The Battle has begun
Dear Editor
The editorial of today’s DNA issue (8th January) is possibly the most lopsided editorial I have ever read, at least from the editorial board of DNA and believe me I have been a regular reader of DNA possibly since its inception.
When you write “The battle has just begun” which battle exactly you are referring to? As a responsible citizen of the nation, I thought we need to fight with the tendencies which are giving rise to violence against women. On reading your article, I realized you are more concerned about battling those who would like to revive the Indian culture which has always been a guiding force to all those walking on the path of human values. Why are we getting so intolerant to the very thought of Indian culture? When it comes to morality why is it that the media starts stamping them as Moral Police etc and start shooting them from every angle? Has it not been the case with Police officer Dhobale? What did a media get when someone was actually axing the basic roots of evil which we see all around us? Why take the issue of rape as an isolated incident when truly it is one of the issues of the deteriorating morality in every way? You are printing all those comments from the so called (and media created celebrities) who are actually spreading the culture which has already created problems for the western world and providing the roots for the current state of affairs in India? Possibly you have never seen the TV commercials which degrade women probably more than any other entity and that too with the participation from some of the members of the ladies class. Your editorial never takes them in battle, may be because somewhere at the back of your mind there are calculations of revenues which these people make you offer through advertisements, advertorials etc.
The problem is that you have already taken position that behaviour can be managed only by managing reactions and creating punitive laws. You are forgetting the famous statement of Thomas Paine who said that “when the laws are most multiplied, the states are most corrupt”. Do you really believe that making any laws to be enforced by the corrupt law enforcing machineries are going to be in the interest of the citizens? When the wise men are talking about something, you may have to really go to the essence of the message instead of discarding them on the face value as you understand. As an editor of a leading newspaper you may have to rise and go to the deeper core of human existence to find out the roots of the problems. Unless the core of the problem is addressed nothing may work. The basic Indian culture attends to all those issues, which people with the pseudo scientific approach fail to understand. Negating those values using the Pen power only because you have a media in hand does not speak well for Indian journalism. While we are all concerned about the road accidents which are physical in nature we are forgetting the massive nature of mental & emotional accidents which is rocking the basic structure of humanity. The unregulated knowledge through internet, cellular phones and other electronic media is creating the mess for human minds the way unregulated intake of food would cause problems to the human bodies. But when one talks about that typically media starts stamping them with the label of Moral Policing and creating an air as if these people are against the human progress. I think, media better redefine the idea of progress once and for all.
When everyone was talking about the end of the human race and the world, we all thought there would be Tsunamis which will wipe out the world physically. One fails to understand that the end of human race will happen through the destruction of human values when the humans will cease to be humans and can not be differentiated from animals as we know. Look around Mr Editor, and you will realize the truth. Do not discard something because someone talks about Bharat and not India, or because some ideologies do not suit you, but re-look at those thoughts, test them all over again to find out the relevance or otherwise and then only decide. The editors in this country can not afford to call a dog mad and shoot him. That may not serve the interest of the nation in specific and humanity at large. Please rise to the need of the hour.
Ajit Telang
8th January