Filed under: Cynthia Chandran | Tags: attacks, BJP, Elections, Kashmir, UPA
In India, counting of votes for State elections is scheduled to take place on 8 December, except in Kashmir where votes will be tallied on 28 December. State assembly elections were held in six States over the last few weeks.
Critics and media pundits are looking forward to the results. Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Mizoram had gone to the polls.
Parliamentary elections are due in the first half of next year and the state polls are expected to give a sense of how the electorate may vote then.
The ruling Congress government at the centre and the main opposition party, Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) were equally confident of getting majority of the seats. But post 26/11 attacks; it is doubtful who will have an upper hand.
Only Chattisgarh had gone to the electoral fray before the Mumbai attacks. After the attacks, Indians all over the country had held large demonstrations directing their anger at the politicians. The politicians had come under fire from the media and the pubic alike, regardless of whether they were from the ruling Congress or the BJP.
I feel skeptical that the public outcry would not spur any change in the political establishment. The voting percentage was badly affected, even though the government took extra efforts to have the citizens cast their votes.
Jolt from the blue
The Congress government was literally taken aback by the Mumbai attacks and their inefficiency in tackling the attacks were bared before the public. This had ruined the image of the government very badly.
Hence the ruling party was very desperate to put the fault on across the border, even before concrete evidence could be known. In a way, the government is trying to put the blame on Pakistan in order to have face saving measures.
Even before the attacks, the people were disappointed with the government due to inflation. The price of fuel and other essential commodities were hiked without any logic.
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had cut down the fuel price only few days back and the rate were not controlled even when the international price had decreased drastically. All this factors are going to be affected very badly in the electoral fray.
The BJP will also be having a tough time as it had created anti nationalist sentiments during the enquiry of Malegaon bomb blasts. However, the BJP has been campaigning for a tougher anti-terror law in response to the terrorist attacks.
It is very unlikely that the BJP can have some stakes on the results.
Polling in Kashmir
Kashmir had a heavy turn out of voters as the people there were keen to see a change in the government and wanted to eradicate militancy. It was held in seven phases. They wanted a stable government, which would be tough towards terrorism.
The people of Kashmir have to wait longer until the end of this month to know about the electoral results. Now it is a matter of few hours to know the outcome of the six state elections.
Photograph with special permission from Indiavision news channel
The dreams of both the parties are going to be shattered very soon. Now both the political parties would have to toil extra hard to get back the people’s confidence and to motivate them to vote them back to power again.
But are the politicians able to understand the change of mind of the voters?
Filed under: Cynthia Chandran | Tags: BBC's Press Office, Labour party, Michael Grade, Mumbai attacks, Steve Pound, The Indian Express
Last week, there have been heated debates among the global media and a group of politicians in the UK’s ruling Labour Party on whether to address terrorist or gunmen coinciding with the Mumbai attacks. According to the ‘Indian Express’, BBC has been using the term ‘gunmen’ and avoided using the word, ‘terrorist’.
Steve Pound, MP, who is representing Ealing North in the British Parliament, said in a statement released to news agencies that it was ‘the worst sort of mealy-mouthed posturing.’ The ‘Indian Express’ had reported on this matter. Ealing North is having a major population of South Asians and infact he was echoing the sentiments of the people there.
The accusation against BBC was not something new. Following the July 7, 2005 bombings in underground tube stations, the correspondent had addressed the terrorists as ‘bombers.’ There was a hue and cry from across the world on using the word as ‘bombers’ or ‘militants’.
Later, the then BBC Chairman Michael Grade told BBC’s Today programme that the broadcaster should have called the July 7 bombers terrorists because they were universally viewed as such within the corporation.
BBC’s guidelines say that the ‘terrorist’ word is not banned, but should be used ‘sparingly’ and that a bare reporting of facts could be a ‘barrier rather than an aid to understanding’ and ‘undermine’ the news organisation’s ‘credibility’. BBC is state owned but independently run.
So they have a set of norms on what and how to report news. However, I feel that the ultimate decision should come from the editor and the reporter. But I do remember that during 7/7 attacks in London; the BBC had used the word ‘terrorist’ for a prolonged period and then moving on to ‘bomber’.
Photograph with special permission from Indiavision News Channel.
If you check the BBC’s website on Mumbai attacks, it is evident that the attackers are referred to as ‘gunmen’ in most places and ‘suspected terrorists’ in just one place. However according to the ‘Indian Express’, there is a sea change in BBC’s Hindi and Urdu service and it seems that the English language service people are the only one who is hesitant to use the word ‘terrorist.’
CNN’s Stand
It translates as freedom fighters in certain languages. “We are not alone in not calling them terrorists.”
In all its stories on Mumbai attacks, CNN described the attackers as terrorists without any fear. Nevertheless, the BBC’s press office had released a statement as “We are not calling them freedom fighters. We are calling them ‘bombers’ or ‘militants’. The fact is terrorist does not have a universal meaning.
The debate is still raging on and after a while it will be sidelined in the cacophony of other news items. This can of worms will be let loose when another terrorist attack happens elsewhere and the debate goes on and on without any proper conclusion.
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