A Great Institution gone wrong. Review on The Hindu

A Great Institution gone wrong.

''The Hindu'' has a great tradition amongst Indian newspapers. It is older than the Indian National Congress Party.

The Hindu spoke against intolerant British despots when most learned Indians quivered in their feet. However today the same great Institution with great traditions which parallels the history of modern India finds itself to be a mere mouthpiece of the Left-wing and other Communist parties.

How did it happen? There are a lot of prevalent theories. But going by fact, the earliest origins of the newspapers decline could be viewed in the early 80's with the Sri Lankan problem. ''The Hindu'''seditorial opinions voiced by its Associate Editor N.Ram took a stand supporting such terrorist organizations like the LTTE. A far cry indeed from the newspaper which had opposed the British rule. Later in the year 1987 with the Bofors issue broken by N.Ram the newspaper faced turmoil with the Kasturi camp(who were then the publishers and had management control) fought with their nephews Ram, Ravi and Murali over the control of the paper. In a decisive turn, N.Ram won the battle and became the de-facto head, with N.Ravi becoming the Editor by name.

This incident marked the downfall of journalistic freedom of ''The Hindu''. From an organization which gave unbiased opinions it became an organization which voiced all pro-Left wing, ultra-liberalistic view. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it sought to twist events against many patriotic issues as well as becoming a stringent voice against the BJP and the Right wing and for that matter any patriotic Indian.

''The Hindu'' became a puppet for all Left wing and communist pinkos. Some of the regular columnists include Mr.Sitaram Yechuri, Mr.Prakash Karat, Ms. Arundhati Roy, Mr.Ali Asgar Engineer etc. Well there are more.

For the casual reader who just wanted to read the news, check up on a few stock quotes, read on how the Indian cricket team was playing, there seemed no difference. But a newspaper is beyond that. In India where Fourth Estate needs to be strong amidst all the political and judicial corruption, the conversion of one of the most revered news institutions is a shame.

After the Kargil war, Mr.N.Ram made the following statements reported in his newspaper, 'After the Kargil episode the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders looked like fools. They were rescued by Sonia Gandhi.'

After the December 13th attack on the parliament, 'India is to be blamed for(December 13th) the escalation of tension recently. 'We began to look stupid in the world.'

There are many more issues where the Hindu has taken one-sided stances without giving the opposing party a chance to express its opinion. In fair journalism that is an unspoken credo.

Take the issue of Graham Staines, the missionary who was murdered in Orissa. There was a big hue and cry by the Hindu over it. Around the same time, Hindus were murdered in NE India by Christians, Hindus were murdered in Kerala by Muslims. But there was no fair hue and cry. ''The Hindu'' in its zeal to protect minority rights decided to take the majority for granted and denied them fair coverage in press and editorials alike.

Any issue covering China is another example. ''The Hindu'' portrays China in a way the Communist redniks would beam in pride. The world knows how the Communists treat their citizens as slaves and all the underlying problems in China.

The issues with human rights in Tibet are well documented. But Mr.Ram is oblivious to all that and portrays China to be the utopia that India should seek to imitate.

I'd rather take the democracy of India than to be a commie Slave in China any day.

My Take

This biased reporting has gone for too long and N.Ram would've been forced out in any publicly operated newspaper. However ''The Hindu'' is privately owned by Ram and his extended family. Hence that is not possible. However what is possible is for people to speak out against the newspaper and investigate for themselves. They will find what I've mentioned so far. The truth is very powerful, even the strongest of men and organizations can supress it for so long. One day it will come out and I believe that ''The Hindu'' will be rid of communist minions like N.Ram and co.

Jai Hind.