A comparative reading of Dainik Jagran and Inquilab
By Shaheen Nazar*
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| Photo © Ben Sutherland |
In contrast, read Urdu newspapers. One would get the impression that it’s about another India. The common features of all the Urdu newspapers are stories such as: anti-Muslim riots in one or the other part of the country; police excesses against the community; Muslim men, mostly youth, being picked up by security agencies in the name of fight against terror; courts denying bail to Muslims under detention; police raiding Madrasas (Islamic seminaries); torture of Muslim men in police custody; extra-judicial killings; lack of civic amenities in Muslim neighbourhoods; waqf (endowment) properties being usurped by government departments or corporate houses; Muslim minority schools and colleges not getting sanctioned official grants in time thus teachers and staff not getting salaries every month; government departments withholding permission to build mosques in Muslim localities; etc.
These are not figments of imagination, rather real, hard facts. There is a possibility of some degree of exaggeration in writing the story or in its treatment. But one cannot dismiss these facts as non-news. This is happening consistently with a community, which is 14 crore strong or 13.4 percent of India’s total population.
But the national press, including Hindi and English, is consistent and unanimous in not informing the public about their state of affairs. Of late there has been a spurt in the incidences of arrests and detentions of educated Muslim youths. In the name of fight against terror, the security agencies are specially targeting cities like Darbhanga in Bihar, Azamgarh in UP, Malegaon in Maharashtra and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. These are the places where Muslims are comparatively better off. Many young men have done well in education and got jobs within India and abroad, specially in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. This has brought considerable affluence to their families. But this has also proved to be a curse on them. It seems the police and spy agencies are running a campaign to suppress them while the Hindu ruling elites are looking the other way.
Muslim leadership and human rights activists have been raising the issues of violation of civil rights. They are issuing statements and holding rallies and meetings to demand justice for those wrongly detained or persecuted. These statements and incidents of ‘arrests’ get due coverage in the Urdu press. But as usual, the national press is paying no attention to such gross violation of basic rights.
To illustrate my point I did a comparative reading of one Hindi and one Urdu newspaper. I selected Hindi daily Dainik Jagran and Urdu daily Inquilab. While Jagran is the second largest newspaper in India by circulation as of 20104, Inquilab is a prestigious Urdu newspaper which played its role in India’s independence struggle. Established in 1938 in Bombay, Inquilab was bought by the Jagran group in May 20105 and launched from 10 cities in the north, thus making it truly national newspaper. Since both the newspapers have multiple editions, I selected only Delhi editions from July 1-10. Following are my findings:
Dainik Jagran carried no story of the Muslim community on its Front pages during the period of study. Even inside pages were almost blank with respect to the community, which following the decline of Urdu in post-independent India, is subscribing to Hindi newspapers in good numbers. Young Muslims generally read Hindi or English newspaper as majority of them don’t know Urdu.
The only stories in which Muslim names can be seen on the Front pages of July 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 are those of Mumbai blast accused Kasab and Abu Jundal, the terror accused extradited from Saudi Arabia in June 2012. Other Muslim names found place on the Front pages are those of celebrities. The July 1 edition carries a cutout of A. Rahman on the top right corner of P1 with the pointer to an inside story that the Oscar-winning music composer will perform at the London Olympic inauguration. Similarly, July 2 edition carries a cutout of actor Aamir Khan on the same place with a pointer to his syndicated column on alcoholism on P10. On July 4, there is another cutout of actor Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan) on P1 with a pointer to an inside story about his ancestral house in Pakistan. On July 9, the Front page carries a report on the communal violence in Ghaziabad. It’s a balanced reporting though the name and picture of a victim is given suggesting that he was a Hindu.
(Urdu newspapers also mention names of Muslim victims despite the general reporting norm of not giving the names of the warring communities).
Demolition or martyrdom?
The Front page of July 6th carries a story which is close to Muslim hearts. That’s Babri mosque. The story is based on the revelation of journalist Kuldip Nayar in his book that the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had conspired to demolish the 16th century mosque. The news writer has taken care not to use the word “Babri” anywhere. Instead, he or she has referred it as “disputed structure”. Inquilab has treated the story as Front page lead.
Like all the other Urdu newspapers, it refers to the demolition of Babri mosque as the ‘martyrdom’.
The few stories on Jagran’s inside pages are mostly negative. They either inform the reader about alleged terrorists or about Kashmiri separatists. One news item is about the arrest of a Muslim criminal in Dehra Doon (July 9, P5). Another story is about the rash driving of actor Salman Khan’s brother in which a woman was killed.
During 10 days, Jagran has carried a total of nine stories on its inside pages which may be described as Muslim-oriented. July 2 edition: ASI begins repair work on Delhi’s Fatehpuri Mosque (P2); Jammu & Kashmir CM gives assurance on the restoration of an arson-hit ziaratgaah (P7); Dilip Kumar’s house in Pakistan will not be converted into library (P10).
July 4: A report on the court proceeding of journalist Kazmi, accused of involvement in Israeli Embassy car blast (P2); a report on court asking the Gujarat government to furnish details on the religious places damaged in 2002 riots (P10). July 7: Again follow up on journalist Kazmi (P9). July 8: Muslim priests condemn Shab-e-barat revelry (Jagran City V); July 9: Minority students to get bicycles (P7).
There is a story on page 9 in the July 4 edition. It’s about Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Gilani blaming Indian agencies for terrorism in the valley. He made the statement after meeting the visiting Pakistani foreign secretary in New Delhi. No doubt, the statement is provocative. But it is not the job of a reporter or sub-editor to editorialize a news item. The headline reads: Pak ki shah par Gilani ne phir ugla zahar (Gilani again expresses venom at the instigation of Pakistan). There are three other stories on Kashmir in 10 days.
There are stories on Abu Jundal almost every day in the newspaper. But none is Jagran’s exclusive. All are based on dossiers supplied by unnamed sources in the security agencies. Same is the case with reporting on Fasih Mahmood, a young engineer picked up from his residence in the Saudi city of Al-Jubail on May 13 by Saudi and Indian officials. He remains traceless till date, though the Indian government has reluctantly acknowledged in the Supreme Court his arrest after denying it for more than a month. He is a suspect in some cases of terror plots. But Jagran has pronounced its verdict by declaring him a terrorist straight away. Quoting unnamed sources in the government and security agencies, the newspaper reporting on July 2, 3 and 10 describes Fasih as the “terrorist of the Indian Mujahideen” and “the chief financer of IM’s Bihar module”. All the reports lack objectivity.
On the Edit pages, there is one article in 10 days which is Muslim-specific. It deals with the legal aspects of giving reservation to Muslims in government jobs. On July 3, there is an Edit page leader by Balbir Punj, a member of the Rajya Sabha, condemning “secularists” for raising the issue of right-wing Hindu terror, thus diluting the threat of Islamic terrorism originating from Pakistan.
Arrests dominate Inquilab coverage
The arrest of Fasih Mahmood and other Muslims dominate the coverage of Inquilab from July 1-10. Consider this headline on Page 1 of July 2: “O my son, tell me if being a Muslim is a crime in India?” And the intro of the Patna-datelined story reads: “O my son, you are a journalist who has come from Delhi to investigate my son's arrest and know about me. I will tell you everything. But first you give me one answer: Is taking birth as a Muslim in India has become a crime? Has the Indian soil become alien to Muslims? These quotes are not taken from a short story by Prem Chand, Quratulain Hyder, Asmat Chugtai or Mantoo. Instead these are the spontaneous reactions expressed amid tears by Aamira Jamali, M.A., B.Ed., and mother of Engineer Fasih Mahmood.
The news has made Front page lead for three days: Efforts on for seeking Parliament debate over arrests of Muslim youths-July 1; Preparations on for protests in Bihar over arrest of Muslim youths-July 4; Bihar teacher Kafeel Akhtar gets clean-chit by Bangalore Police, now being handed over to Delhi Police- July 8. Front page lead stories on other days are also worth-mentioning: Narasimha Rao was part of Babri demolition conspiracy-July 6; Scared Muslims of Asthan village (of riot-hit Pratapgarh district in UP) return home-July 7; and Gujarat government asked to furnish details of the damaged places of worship-July 10. Other days’ leads are: presidential poll and the Time magazine’s cover on Manmohan.
On July 2, there is a small news item on page 6 which otherwise is a human interest story but tells of human suffering in the prevailing security as well as political situation in India. A bearded young Muslim, who works in an embroidery shop, was arrested from the parking lot of Ranchi airport. Reason: He had never seen an airport, so while returning from a mosque early morning he turned his bike towards the airport just to have a look at it.
While Jagran and other national newspapers have paid little attention to Pratapgarh riot, Inquilab has run several follow-up stories like demand for CBI enquiry or relief material delivered to the victims. National Minority Commission writing to the Rajasthan government on the reported harassment of Gopalgarh mosque raid victims by police and investigative agencies has made Front page news on July 8.
Mosques make news
On the local pages, the discovery of a Mughal-era mosque in the excavation in old Delhi made prominent news for several days. Delhi government delaying recruitment of Urdu teachers, Doordarshan discriminating against Urdu producers, lack of civic amenities in Batla House, construction of walls around Nabi Karim graveyard are some of the news which are found only in Inquilab but not in Jagran.
Communal riots and mosques under siege are prominent features of Urdu newspapers. Therefore, during 10 days, Inquilab has published news items (July 3, P2; July 6, P4; July 8, P2; and July 9, P2) which relate to four different Delhi mosques having issues with the authorities. On July 2, P4, a news item highlights the dilapidated condition of a historical mosque in Hardoi (UP). On July 7, there is a story on Page 7 which tells about police high-handedness in dealing with Muslims on the issue of an Eidgaah in Agra (UP).
From July 7, Inquilab has started publishing exclusive interviews of Malegaon Bomb blast suspects released by court following several years of incarceration. Besides, there are stories, almost every day, of Muslim terror suspects perishing in jails or released after years when no charges were proved against them or were killed in prison (like Qateel Siddiqi of Bihar who was killed in a Pune jail in June 2012).
Follow-up of the cases related to 2002 Gujarat riots and right-wing Hindu terror accused like Pragya Singh Thakur and Col. Purohit are also displayed prominently. Anti-Muslim rants of Sangh parivar leaders are also a staple of Urdu newspapers including Inquilab. But news writing on these subjects is mostly sentimental and lack professionalism.
However, this is not to suggest that news of local, national and international importance do not find space in the columns of Inquilab. Abu Jundal, Indo-Pak secretary level talks, presidential poll, change of guard in Karnataka government, Egyptian election, all made Front page news during the days under study. In fact coverage of international news was found to be better than many national English newspapers. The 12-page daily devotes one full page to international news every day besides one or two on the Front page.
No conclusion
One thing which is common in both Jagran and Inquilab is lack of professionalism and absence of objectivity. Beyond this I would like to make no observation leaving this to editors, scholars and thinkers to form opinion and act.
*The author is a faculty member of Mass Communication at Sharda University. He has previously worked with several publications in India and abroad. The views expressed in this report are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Global News Post.
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