How can one shut the world out?

the gujarat government has banned ptv in the state. the ban is of a price with the overall current inclination in this country to look for the hand across the border whenever things go wrong on native soil. but while people in ahmedabad, vadodara and elsewhere may not have access to reactions to the riots in islamabad or karachi, what about the pictures of happenings in their cities being beamed across the entire world? bbc world for instance went to town with visuals of armed goons roaming the streets and the commentary that hindus were attacking muslims.the power of the electronic media once more became evident as riots broke out. those in authority both in delhi and ahmedabad could only hem and haw at the clear evidence of police inaction during the initial stages of the riots and even later in the countryside where the cops admitted that they were not being able to do anything to control the situation. the print media are obviously handicapped in this regard and its accusations can always, be and is, denied. but with the electronic media, it is here and now, those against whom the finger is pointed are themselves telling the story through their inaction, unaware perhaps that everything is being filmed. aware of what was being seen by millions and their reaction, union minister arun jaitley almost told the media, while appearing on star news, to exercise restraint in the national interest. how often have we heard that plea? where was the concern for national interest when gujarat was allowed to burn and the government came out with the flimsy excuse that the army could not be deployed earlier as it took time to arrange for area maps. though narendra modi is new to the job, even he should have known that such maps are always there with the police and only have to be asked for. having said this, however, one does feel that the electronic media should also think twice about treating a communal holocaust as yet another story which needs to be explored thoroughly. for instance, the big fight programme on star, featuring narendra mohan, a bjp member of the rajya sabha. why he is being singled out for mention is the way he almost violently defended the “hindu� cause. such reactions can only steel the determination throughout the country to go in for further mayhem. such programmes certainly do not serve any purpose as in any case the nation knows what mohan, his party and the sangh parivar stand for. generally speaking, however, things could not have been kept under wraps as jaitley would have liked. and why did pramod mahajan get so excited on sahara channel when s. nihal singh politely inquired as to whether the prime minister did not give the impression of an aged man no longer sure of himself. seeing atal behari vajpayee these days that’s exactly the impression viewers get. karangapara village in west bengal’s durgapur is not only far away from gujarat, but it seems to live in a world of its own judging from an etv bangla programme. the village has never seen any political activity, no wall writing, no disputes leave alone killings. not that it is located in the back of beyond, it is fairly prosperous, judging from the visuals and its residents as alert as anybody else. but, as a political activist sought to explain, “we do our political work outside the village and do not allow our own atmosphere to be polluted.� selfish, would you say? and if politics is polluting why go for it, even outside the village?