[Reader-list] Urdu Journalism, Indian Muslims and Issues in Democracy

[arshad amanullah]

                    Urdu Journalism, Indian Muslims and Issues in Democracy

Association of Mohan Chiraghi with the Urdu Press dates back to years
when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India. As the editor of
Qaumi Awaz, a leading Urdu daily from Delhi, he has lived to many
events which are seen as watersheds of modern India. He speaks his
mind over issues related to democracy and the interplay between the
journalism and Indian Muslims through the language of Urdu to Arshad
Amanullah.

Q: How do you look at the present scenario of Urdu journalism?

A: Urdu journalism in India is a lost battle; both in terms of money
as well as of job satisfaction. There is no channel through which you
can know feedback of the readers regarding your writings. The reason
is that Urdu journalism is no more a medium that can influence its
readers in its own way. It has not established itself as a distinct
entity.


Q: Who are responsible for this state of affairs while once it used to
be the most influential language journalism?

A: Unfortunately, after the Partition the politicians, especially the
Muslim politicians projected Urdu as the language of Muslims though
the fact is that no language belongs to any religion. Had that been
the truth, all Indian Muslims would have been speaking Arabic, the
language of the Qur'an and all Hindus would have been speaking
Sanskrit, the language of the Gita.


Q: How did this affect the journalistic praxis of the Urdu Press?

A: The notion that a language belongs to a particular religion, has
serious implications on the editorial policy. Then one starts looking
at all developments from a certain angle. It affects news-selection,
copy-editing and editorial writing. This reduces a newspaper to the
representative of a particular community, at the cost of ignoring the
society at large.


Q: Is Urdu Press honest towards raising the problems of even the
Muslim community?

A: No. It does not pay attention to the real problems of the
community. It is the backwardness in education and economy which dogs
the Muslims. A Muslim student generally drops out after standard 6-7.
But nobody addresses these issues. If some attention is paid then to
the madrasa education which has no relevance to the practicality of
the daily life.


Q: But where is the leadership?

A:  The predicament of the North Indian Muslim society is that its
leadership lacks vision and rationality to take community to the path
of development and prosperity. The visible faces of the Muslim leaders
happen to be either an imam or a head of a religious institution.
Though there are definitely some people who are working in the
education sector, they do not enjoy any mass-acceptance as they do not
inform the fantasy the community lives in.


Q: Is Urdu journalism to be blamed for this sorry state of affairs?

A: The Urdu newspapers have been capitalizing on the unreal
aspirations of the community. Instead of debating its basic problems,
they keep it busy with by and large only three issues: minority
character of Aligarh Muslim University without knowing the meaning of
the word 'university', Babri Mosque whether it will be rebuilt and
Hindu chauvinism. They have exaggerated the extent of threat the
community has been facing from the Hindu Right. It is true that there
are chauvinist organizations among the Hindus but that is not the
complete story. Had all Hindus fascist, India would have been a
completely different country.


Q:  Vernacular newspapers are scaling new heights of progress. Do you
foresee any chance for such a boom in Urdu Press?

A:  No, I do not see any. Presently, the situation is that circulation
of some 'big' Urdu newspaper does not exceed a few thousand copies.
They do not get advertisements due to their very limited circulation.
If some company advertises products like betel, bidi, cigarette, etc
in them, it does not get expected response. It is only the ads by
quacks like Hakim Usmani promising stuff for eternal youth, get
response. As these newspapers do not generate revenue, they do not
attract talent.


Q: Despite this bleak situation, some corporate media houses are
venturing into Urdu journalism?

A:  I was very glad when a corporate house had started a daily
newspaper in Urdu for the first time. But it also got stuck in the
same morass we already have been trying to come out of.


Q: How the Urdu press reacted to the Saddam episode?

A: When Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait, I wrote that he was an
aggressor, not an Islamic hero. Consequently, my circulation heavily
went down. In contrast, a newspaper which entered the market at that
time, managed to push its circulation up to lakh copies, publishing
glossy photographs of Saddam in different poses. As soon as the war
ended, the newspaper came to a standstill. Once again he has become
the priority of the Urdu newspapers. Though he was a great
administrator, he denied his people democracy and destroyed the
country for his personal gains. Then how can he become overnight an
Islamic hero. My hats are off to the people of Iraq who are fighting
against the neo-colonial forces but not to Saddam. It was he who
provided the Neocons opportunities to invade Iraq.


Q: How the Urdu media has been discussing the Sachar Committee report?

A: It is not interested in discussing what went wrong with the Muslims
that the situation has worsened to this extent. All are dancing to the
tune of reservation for all Muslims as a religious community. But how
many people will benefit from reservation? Harijans got it but it was
only the upper class among them who seized the opportunity while
others are still backward. No community in India can resolve its
problems in isolation until it strives to mobilize a mass movement for
the same. As soon as one starts doing something in isolation, the
issue gets communalized. For this, we need a national outlook which
reflects the Urdu ethos of North India but nobody thinks along these
lines.








arshad amanullah
new delhi-25.