[Editor’s Note: This is last in 3 part series based on a chapter ‘Communal agenda and Hindi press in a globalizing India’ by Dr Arvind Das in a forthcoming book Religion, Politics and Media: German and Indian Perspectives, Edited by: Detlef Briesen, Sigrid Baringhorst & Arvind Das, published by Palm Leaf Publications, New Delhi]
Read First Part here:
Communal agenda and Hindi press in a globalizing IndiaReligious Diversity and Hinduisation of pressDr Arvind Das,
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, vigor 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 ambiance 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, HindustanandRajasthan Patrika. Other positions are occupied by Malyalam, Tamil and Marathi publications —all regional language newspapers. The Times of Indiais 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, Hindustanand 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. Further, 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 organizations 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.
Photo used for Illustration purpose only.
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, Colemen and Company 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 inNav Bharat Times was written dealing with Ram temple and Babri 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 Janmastami. 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 April 8, 2005 and on April 16, 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 MaaKalratri was worshiped).
Similarly, in times of Janmastami 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 August 22, 2005 Nav Bharat Timespublished two news items related to Janmashtami. One news item discusses about the preparation of Janmastami in temples in Delhi, while another discusses how Janmastami 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, itstarted a page dedicated to religion and festivals under the rubric ‘Utsav’ (Celebration). And on May 19, 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 analyzing 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 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. Ina globalizing India, the Hindi public sphere (Habermans: 1989) where a rational-liberal discourse is possible is still in the making.
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(Dr Arvind Das is a Delhi based Journalist and Media Researcher and is also the author of a well researched book ‘Hindi mein Samachar’ (News in Hindi). He can be reached at [email protected])