Strange as it may seem, despite India’s image of an amiable and polite nation, the country is surrounded by a league of adversaries with their noose always sharp to bait the hinterland and disturb the peace-cord of the nation. Needless to say, Pakistan is a major player in the league; China too is not far behind for all the obvious reasons. But what is most disconcerting is that the entire set of our neighbours, including Bangladesh and Nepal, have left no stone unturned to create political fissures in the border states; thus creating a rift between various ethnic and racial classes. Not only by our immediate neighbours, but India is also attacked with venomous content by and from unlikely quarters including apparently non-interfering Saudi and UAE communities.
The malicious exercise against India has been active since quite a long time and today has enveloped all border-sharing states with its circumference engulfing almost all possible ethnic communities. To get the best desirable impact, these nations exploit the local media to spread hate messages among people and feed them with anti-India sentiments. Initially, the radio was the most potent and sought-after medium of communication; but gradually, television became a more potent medium with fringe channels being used to spread poisonous verbal and visual clips to their target audience. The masterminds are mostly religious extremist groups, government-sponsored organizations and sometimes, sovereign governments themselves.
It’s a spree that has been pervading for a long time but the Indian government seems to be miserably insulated from the reality. Either they are ignorant or are egregiously handicapped by the lack of resources to combat it; or it may even be true that our governments are not bothered by the issue as it affects only a fraction of our population and doesn’t change the overall political dynamics. Despite the warning by our Intelligence Bureau that it has identified as many as 24 TV channels spreading hate messages and spurious information against India, the incumbent Ministry of Home Affairs had been largely unmoved. Unsurprisingly, 14 out of the 24 reported channels are from Pakistan, two are Nepalese TV channels and one each is from Saudi, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives and even UK. Some of these tainted TV channels that are widely viewed in these regions include QTV, ARY TV, PTV (Pakistan’s official broadcaster), Dawn and other Pakistan based stations. Otherwise too, TV stations from various countries have been kicking down the vulnerable section of our population with insidiously motivated messages. The tastefully named Peace TV of UAE, Saudi TV, NTV of Bangladesh and even Nepal TV and Bhutan Broadcasting Service are trampling us underfoot. It was only when the news leaked into our domestic media that our home ministry was forced to act. Thanks to these 24 odd channels, incidences of violence and ethnic rift increased in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, J&K and Maharashtra.
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