MANUWADI MEDIA MAKING MONKEYS OUT OF US
Dalit-Bahujans will have no hope if we don't convert DV into weekly & then a daily

Gurnam Singh Muktsar, 2 - Bhagat Singh Nagar, b/h Bus Stand, Muktsar - 152 026
On the basis of my past experience on media, I can say that both Dalit-Backwards and minorities cannot run even a single daily, not to speak of a media centre. What a shame. As BAMCEF workers, we under the leadership of Kanshi Ram started weekly papers in Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi and a monthly in English. Except the Hindi weekly, BSP could not continue any other paper. BSP ruled UP thrice but the Hindi weekly remained weak. In Punjab, a Dalit family of Jalandhar started a Punjabi daily. BAMCEF took it as its own daily. Within a few months this daily hammered other dailies but ideologically it failed to come up.I have a long list sent by Engineer Hadke of Bombay. It reveals that Dalits publish over 200 magazines but most of them ineffective, irregular and ideologically weak. I started a Punjabi monthly in 1998 and continued it for six long years without a break. I can proudly say that my paper was ideologically second only to Dalit Voice (English).

But without any hesitation I can say that DV is the only national and international-level media of SC/ST/BCs and minorities of India sincerely fighting for the human rights of the persecuted peoples the whole world.

My experience of the Dalit media says we are not capable to run a single national daily. The Samrat (Marathi) of Bombay has not yet become a national daily. You take any issue of DV and go through it carefully. Our Editor, V.T. Rajshekar, does not leave a single national or international issue untouched. In 28 pages, it is a wholesome food for thought.

BSP failure: I contested as a BSP candidate in the last Parliament election. I started reading DV in 1982-83 as a member of BAMCEF and this magazine has provided every social, cultural, revolutionary ideology needed for a genuine revolutionary. In fact, DV is the ideological inspiration for BAMCEF and BSP. But BAMCEF even being a national-level organisation could not run any journal of high quality like DV. The problem with our Dalit educated class is they rarely support revolutionary papers like DV which is fighting Brahminism. It is our misfortune that Kanshi Ram and BAMCEF failed to take advantage of the services of V.T. Rajshekar. I never saw his books being sold at BAMCEF or BSP meetings though he is a great supporter of both. But lot of other books are sold at these meetings. Is it because of the fear that V.T. Rajshekar may outshine and overtake if his literature are read by BAMCEF and BSP members?

I have come to the conclusion that only DV has served the cause of Dr. Ambedkar revolution during the past 25 years. DV has socially and ideologically awakened lakhs of people all over India and the world. It is the only magazine which is sincerely fighting Brahminism without compromising even an inch.

We expected at least 100 writers, thinkers, activists from persecuted minorities and 1,000 sincere, revolutionary readers to get organised as a sangh as Budha did —a principle which Brahmins hijacked and formed RSS by realising the strength of such a sangh.

I expected the 100 such scholars and 1,000 revolutionary readers, who are ready to organise as a sangh, to ultimately build the Dalit media. We discussed this matter at our Shimla workshop in July. It was decided to launch a life-membership drive for DV with a payment of Rs. 3,000. All such life-members will also become members of the Sangh to work for revolution.

Converting DV into weekly: I am of the opinion that physically and socially we the "broken majority" are not capable of starting any national daily. So, till Dec.2005 we have to work for DV and then strengthen its Hindi and Punjabi editions. After 2005, DV English and Hindi may be converted into a weekly. We cannot expect anything more from the well entrenched habits of this mentally enslaved people. It is not proper to live in a world of dreams. We have to depend upon the ground realities. Our Editor writes that the word "failure" is not found in his dictionary. His words must be carefully studied and followed as a gospel truth. I appeal to our brother-writers, functionaries, readers, well wishers and workers to come forward to strengthen DV and make our dream come true. If we sincerely organise the proposed sangh it will be a big success.

Media Centre Reference:
DV Sept.1, 2004 p. 6: "Are we in a position to start a Dalit daily paper".
DV June 1, 2004 p.9: "Wanted our own media to counter Brahminical media menace".
DV May 16, 2004 p.6: "Big English & language dailies dying: Future belongs to revolutionary papers".
DV Oct.1, 2003 p. 19: "DV family members must take up challenge of media centre" & p. 20: Failure to produce Dalit intellectuals".
DV July 16, 2000 p.7: "Truth about India's toilet papers".
DV July 1, 2000 p. 20: "Wanted survey of racism in Indian national toilet papers".
DV May 16, 2000 p.8: "Dalit Voice — a new experiment in Indian journalism".
DV Edit March 16, 2000: "Failure on Media front forces DV to retreat".
DV June 1, 1999 p. 18: "DV disgust on media centre".
DV March 1, 1998: "If Media Centre is a must why delay it?"
DV Aug.1, 1997 p.5: "Media Centre — Last appeal".
DV June 16, 1997 p.7: "Media Centre alone can launch cultural revolution to liberate Dalits".
DV January 16, 1997 p.6: "Kanshi Ram to launch Media Centre".
DV Nov.16, 1996 p.4: "Enraged Bahujans will break bones if media power is misused".
DV Edit Aug.1, 1996: "Bahujans can't rule without our own media to coutner this 420-press".
DV June 1, 1996 p.8: "Gains of election can't be cashed without Media Centre".
DV Edit Jan.1, 1994: "Wanted Media Centre at Lucknow to consolidate UP gains & educate Bahujans".
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Media madness is part of ruling class sickness
V.T. Rajshekar

Thank you for inviting a Dalit writer and journalist to talk to this elite gathering. Organisers of the seminar have talked about the "need for social responsibility in media".

But they have given me the last place in the last day's last presentation though I am the Editor of Dalit Voice, the country's largest circulated Dalit journal. Even a Christian institution has treated me as an Untouchable. Dalits constitute the country's worst socially oppressed segment — comprising 20% of the country's population but totally neglected in the country's media. But neglected here also and given the last place.

Curing symptoms
I sat through the 2-day seminar and listened to all the speeches but sorry to say they did not go into the philosophical aspect of the question. They talked of curing the symptoms but not the disease afflicting the media.

Though I was relegated to the last place, I got an opportunity to understand the whole problem and re-confirm our findings.

The seminar invitation speaks of the "fall in professional standards" and "commercialisation of the media". This is very much true.

But these things are not confined to media alone. Every profession which is packed with the upper castes is facing this crisis today.This is true of lawyers, judges, doctors, bureaucrats, management people, bankers, engineers and also politicians.

Every part of the elite society is undergoing the same crisis.

Since the seminar is confined to media, as the Editor of Dalit Voice, which looks after the interests of the country's over 85% of the oppressed sections, I have to say with deep regret that Dalits, Backward Castes, Muslim, Christian, Tribal, Sikhs and women — all these sections have serious complaints against the country's media.

2% English-speakers
This media is not only suppressing truth but popularising falsehood, myths and promoting anti-social elements. Our people feel totally neglected in this monopoly mass media —the monopoly of the Brahminical Social Order.

The need for social responsibility, the theme of this seminar, is only a noble desire but it can't be fulfilled. Because the media is the monopoly of the upper castes and upper class.

The media is owned by the big business and managed by the upper castes.
In India, class and caste are the same.
Fortunately the influence of the media particularly the print media is limited. The English-knowing people are less than 2%. And those reading language papers are not even 30%. That is how the "India shining" false propaganda failed to click.

The invitation also speaks about the "need to raise the consciousness of the people".

Awareness-building can't be expected from the existing media. Because the ruling class, of which the media is a creature, is totally opposed to awareness-building.

The moment the people come to know the Truth, the first victim of it will be this media itself.

TADA Arrest
That is why to see that people remain ignorant and gullible, the media is promoting superstition, making them money-minded, property-conscious, entertainment-oriented.

Awareness-building can be dangerous also. I was put in jail. Arrested under TADA. My passport impounded. That is the price I had to pay for awareness-building.

In other words, media is producing fickle-minded, unthinking morons. Sorry to use strong words. But these are facts.

The invitation talks of "social responsibility."

Fine. We form the overwhelming majority of the society, of which Dalits alone are 20%. Muslims form another 15%. We are sorry to say that the media has not only neglected us but in many cases it is hostile to our interests.

Media is anti-Dalit
Why the media is anti-Dalit? This is because Dalits are hardly represented in the media.

This is the finding of a survey made in Delhi newspapers and journals. The same is true of Bangalore. And all other cities. Such is the deep-rooted prejudice against our people. How can such a media have social responsibility?

I am not criticising any individual for India's fast-expanding intellectual desert. The fault lies with the class-caste structure of India.

We cannot reform the media alone or any other sector of our society without destroying the existing class-caste nexus.

You like it or not, today's rulers of India belong to the upper class and upper caste. That is why it always upholds the status quo.

That is why every section of our society is in a deep crisis. And media is a small part of this society.
I will give you one example how the values of the societies are changing and how today's media is encouraging such dangerous values.

When I was a junior-most reporter in the Indian Expresss, Bombay, in the 60s, I used to be given the assignment of covering the "Miss India" contest.

The instruction was that I must just phone the office and give few lines about the winners which would go in the inside pages.

But today 3-4 senior-most reporters with a battery of photographers will go and the story with vivid details and pictures is reserved for the front pages. See the difference.

Endless entertainment
The world's biggest English dailies like the London Times, Washington Post, New York Times etc. are all black and white. But in this poor country of India our dailies are colour, beginning to end (laughter).

English dailies excel in trivia and trash and this is what today's readers also want.

Something is going wrong with our English-knowing population which is fortunately not even 2%.

But this 2% are the decision-makers and owners of property.

This is the cream of our society. But, alas, this cream is totally rotten. Rotten to the core.

Being over-fed, the full-time pre-occupation of this ruling class is entertainment and more entertainment — endless entertainment. The media has to cater to this tiger-turned man-eater.

Madest daily
That is why the English dailies are going mad. The Times of India is heading this list. The only daily which still remains somewhat sane is the Hindu, the Mount Road Mahavishnu — though it is also coming under pressure to go mad. I am warning you. Todays page-2 may soon become page-1.

We find hardly any hope in the existing national media.

We are deeply worried. The sickness has spread to the entire elite society.

We Dalits are the worst victims of this ruling class sickness.

The country is facing all-round crisis. The media is a small, though a powerful, part of this sick society. Sorry for this pessimistic picture but it is true.

This is the picture of the Indian society that we Dalits see daily. And we get this picture as we see this society from the bottom. The future appears bleak.

All these papers and journals will gradually die. Some are dead.

Future belongs to papers like Dalit Voice.
[Speech delivered at the "National Seminar on Media & Social Responsibility", Christ College, Bangalore, Oct.8 - 9, 2004. The Roman Catholic-run college has become Bangalore's "most famous" educational institution, the hot favourite of its glitterati. Naturally the Editor's speech was not very much liked. Is it the job of the church to serve such a class forgetting its primary duty towards the oppressed? Where is the "social responsibility" of the church ?]
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