Rabble Rousing Random Ramblings: 'The Hindu' goes overboard

January 03, 2007

'The Hindu' goes overboard

'The Hindu' has been my favourite/preferred newspaper for more than 15 years now, to the extent that I was subscribed to the newspaper's international edition when I was studying in Singapore. I've stuck with it despite its overly pro-communist stand, primarily because of the quality of the content rather than the stand taken.

Yet, the newspaper's editorial on January 1, 2007 was shocking, to say the least. I know every newspaper/editor has a right to present its point of view, without it necessarily reflecting the views of its vast readership. But this is quite ridiculous. In the context of Mamata Banerjee ending her fast over the proposed Tata Motors factory at Singur, the editorial said (emphasis mine):

Singur is all about context and verifiable fact. There has been a bottled-up demand for industry and consequently industrial land in West Bengal — and the Tata Motors project at Singur is a test case for whether this demand can be met. Under the circumstances, the permanent government of the State has made it clear that it will consolidate and strengthen its agrarian base but will diversify into industry as well.

A newspaper has no business to assert that an elected (assuming that Communist governments are indeed elected) state government is a permanent one, despite being in power for nearly 30 years now.

Surely the newspaper has gone overboard in its support of the government in Bengal. The newspaper needs to publish an apology immediately, for insulting the intelligence of the voters of West Bengal. There's a vast difference between kowtowing and providing an objective editorial slant.

Labels: communist, the hindu

Rambled @ 11:16 AM

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6 comment(s)

i used to read "the hindu" newspaper.
but i dropped it due to the blatant
leftist bias. It's like it is funded
by the communists or something.

By Sumant Sarkar (Jan 4, 2007, 6:25:00 PM)

Hi Jagadish

Thanks for firing the first Salvo

My take on this

http://prasannavishy.blogspot.com/2007/01/hindu-and-medai-pechalar.html

By Prasanna (Jan 4, 2007, 8:50:00 PM)

hindus commie bias is because of love, or kaathal in tamil. its a hang over of rams commie days when he was in kerala living with his lover. i guess thats why hindu has a commie bias. idhu kaathalin seiyal

By ada-paavi!!!! (Jan 5, 2007, 12:48:00 PM)

charu: I don't really mind the communist bias. I've now trained myself to filter it out :)

prasanna: Thanks. I read it yesterday. Very interesting :)

ada-paavi: Ram and a few others are registered CPI/CPI(M) members.

By Jagadish (Jan 5, 2007, 6:00:00 PM)

Too bad. I overlooked the phrase..

My take on the same issue: http://cosmicvoices.blogspot.com/2007/01/singur-emperors-have-no-cloths.html

By Cosmic Voices (Jan 14, 2007, 2:49:00 PM)

I'd dashed off a similar letter to the "Readers' Editor". He addressed the issue in yesterday's column.

By Jagadish (Jan 16, 2007, 6:22:00 PM)

I'd prefer if you posted comments with your real name to add more credibility to your opinions. Obviously comments containing offensive and unsuitable language will be deleted. The opinions in the comments are your own views. You are welcome to provide a URL to your own blog, especially if it discusses issues you find here.

'The Hindu' goes overboard

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