Prejudiced, preconceived and pre-determined narrative-based news coverage on Bharat’s happenings is neither ethical nor objective.
Dr Aniruddh Subhedar
Renowned Belgian Indologist Koenraad Elst had said, “Western correspondents in Delhi just don’t know very much and also don’t feel the need to find out more.” In 1990s, Elst did extensive research on India especially Ayodhya Ram Temple Movement.
In his book “Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society”, Elst observed that Western media views India as a backward society which needs to learn the “European civilized ways”. As a natural consequence their view of any movement / political party that asserts indigenous cultural moorings of India was not their best bet.
Overly and overtly critical view of Western media towards organizations like Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) reflects in their reportage due to this very mind set.
This prognosis may sound a wee bit sweeping allegation but a simple analysis of recent events and their coverage in international media does reveal a pattern.
For past two months, the shocking and gruesome cases of financial scams, land grabbing, forced labour, sexual harassments and rapes have emerged from Sandeshkhali, a village in West Bengal in Bharat. But western media raises more questions than answering any on the issue.
Our analysis examines coverage of the issue by about a dozen international media organizations like The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Le Monde (France) The Times, Reuters, CNN International, Al Jazeera English and BBC
What happened in Sandeshkhali?
Sandeshkhali is a village in Indian state of West Bengal in proximity to Bangladesh border. West Bengal is currently ruled by Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) whose leader Mamta Banerjee has been an outspoken opponent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his political party, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Being one of the very few political leaders who found some traction in resisting BJP spread in Bengal, Banerjee holds significance for anti-BJP political formations.
For last few months, news reports of financial irregularities in West Bengal being investigated by the government agencies have been frequently filed by newspersons. On January 5, 2024, officials of Enforcement Directorate (ED) went to investigate TMC leader in Sandeshkhali, Sheikh Shahjahan in a financial scam.
ED officials were attacked by his men following which Sheikh Shahjahan went into hiding. It was during his absence that the local women could gather courage to speak up and depth of the issue came to light.
Sheikh Shahjahan and his men were de facto rulers of the area. They grabbed land of locals, made them work like slaves, facilitated illegal immigration from neighbouring Bangladesh in large numbers to numerically enlarge their supporter-base.
But most horrific reality of Sandeshkhali was that women were being raped by Sheikh Shahjahan and TMC bigwigs regularly at their will and pleasure. At midnight, women were summoned from their homes, assaulted and returned: “Trinamool people will come and check out which house has a young and pretty wife”, revealed women of Sandeshkhali. As they all belonged to ruling party Trinamool Congress, this went on unabashedly and in complete know of the state police brass.
After women of Sandeshkhali spoke of their ordeal in public, it turned out to be a big story in national media. Severity of Sandeshkhali incident could only be matched by what followed after it came to public knowledge. State government put its weight behind the accused and blocked investigation of the incident. Opposition leaders were being blocked by the TMC government from entering Sandeshkhali. A journalist of a leading national news channel, who was reporting on issue, was arrested by State police while on camera.
Sandeshkhali in Western Media
It goes without saying that what was happening in Sandeshkhali deserved media outrage and its coverage in the international media was expected. But a simple Google search tells that there was not a single article or write-up on Sandeshkhali in any of the above-mentioned international media outlets, except in BBC. British Broadcasting Corporation reported the plight of Sandeshkhali women as it has regional language offices in India that have some traction.
Sandeshkhali women’s problems and misrule of TMC got some coverage in national media as Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani flagged the issue. TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan absconded for 50 days, arrested later owing to court directives and Sandeshkhali could not be avoided any further.
While there’s no plausible explanation to remain silent on Sandeshkhali story, western media may take umbrage in defence that the story may not warrant global attention or comment, Some even went to the extent to say that Sandeshkhali was India’s internal issue and we respect the country’s sovereignty. But as further analysis will show that it is not true either.
Farmers’ Protest coverage
In contrast, Punjab farmers protest hogged headlines in news portals of global media houses. This clearly debunks their stated claims of honouring sovereignty cited in Sandeshkhali story.
About 16 news stories were done on farmers’ protest, not counting the multiple stories done by BBC and Al-Jazeera in first ten days of Punjab farmers hitting the streets at Sindhu border.
One each by New York Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, Reuters, two stories by The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, and CNN International and six in The Washington Post. Both BBC and Al-Jazeera did multiple stories on farmers’ protest issue.
Apart from coverage of farmers’ protests, these media outlets also found space, time and invested on other stories as well. On March 1, 2024, a foreign tourist was gang-raped in the Indian state of Jharkhand. This became a prominent story followed by several global media outfits including The Washington Post, Reuters, CNN, Al-Jazeera and BBC and others.
Severity of Sandeshkhali rapes is much bigger in magnitude. If the horrific crime that happened with the foreign tourist deserved media coverage, then by the same measure, Sandeshkhali story should have become a global headline given that leaders and cadres of ruling TMC were involved and it happened with impunity. But Sandeshkhali was non-existent whereas all the other news stories were splashed all over the media.
This deafening silence on Sandeshkhali is quite eloquent. There seems to be a definite pattern to news coverage by foreign media outlets on India. It may not entirely be on the basis of journalistic principles of truth, objectivity or human rights. Nor it is actuated out of respect for India’s internal matters. Rather, it’s more aligned with their political and cultural biases against India and its organizations. It is this mind-set that makes New York Times publish insulting cartoon mocking India’s Mars Mission and it is this mind-set that makes them pick through news stories so that their preconceived coloured narrative about Bharat is peddled and amplified before global readership and viewers.
(Author is a researcher and assistant professor in central university, Gurugram)
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