[Reader-list] Has Hindu Left the left?

[Taraprakash]

It may be acceptable to play devil's advocate to a certain extent, but it seems Hindu and NDTV are doing much more than that. When the entire media in India and BBC, I get most of my news from BBC, were making it their first headline and showing the Monday strike as a complete success, NDTV covered the news somewhere in the middle, concluding that it was partially successful. Even though, Pranoy is CPM card holder and the partiality of his TV channel is not completely unexpected, but it seems he has forgotten the moral responsibility of not marginalizing the issues of the weak and the oppressed. 
I heard a couple interviews with Hindu correspondents on BBC, they would try to avoid answering questions directly about Nandi Gram. And now this below paragraph from today's editorial, has the paper been bought by CPI(M) corporate? There analysis of Governer Gandhi's role may be fair, but will they maintain their integrity by bringing Budhdev Bhrashtacharya under the scanner for talking like a war lord? From what standards can the following analysis be fair and impartial, whhen it does not speak a word against the previous day's statement of West Bengal's CM regarding "paying back with their own coin"?
I know it is one of the best newspapers of the world, has it become so statist lately? Or my analysis is not correct. I don't get to read the paper too often, I must admit. But the following makes me think about the newspaper more critically. 

The role of Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has, for a second time, come under the spotlight. In March 2007, he clearly stepped out of line in publicly airing
his philosophical and tactical differences with the State government over Nandigram. He does not seem to have learnt any lessons from that experience and,
in fact, his latest speaking out of line has had the effect of adding fuel to the flames. Let us concede that Nandigram represented a situation where the
moral urge not to remain silent came into conflict with the restraints imposed by the constitutional office. Yet, of the restraints imposed by the office,
there would seem to be little doubt, and a public statement critical of the government's handling of the issue could not have been made without transgressing
them. The Hindu has consistently regarded this as a major question of principle in the constitutional realm. The classic 1867 exposition of the role of
the British monarch by Walter Bagehot applies equally to the office of the President and the Governor: "To state the matter shortly, the Sovereign has,
under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights - the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. And a king of great
sense and sagacity would want no others. He would find that his having no others would enable him to use these with singular effect." The right to advise
and the right to warn are to be exercised in private and in confidence, and not through public statements. This restraint required of the head of state
is not a mere constitutional formality but is based on sound democratic principles. In the first place, the head of state must not, through statements
critical of its functioning, place himself or herself in conflict with the representative government, which has a greater democratic legitimacy. Secondly,
the head of state should appear non-partisan and remain above the fray when controversial and divisive questions are being debated in the political sphere,
and avoid any public statements that could give comfort to one side or the other. The Governor's public statements on Nandigram both challenged the wisdom
of the government's approach and came down on the side of the critics of its action. Further, Mr. Gandhi laid himself open to the charge of remaining silent
when the supporters of the Left Front were at the receiving end. His conduct through this crisis has been constitutionally indefensible. Yet the Left Front
government must not get distracted by this. Its top priorities must be to re-establish peace, ensure human security, and resume development work in Nandigram.
The CPI(M) has a special responsibility in this regard - among other things, to be manifestly fair in its dealings on the ground, and to restrain its cadre
from any campaign of reprisal.