone in the audience narrated his problems relating to finances, the master horoscope reader advised him to feed and massage a bull with mustard oil. Solutions of the kind such men profess should be held in contempt and not eulogized in the garb of promotional features by responsible media. 
 
Take the paid televised show called Nirmal Durbar about the public meetings of Nirmal Baba. According to Wikipedia, “this show was broadcast by approximately 40 different channels including TV Asia, Star News, SAB TV and more.  During these darbars, he used to make public appearances and conversed with aggrieved devotees who usually narrated their personal, social or financial worries to him. He would ask questions to diagnose what has stopped "kirpa" (God's kindness) from flowing in the devotees' lives. He then used to advise them on those issues publicly and suggested "solutions" to make "kirpa" flow in the devotees' lives again thereby solving their problems. Nirmal Baba also claims to save his devotees from the negative effects of black magic and evil spirits. All the samagam meetings have tickets for 3000 (US$49).” 
 
This programme came under attack owing to alleged fraudulent activities and for charging exorbitant sums of money from distressed and gullible people. Thereafter, some news channels discontinued the telecast of this show. However, while channel surfing, I remember watching the show last week on a Hindi news channel. Undeterred by the criticism, Nirmal Baba continued to offer solutions involving the eating of rabdi, samosa and pani-puri.
 
Focus News, a relatively new news channel, telecasts a health show based on ayurveda, where the solutions offered by the so-called ayurvedic expert are preposterous. The solution for loose motions, for instance, is banging the navel with a tight fist. 
 
Several programmes that promote superstitions like Panchang, Dharm, Family Guru and Kal Aaj Aur Kal are being aired on news channels. Much of the content in such shows misguides gullible viewers. While I appreciate the logic of a daily horoscope, I am unable to appreciate the logic of repeating a mantra forty thousand times to ward off an evil eye. At least not on public platforms like news channels.
 
As a discerning television viewer I have two questions. First, why should the news channels telecast programmes that inculcate blind faith in the name of religion? Because once you propel such messiahs onto a high moral pedestal, the gullible followers remain undeterred even after reports about their misdemeanors. And the guise of advertorial or promotional programming does nothing to deter the illiterate villagers who ignore the promotional ticker and continue to believe the word of the so-called messiahs as gospel.
 
Second, after the siege of Satlok Ashram, it appeared that the news channels were more interested in the sensationalist part of discovering metal detectors, a swimming pool and ammunition rather than the investigative part of finding out more about the political patronage offered to Rampal. 
 
Who was managing the flow of money, who were the trustees running the ashram, who owned the palatial property and how did Rampal manage to skip the court hearings 42 times? 
 
Though most news channels stayed away from asking uncomfortable, pointed questions, NDTV conducted a larger debate, "Holy Men, ‘Unholy’ Acts" where it ended up, rather predictably, as a BJP versus Congress contest in which Congress leader Nagma raised the issue of Z plus security provided to Baba Ramdev. Another debate on ABP News had several saffron clad gurus indulging in a war of words rather than finding solutions to the problem of blind faith. 
 
Given that television channels play a role in the popularity of some godmen, they need to act responsibly, especially in a country like ours where naïve viewers may be brainwashed easily.
 
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