By Makhdoom Babar
(Editor-in-Chief)
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and former Chief of the Indian Army General (rtd) VK Singh has exposed the actual nature of the Indian media in a rather derogatory manner and it has earned him the immense wrath of not only the Indian Media but also that of the opposition parties in Indian Parliament.
Former Chief of Army Staff of India, out of sheer frustration, termed Indian media as presstitutes because the Indian media did not glorify the Indian government’s mediocre efforts of bringing home stranded Indians in Yemen. It remains a fact that even Pakistan government evacuated many Indian nationals from Yemen and later sent them to Indian through a special aircraft of Pakistan Air Force. However, being a State Minister for External Affairs (Foreign Affairs), General VK Singh expected that the Indian Media would follow his coverage plans to which he was quite used during his days at the office of Indian Army Chief.
It is a naked truth that as Chief of Army Staff of India, General VK Singh used his immense powers to force Indian media to follow the propaganda campaign and media plans against Pakistan that his cronies like those from his Technical Support Division (TSD) used to devise. He enjoyed immense control over the entire Indian media as the all-powerful Army Chief, though Pakistani media is often accused of following the military dictation by Indian media. The history reveals that it was the Indian Army Chief VK Singh who not only created illegal outfits out of the Indian Army for the unauthorized operations inside Pakistan but also immensely used Indian media’s services for not only covering his illegal acts but for ensuring highly glorified media coverage in support of his illegal and unbecoming acts. It is also on record that Singh, as Army Chief of India, very roughly used Indian Media for running completely baseless propaganda campaigns against Pakistan and especially against Pakistan’s national institutions and Security Forces.
However, when he is no more that powerful as he is merely an ex-army Chief and just a State Minister not even a full-fledged Union Minister, VK Singh was expecting that the Indian Media would continue to dance to his tunes. But it did not happen. Since it did not happen, General VK Singh, who had been praising Indian media by terming it the ‘Most Vibrant’ when it was simply following his orders as Indian Army Chief. But when a rather powerless VK Singh went to Djibouti and wanted Indian media to ensure glorified coverage to his visit for the evacuation of Indian nationals from Yemen where his personal presence was not required at all, he opted to bring forward his actual perception about the Indian Media and termed them as Presstitutes.
The Daily Mail cannot say that is Mr. VK Singh right or is he right in developing a perception about Indian Media, yet we are of the firm opinion that he needs to remember that in countries like India, media is bound to follow the principle of ‘Might is right’ and since he is no more that powerful, he should not expect Indian media to follow his directions.
Singh is not the first one in the current Modi regime to have hit hard on Indian Media. Earlier, his new boss and mentor, Prime Minster of India, Narendra Modi had also used highly derogatory remarks about Indian media and termed them as ‘bazaaru’ ( a Hindi language word equivalent to English language word of Prostitute).
The Daily Mail is no position to make any conclusion about the actual standing of Indian media but what a former Chief and what a sitting Prime Minister of India are saying about their country’s media, it leaves one with a lot to wonder.
