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| Religion, Politics and Media: German and Indian Perspectives, Edited by: Detlef Briesen, Sigrid Baringhorst & Arvind Das, published by Palm Leaf Publications, New Delhi (A chapter from the book written by Arvind Das). |
Hindi press started its journey
in May 1826 with the publication of a weekly called ‘Oodunta Martand’. In June 1854, the
first Hindi daily, Samachar
Sudhavarshan was
published. Both
publications were from Calcutta. In the North-Western provinces (modern day
Uttar Pradesh), the first Hindi newspaper published was Banaras Akhbar (Banaras News) in 1845, under the guidance of Raja
Shivprasad. Although these few journals and newspapers were first published in
the period of 1826-60, Hindi press really gained momentum only after 1860.
In the late 19th
and early 20th centuries there was no watertight compartment between
literary and political journals published in Hindi. However, while Kavi
Vachan Sudha (1868), Harish
Chandra Chandrika (1874, launched by Bhartendu Harsihchandra from
Banaras), Bharat
Mitra (1878), Sar Sudha Nidhi (1879),
Uchit Wakta (1880), and Hindi Pradeep (1877), launched by Pandit Balakrishan Bhatt, voiced
literary and social concerns, Arya Darpan, Bharat Varsha, Brahaman, Hidusthan and Hidusthani
were more political in their
content and tone (Mishra 2004). Dr. Ramratan Bhatnagar, who has researched on
the growth and rise of early Hindi journalism, has argued: “…the
Hindi press was dominated by one primary motive-the propagation of some
definite notion about religion, social reform, or the language to be adopted
universally by the people of Hindi Pradesh” (Bhatnagar
2003: Xiii). While the 19th
century renaissance (in Hindi ‘Navjagran’) of Bengal and Maharashtra mainly focused on
socio-religious reforms, renaissance in the North Western provinces had a distinct character.
Veer Bharat Talwar (2002) in his research on the renaissance of 19th
century North Western Provinces has noted that the main goal of the leaders of
the movement was to establish the supremacy of Hindi/Nagari over Urdu rather
than fight for socio-religious reforms. He has suggested, by studying Hindi
writings in the 19th century, that it should be called ‘Hindi movement’ instead
of ‘Hindi
Navjagran (Hindi renaissance)’. He writes, “The writers of Hindi renaissance had converted the
constitutional question of political democracy into a religious communal
question… By the end of 19th
century Hindi and Hindu word had become synonymous”
(Talwar 2002: 327). In this
period the Hindu and the Musilm elites of the North West provinces vociferously
contested the idea of syncretic culture and charted their separate path based
on their perceived self-identities. The Hindi press of Banaras, the fulcrum of
Hindi movement, immensely helped in politicization of the Hindu religion, and
Hindi writings were used as a tool to establish the Hindu identity. In the Journals edited by
Bhartendu Harishchandra, “politicization of Hinduness found vigorous expression” (Dalmia 2005). In June 1880, Bal Krishna Bhat, another prominent
writer of Bhatendu Harishchandra group, wrote in Hindi Pradeep: “Afsos ki hum Hindu kehlate
hain, aur Hindi ko nahi chahte, toh mujhe aise logon ke Hindu hone mein kuch
daal mein kala jaan padta hai” (It is sad that we are known as Hindu but don’t
love Hindi. I believe there is something seriously wrong in their Hinduness)
(Talwar 2002: 327). The editorials and essays of many journals like Sar
Sudha Nidhi and Bharat Jeevan openly espoused the communal hatred based on Hindi’s ‘purity’ and Urdu’s ‘foreignness’ and
‘pollution.’[i]
Similarly, in the first two
decades of 20th century, Hindi Press mainly propagated nationalistic,
linguistic and religious discourse. Periodicals like Abhyuday (1907), edited by Madan
Mohan Malviya, Pratap (1913),
edited by Ganesh Shankar
Vidyarthi, and Aaj (1920)
, edited by Baburao Vishnu
Paradkar, were prominent among them. In particular, Aaj, published
from Kanpur, UP, became a popular newspaper and expanded its reach to common
public and thus widened the Hindi public sphere (Orsini 2009). It should be noted here that the Hindi press
played an equally important role during the Indian freedom movement fighting
against colonial powers. Most of the journalists of pre-independence era, who
were freedom fighters themselves, followed nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi’s
dictum: journalism should be a means to serve the country. Mahatma Gandhi, a journalist par excellence,
believed,
“Journalism to be useful and serviceable to the country
will take its definite place only when it becomes unselfish and when it devotes
its best for the service of the country, and whatever happens to the editors or
to the journal itself, editors would express the views of the country
irrespective of consequences” (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 26: 370-371).
He advocated and propagated use of Hindustani, a mix of Hindi and Urdu, to
fight against the colonial power and unite the masses. In this period, Hindi
journalism was perceived to be not merely a profession, but a mission.
Moreover, with the rise of
Indian National Congress (1885), All India Muslim League (1906) and Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS, 1925) the sound of ‘Hindi,
Hindu and Hindusthan’, a slogan given by the leading Hindi writer of ‘Bhartendu
group’, Pratap Narayan Mishra (1856-1884), reverberated in
the Hindi Public sphere. The founder of RSS, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, was an
admirer of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar from whom the organization got its
ideological inspiration and strength. Savarkar coined the term Hindutva
(Hinduness) in his book Hindutva:
Who is a Hindu? (1923). He
emphasized on ‘Hindu, Hindusthan and Hindi’ and
underlined that the Hindu culture and religion only and truly represented the
Indian national identity. Christhophe Jaffrelot writes, “In Savarkar’s
views the religious minorities are requested to pay allegiance to this dominant
identity and to hold back the manifestations of their faith within private
sphere”
(2007: 1). Savarkar was actively involved
with the Hindu Mahasabha since its inception in 1915 and took over as its
president in 1937. Hindu Mahasabha (Hindu Assembly) was established to protect
the interests of Hindu and counter the Musilm League. Hindi language press in
North India grew in this political milieu and mirrored the communal biases of
the leading nationalist leaders and political parties. Krishna Kumar notes, “In
northern India, revivalist efforts succeeded in projecting Hindi as the symbol of
a liberated self-identity. The Hindi movement became a major resource for the
creation of a community purged of ‘foreign’ influences. The manner in which collective
self-identity came to be defined in the Hindi belt from the 1920s onwards was a
new and uniquely northern development. Language and education became the means
to evolve a Hindu identity in which the rejection of English was but one layer
sitting above a painstakingly assembled mass of anti-Muslim consciousness” (2006:19). In the pre-independence era, a large part of Hindi
and Urdu language press was appropriated by nationalist leaders. Even after
independence was gained in 1947, for a long time, Hindi press failed to create
a liberal public sphere where rational-critical discourse could be possible. It
was only in the late 20th century that Hindi press got an identity of its own
and reinvented its public sphere (Jeffrey 2001;
Ninan 2007; Das 2013).
Religious Diversity and Hinduisation of
press
In today’s
world the media is the prime factor for the representation of ‘self’ and
‘other’. The question is how does the Hindi press represent
the ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ community in India?
Is the press biased towards the minority? And in times of communal
conflict, does the Hindi press report the ‘truth’?
India is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual society. According
to the 2001 census,
of the total population of India 80.5 percent are Hindus while Muslims account
for 13.4 percent, Christians 2.3 percent, and Sikhs 1.9 percent. The proportion of Buddhists, Jains and other religions
are 0.8, 0.4
and 0.6 percent respectively. (It should be noted that religion data of the 2011 census is yet to be released).
Communalism, like secularism,
has a complex connotation and character in the Indian context. It is a modern
phenomenon, which has roots in colonial history and the nationalist movement.
In common parlance, it means hostility between different religious communities
(Pandey 1990). Even though at the time
of independence there was blood and gore all around due to partition of the
country, after Independence India became a secular republic. However, religion,
caste and linguistic identities still play a major role in defining Indian
politics.
Independent India has seen many
minor communal conflicts and major riots and pogroms. In most instances, these
conflicts and riots have political contexts. Paul R. Brass writes: “In
many parts of India where Hindu-Muslim riots are endemic, especially in the
northern and western states, institutionalized systems of riot production have
been created in the years since independence, which are activated during
periods of political mobilization or at the time of elections” (2006: 65). In pre-independence era Hindi press had a greater
role in inciting hatred and setting communal agenda but there is not much
research available to show what kind of role it played in times of communal
clashes or riots. However, after independence, in the 1980s, ‘Hinduisation
of the Hindi press’ had started vigorously, which went on to flare up in
the 1990s with the rise of Hindutva forces on the political firmament. In the
1980s, during the ‘Khalistan movement’ in Punjab, the Sikhs as a minority community were demonized in Hindi
newspapers. During ‘Operation Bluestar’ in 1984 (when the Indian army entered Punjab to fight Sikh separatists), the language of Hindi press predominately became
the language of the state and subsumed its ideology. On 2nd June 1984, the
Indian Army entered the holy site of the Sikhs, the Golden temple in Amritsar ,
to arrest their leader Jarnail
Singh Bhindranwale and his
followers. The editor of the Nav Bharat Times, a prominent Hindi daily,
Rajendra Mathur wrote: “ Murderers, mad and bank robbers can only oppose this
action.” In fact, Rajendra Mathur, hailed it as “a
historic day” while its sister publication, the English daily ‘The
Times of India’ termed it as history’s ‘saddest
day’! [ii] Similarly, his contemporary, the editor of Jansatta,
Prabhash Joshi, in his editorials was fulsome in praise of the Indira Gandhi
government and the Indian army. Especially before and after Operation Bluestar,
and in the run up to the Delhi massacre after assassination of Indira Gandhi by
her two bodyguards, the role of Hindi print media took on a communal
element. When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed on 31st
October 1984, a leading Hindi daily, Dainik Jagran, provocatively screamed” “Two
Sikh bodyguards killed Indira.” By underlining the
religious identity of the bodyguards in this way, Dainik Jagran was scapegoating the entire Sikh community, and flaring up communal tensions on the streets of
Delhi that ultimately claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people.
In the same period, Hindutva ideology propagated by the Sangh Parivar, by its
political wing the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP, formerly Jan Sangh), and by its
allied Hindu organizations, the Vishva
Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), were gaining a foothold in the Hindi heartland. Hindi newspapers helped
them promote ‘Hindu Nationalism’,
which led to communal frenzy during the campaign to build Ram temple in Ayodhya
— that ultimately culminated in the demolition of the
centuries old Babari mosque in December 1992.
It is now well-researched and archived that ‘part
of the mass-circulated Hindi press-turned ‘Kar Sevak’ (foot
soldiers) in response to the crisis.’ Charu and Mukul Sharma have documented in detail how
various Hindi newspapers disseminated misinformation, stereotyped the Muslims and became the voice of the majority
Hindu community during Ramjanmbhoomi-Babari Masjid movement (1990). They note:
“The Ramjanambhoomi-Bari Masjid controversy and its
coverage is the blackest of the black chapter in the history of print media (p
4)”. In October 1990, During Ayodhya movement, a leading
Hindi daily, Aaj, in its banner headlines published: Suraksha
balon ki goli se char mare, Ashok Singhal ke sar mein goli lagi, Baba
Ramchandra Paramhans bhi ghayal, Ayodhya mein kar sewa shuroo, sena ka goli chalane
se inkar (Four killed in the firing by
security forces, bullet hits Ashok Singhal in the head, Baba Ramchandra
Paramhans also wounded, kar sewa begins in Ayodhya, the army refuses to open
fire).” Similarly, another Hindi daily, Nav Bharat Times wrote:
"Lakhon kar sewakon ne suraksha balon ki lathi aur goli
ki parwah kiye bagair vivadit Babari Masjid ko lagbhag dhwast kar diya (Lakhs of kar sewaks defied the lathis and bullets of
security forces and nearly demolished the disputed Babari Masjid).” This
kind of provocative ‘reporting’ fanned
communal tension in several cities of UP and Bihar. Here it would be interesting to note that
the state controlled news channel Doordarshan in 1987-88 serialized the Hindu
religious epic ‘Ramayan’,
which chronicled the life of Hindu lord Ram. It has further enhanced an already
surcharged atmosphere, and has helped Hindutava forces mobilize majority
community on the communal lines. The Press Council of India conducted an
investigation of the role Hindi press during the 1990 communal crisis. Its
resolution states:
“There is little doubt that some influential sections
of the Hindi press in UP and Bihar were guilty of gross responsibility and
impropriety, offending the canons of journalistic ethics in promoting mass
hysteria on the basis of rumours and speculation, through exaggeration and
distortion, all of this proclaimed under screaming, banner headlines. They were
guilty, in a few instances, of doctoring pictures (such as drawing prison bars
on the photograph of an arrested Mahant), fabricating casualty figures (for
example, adding ‘1’ before
“15” to
make “115” deaths),
and incitement of violence and spreading disaffection among members of the
armed forces and police, engendering communal hatred” (Ludden:
109).
Globalization, religion and Hindi Press:
A Case Study of Nav Bharat Times, New Delhi
Global technologies came to
India during colonialism, but English being the language of the ruling class,
most of the technological benefits of Indian state went to English press.
Furthermore, most of the government advertisements were largely accrued to
English press and Hindi remained a poor cousin of English in independent India.
Although Hindi was given official language status by the Indian Constituent Assembly
in 1950, India’s Hindi press was lacking in confidence, vigour and quality in the
decades to follow.
However, liberalization and
privatization of the Indian economy in the late 1980s, that were to be the
start of the globalization process in India, resulting in technological and economic changes that transformed the Hindi
newspaper business. With the steady increase in literacy and the expanding
purchasing power of people accompanied by volatile political ambience in the Hindi
belt during this period, the rise in
circulation of Hindi newspapers and its influence among ruling elites also
increased. This is evident from the fact that out of ten most read dailies
(Indian Readership Survey 2013) five are in Hindi language - Dainik
Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala,
Hindustan and
Rajasthan Patrika.
Other positions are occupied by Malyalam, Tamil and Marathi publications — all
regional language newspapers. The
Times of India is the only
English newspaper, which features in this top ten list. Robin Jeffrey has termed this “a
language newspaper revolution”. Global
technologies, which came with globalization, have opened up new vistas for
Hindi journalism to flourish in the liberalized economy of India. Facsimile
transmission via Satellite makes it
possible for newspapers to get published from various regional centres
simultaneously. Dainik Bhaskar, Daink Jagran, Amar
Ujala, Hindustan and others made inroads into the remote areas of Hindi
heartland thanks to this new found technology. Around ten to fifteen multiple
editions of these newspapers are now published simultaneously, which was
unthinkable before globalization. Futher, this language newspaper revolution has expanded and
reinvented the existing public sphere at district levels (Ninan 2007). But the
question is, has there been a corresponding qualitative transformation in the
Hindi press as far as religion and communal depiction and representation is
concerned?
Since the beginning of time,
religion has played a pivotal role in bringing people together across the
globe. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism have successfully travelled around the
world and their adherents have preached the religion across time and space. In
the last few decades the Hindu religion has also expanded its reach and has
become a transnational entity. Hindu religious organization like Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (World Hindu Society) have successfully forged a global network.
In the late 1980s and
afterwards, in the many parts of the world, there has been a resurgence of militant
politics in the name of religion. As David
Ludden has argued, “In
the United States, India, Algeria, Poland, Iran, Israel, and elsewhere,
religion entered politics with a new force in the 1980” (2008:
3) How have the globalization of religion and the resurgence of ‘Hindutva ideology’ been
depicted in the Hindi press? How in the 1980s was the news relating to religion
and religious diversity represented? And how is it different from
representation in the globalizing India? Has Hindi press helped Hindutva forces
in polarizing society, sowing seeds of communal mistrust and stoking religious
conflicts? By focusing on a prominent
national Hindi daily, Nav Bharat Times, published from New Delhi, this essay has tried to
find the answer to these questions. Using a random sampling technique, the
study analyzed 56
editions of Nav Bharat Times published in 1986 and 2005.
In 1986, in the sample period,
12 news items related to religion appeared in the newspaper. Six news items
were published on the front page; out of these, two news items were published
as lead stories while remaining four were given one column space. Importantly,
five news items were related to the Jain religion and the others related to
Hinduism. One open-editorial under the heading: Indian needs another kind of
secularism’ was published.
It must be noted here that Nav
Bharat Times is
published under Bennett and Colemen or Times Group and their owners are the
followers of the Jain religion. Any activities pertaining to the Jain religion
taking place in Delhi would thus be likely to feature in Nav
Bharat Times. Most of the news items concerning Jain religion were
the edicts of Jain religion emphasizing on the role of peace and compassion in
human life. While the frequency of these reports was lower in
2005, still there were multiple news items related to Jainism published in the
newspaper.
In India religion has its cultural
moorings. Holi, Diwali, Dussehra and
so on for Hindus, Eid
for Muslims, and Christmas for Christians are religious as well as
cultural festivals. In 1986 as well as in 2005 we find news items related to
these festivals getting routinely published. In 1986, one open-editorial in Nav
Bharat Times was
written dealing with Ram temple and Babari mosque dispute. It said: the dark
cloud of old memories is hanging on the Ram’s
auspicious birth place. For some, it is equally a sacred mosque. But there are
many people who don’t want to be reminded of the centuries old haunting
dispute.”
The globalization has created a
huge market of various Hindu gods in India. Now Hindi newspapers are readily taking part in
promoting Hindu religious festivals. In festive seasons, Nav
Bharat Times would
publish Hindu religious icons at its masthead, without giving a thought to the
sentiments of other religions that might be opposed to the idol worship! With
growing market and burgeoning middle class a nexus of religion and market has
emerged and Hindi newspapers are producing ‘religious
news’ to its consumers! In 2005, we find Nav Bharat Times
participating proactively in promoting Hindu festivals during Kali pooja,
Ganesha pooja, Mahasivratri, Ramnavmi and Janamstami. During these festivals Hindi newspapers
invariably publish advertorials (advertisements written as news/feature
stories) related to Hindu gods and goddesses. During the
Navratri festival,
newspapers publish news items relating explicitly to the festival. On 8th
April 2005 and on 16th April 2005 Nav Bharat Times published two news
reports titled “Vibheen mandiron mein chal
rahi hai navratri ki taiyariyan” (Preparations are going on in many temples for
Navratri and “Satve
din ki gayi maa kalratri ki pooja"
(on seventh day Maa Kalratri was worshiped).
Similarly, in times of Janamastavi and Ramnavmi festivals, special coverage in newspapers are seen
accompanied by advertisements offering sale on goods and services. Newspapers
compete against each other to get their share of the advertisement pie.
On 22nd August 2005 Nav
Bharat Times published
two news items related to Janmashtami.
One news item discusses about the
preparation of Janamastami in temples in Delhi, while another discusses how
Janamstami is being celebrated for two days to maximize profit. Titled “Do din janamastami! Akhir
mamla do crore ka hai”, that explains how market commercializes
religion.
In addition to this, Nav
Bharat Times publishes on six days of the week a
column titled “Wisdom
tree” under which religion, culture and ethics are
discussed. In this column, the newspaper tries to maintain the Indian state
principle of ‘sarva dharma sambhava’ (equality
of all religions). In 2008, it started a page dedicated to religion and
festivals under the rubric ‘Utsav' (Celebration). And on 19th
May 2008 it wrote: “We all are fun loving people. Our country is full of
celebrations. Here every day is a festival and each stone is a God. Read about
this society full of life and its belief each Monday on Utsav page”.
While analysing this page it was found that religious dogmatism and
obscurantism is propagated via press without the slight hint of scientific
temperament. And the main focus of these stories were Hindu religion and its
practices. Most Hindi newspapers today have a page devoted to religion or culture.
Conclusion
During the Hindi movement of the
19th
and early 20th century, Hindi press was used for political
mobilisation besides promoting Hindi language. In a globalizing India,
political parties are once again using Hindi press quite successfully for
political mobilization, which helps them in setting communal agenda. According
to annual report of Indian Registrar of newspapers (2013-14), Hindi had 3,213
dailies claiming a circulation of over 126 million. While attempting to make a generalization about the
Hindi press is a difficult path
to tread, it is safe to conclude that in times of communal conflict in modern India, Hindi press
had failed to perform its professional duties; rather, it has been complicit
more often than not. As far as representation of journalists from minority
communities are concerned, there is no overt discrimination in the recruitment
process; however, it must be noted that there are no journalists from minority
communities in any
influential decision making position, either in various bureaus or in the main
offices of the newspapers. As a result of the proliferation of the language
media outside of metropoles, the small towns and have emerged as new power
centres. However with the exponential growth in Hindi press there has been less
spending on human resources and training and more on circulation and marketing
of newspapers. In a globalizing India, the Hindi public sphere
(Habermans: 1989) where a rational-liberal discourse is possible is still in
the making.
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