[Reader-list] Aditya Raj Kaul 'uncomfortable' in the presence of plain speech ?
Shuddhabrata Sengupta
shuddha at sarai.net
Sat Mar 6 12:17:17 IST 2010
Dear All,
Thank you Sonia, for pointing out the obvious facts, which Aditya Raj
Kaul seems to have missed out on. Yes, the video on the Times Now
website, forwarded by Aditay Raj Kaul in the post titled 'Arundhati
Roy 'uncomfortable' to condemn violence!' is totally misleading,
partly because, as you pointed out, there was no Arundhati Roy in the
video.
Morover, neither Sumit Chakravarti, nor Dileep Simeon have ever said
that they are sympathisers of the Maoists. In fact each one of them
has at some time or the other made statements critical of the
Maoists. What they have of course also done is that
they have refused to let their criticism of the Maoists get in the
way of the fundamental critique they make of the Indian state and its
clients in the course of the so called 'Operation Green Hunt'
The Indian state is engaged in a deeply violent armed campaign in
support of the MOUs delivered to corporate interests in central
India. If one the one hand we have Maoists, then, on the other, we
have MOUists.
The MOUist campaign works through terror and intimidation, and is
fuelled by naked greed. In the presence of such brute force, it is
not at all unnatural that those who are subject to that force may
often find themselves allied with others who are antagonists of that
force. This simple fact demonstrates the presence of the Maoists in
the so called 'red corridor'. If the state was serious about
undercutting the Maoists, all that it would have to do is to stop
acting as the protection mafia for mining and corporate interests in
Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and the entire region, and the Maoists
would be rendered as irrelevant as they were before a crop of MOUs
were signed. Instead, they have burnt villages, acted as accessories
to disappearance, rape and murder.
There is a fundamental distinction that needs to be kept in mind.
I pay taxes, many of us pay taxes, which fund the state, which, when
it engages in the abuse of human rights and disregards its own laws,
is basically abusing my money, your money, to set itself up as a
criminal operation. I neither pay the Maoists any taxes, nor endorse
or support them. They are not accountable to me, nor am I accountable
to them. But the Indian state is accountable to me, and to all of us,
because, basically, we pay for it.
Similarly, the money we spend on commodities is used to fund the
advertising that pays for television channels like Times Now. In that
sense, both the state, and the corporate media are accountable to all
of us for everything that they do. I do not believe that my tax
paying money being used to set up a protection racket and a pr
exercise for extractive industries and to eject people from their
forests is the right thing, and therefore, I will always be combative
when the impunity and irresponsibility of the state and the corporate
media is exposed. I have a right to criticise the state, and the
media, on this account.
The same cannot be said insofar as the criticism of the Maoists is
concerned. I am critical of the Maoists and their politics, and their
methods, because of my political convictions. And being a critic of
the state does not automatically turn one into a 'sympathiser' of the
Maoists, as Arnab Goswami would have us believe. We should all refuse
to be made subject to such false choices. Arnab, repeatedly, tries to
insinuate that some of the intellectuals who have appeared on his
programme refuse to let themselves be called 'symapthizers' because
they have something to hide. In his book, one is either with the
state on Green Hunt, or else, one automatically becomes a 'Maoist
Sympathizer'. He either does not have the intelligence to realize
that one can be critical, in different ways, to different ends, of
the state and the Maoists, and that all resistance to the state is
not necessarily coming from the Maoists alone.
In fact, twice, I have seen him refer to a 'letter' critical of the
Maoists, signed by several intellectuals on the left, without
bothering to mention, even though it was pointed out to him on his
own programme by Saroj Giri, just the other day, that it was in fact
equally critical of the state's actions. Times Now is proving to be
so slippory that it should perhaps be called Slimes Now.
Nobody who is not a Maoist can be held responsible for what the
Maoists do, simply because our resources are not being used by them.
However, we are all implicated in the state's abuses, because they
are a) done in our name, and b) done with our money.
How dare then, Arnab Goswami act as a front man for the mafia (the
faction that controls the Indian state) that abuses our trust and our
money to wreck havoc in parts of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal,
Orissa, Maharashtra and Bihar.
I think its time we asked the question as to what makes Arnab
Goswami, and others of his ilk, such open MOUists and 'sympathisers
of state terror'.
Incidentally, the right urls for this travesty of television are -
http://www.timesnow.tv/Debate-Sympathisers-looking-uncomfortable-1/
videoshow/4339945.cms
http://www.timesnow.tv/Debate-Sympathisers-looking-uncomfortable-2/
videoshow/4339952.cms
And no, I did not see Arundhati Roy in this show, nor was she quoted
with any precision in terms of what she, or anyone else for that
matter is supposed to have said at the Press Conference. Is Aditya
Raj Kaul in need of help, in that he sees Ms. Roy in a television
programme, even when she is not in the television programme.
And by the way, Arnab Goswami never looks uncomfortable. Maybe
because he is way too comfortable for his own good.
best
Shuddha
On 06-Mar-10, at 11:14 AM, S. Jabbar wrote:
> I watched the video and it's totally misleading.
>
> Not one panelist called himself a Maoist sympathizer and Dilip
> Simeon even
> points out to the misleading headline over all 3 panelists-- even
> Praveen
> Swami of all people!!
>
> All 3 panelists condemned Maoist violence. Sumit Chakravarty makes a
> distinction between tribals taking up arms and the Maoists, but
> even he
> unequivocally condemns beheadings and summary executions.
>
> Arundhati Roy was absent in both videos. Arnab Goswami makes a
> reference to
> her discomfort in a press conference which we never see...
>
> Where was the embarrassment and where were the Maoist sympathizers?
> What a total waste of time and so typical of the hysteria that
> Times Now
> tries to pass off as responsible journalism.
>
>
>> From: "A.K. Malik" <akmalik45 at yahoo.com>
>> Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 20:26:41 -0800 (PST)
>> To: Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
>> Cc: <reader-list at sarai.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Arundhati Roy 'uncomfortable' to
>> condemn violence!
>>
>> Dear Mr Kaul,
> In the TV visuals the embarrassment was writ
>> large on the faces of the sympatizers. May be once taken sides,
>> they seem to
>> be scared to go against the Maoists.Such people need more
>> condemnation than
>> the ordinary mortals.
> Regards,
>
> (A.K.MALIK)
>
>
> --- On Fri, 3/5/10, Aditya Raj
>> Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Aditya Raj Kaul
>> <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [Reader-list] Arundhati Roy
>> 'uncomfortable' to condemn violence!
>> To: "sarai list"
>> <reader-list at sarai.net>
>> Date: Friday, March 5, 2010, 11:33 PM
>> *Debate:
>> Sympathisers looking
>> uncomfortable*
>>
>> *Courtesy: Times Now*
>>
>> Last
>> evening, Maoist terrorists shot a rape victim who went
>> to lodge a
>>
>> complaint against them. They even murdered a poor factory
>> worker because
>> his
>> owner refused to pay a ramsom. Today, Maoists sympathizers
>> held a
>> press
>> conference in New Delhi against the government's 'Operation
>>
>> Greenhunt', and
>> when confronted with direct questions on Maoist terror,
>> the
>> defence was weak
>> to say the least. They give unconvincing replies on
>> Maoist
>> violence.
>>
>> TIMES NOW Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami debates the
>> issue
>> of ideology of the
>> Maoists and Maoist sympathisers avoiding pointed
>> questions
>> with Dilip
>> Simeon, Writer and Research Scholar; Praveen Swami,
>>
>> Associate Editor, 'The
>> Hindu' and Sumit Chakravartty Editor, 'Mainstream'.
>>
>>
>>
>> Link -
>>
>> http://www.timesnow.tv/Debate-Sympathisers-looking-uncomfortable-1/
>> videoshow/4
>> 339945.cms
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>>
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net
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