An open letter to Indian media on its coverage on Kapil Mishra

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Dear (Sold-Out) Indian Media,

A simple question: Do we really need to take Kapil Mishra’s words so seriously?

Oh, come on! Don’t be shy. Please tell us. The nation may just want to know!

Didn’t you see the video that the former minister in Arvind Kejriwal’s Delhi government release a few months back? If not, please watch the video below.

Did we take him seriously when he made those allegations a few months ago saying that the BJP-controlled Delhi ACB (Anti-Corruption Branch) is conspiring to implicate Arvind Kejriwal in one or the other corruption cases by hook or by crook?

No, I didn’t see you give a fraction of the attention to Mishra’s assertions vis-à-vis the prime time limelight you are showering on him these days.

So why give him so much credence now when it is clearly evident that Mishra has volunteered to be a part of the same alleged conspiracy against the Delhi Chief Minister?

Kapil Mishra’s extraordinary outbursts against Kejriwal has seen him turn into a debonair politician overnight. He is virtually a superstar – with morning, matinee, evening and night shows running on television. He is even famous in the Gulf.

All because of your (I mean the media’s) single-minded obsession with anyone or anything that goes against the AAP leader.

Dark and dirty politics

We can understand that the political opponents of AAP and the right-wing jingbang getting a near orgasm at the prospect of putting Kejriwal in the dock. They have a political interest.

They will continue their vicious attacks on the AAP leader in their relentless bid to somehow prove that he is one among them – that basically boils down to being ‘corruptible’ at the least if not outright ‘corrupt’.

They can’t let Kejriwal carry an aura of being an ‘honest’ politician just so easily. So they will throw muck at him, either directly or make someone else do their bid, to rob him off this rare luminance. That’s understandable.

AAP, at least as an idea, wants to change the political hygiene. The old guard is used to politics that is dark and dirty. They have an inherent abhorrence for clean politics and they will go to any extent to retain the status quo. No stones will be left unturned to crush a challenge, such as the one posed by AAP in recent times, to the existing political (dis)order.

So, this anti-AAP rhetoric by various political parties, but most vocally led by the BJP and its troll army, and their blind faith on Kapil Mishra’s charges against Kejriwal despite the apparent dubiousness is completely on expected lines.

Spreading falsehood

But why you oh Indian Media? Why are you shamelessly throwing your weight behind a man with zero credibility (Mishra of course) in order to vilify the AAP leader, who is ironically known as an anti-corruption crusader?

Well, unless of course you are a part of the strategy to bring Kejriwal down any which way. We can see that the one thing (but also the most crucial thing) you could successfully do in this grand plan is spread falsehood. After all, propaganda is the forte of (sold-out) media.

If that is what it is, then I must commend you on a hit job, executed well. I can understand why you brazenly salivate at the prospect of AAP and Kejriwal being put on a spot, while treating other politicians including the mighty Prime Minister with kid-gloves.

Due to your relentless support and wide coverage to all anti-AAP endeavours, the fledgling political party, it seems, is increasingly losing the perception war against its opponents (read BJP). Only a miracle could lift the morale of the party and its committed volunteers and supporters. For Kejriwal, it means a long struggle to reinvigorate the cadre.

However if eventually Kapil Mishra’s testimony proves to be the fall of Kejriwal, it will be a sad day not only for Indian democracy but also for its media.

‘Ethics’ and ‘credibility’ are two words that may not be much relevant to you these days, but I would strongly recommend you to look out the meanings of these words in the dictionary.

Yours sincerely,

A deeply disgusted viewer

(The author is a Gulf-based Indian journalist. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily represent those of JantaKaReporter)

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