By: Chinmay Bajekal
December 06, 2004

The leftist inclined Indian media has once again shown signs of lacking professionalism by its irresponsible conduct in the Kanchi issue. By over emphasizing on the baseless allegations and refusing to highlight the facts which it finds undesirable, the media has tried to portray the issue in a manner which suits their ideological interests. From day one the media has been inclined to believe that the Shankaracharya is indeed guilty of the alleged crime. This is totally contrary to what it did in the Ishrat Jahan case. Back then the media was all out to portray Ishrat as an innocent victim of the communal police of Gujarat. Even though evidence suggested otherwise the media wanted to have the nation believe it was fabricated by the Gujarat police. Now the media has all of a sudden started to believe anything that the police claim.

Following are a few instances that support the argument against the media. 

• On Day one the media justified the sudden arrest of the Seer on Deepavali night, by reporting the allegation that he was about to flee to Nepal. Later on it was learnt that the Shankaracharya is given Z security and accompanied by Bodyguards, which would make it impossible for him to flee the country without Government’s permission.
   
• Later on the media reported that the younger Shankaracharya His Holiness Vijayendra Saraswathi had demanded CBI probe into the issue. Some people in the media tried portraying this as a drift or divide between the two Shankaracharyas. But later it was learnt that the younger Shankaracharya had never made any such statements.
   
• The police made a claim that the Mutt had withdrawn money from its ICICI bank account, which was later on given to the contract killers. Now it is learnt that the Kanchi Mutt has no accounts in ICICI bank. So now the police are trying to look for people related to the Mutt who have accounts in ICICI. This shows that the prosecution and police is hell bent upon proving the Shankaracharya as the culprit. It is not as if Shankaracharya is a suspect but a target. Even if evidence is not found against him, special efforts are made to create evidences against him.
   
• Just then two of the accused in the murder told the court that they had been forced to confess to a crime they never committed and fix the Shankaracharya. And also they were beaten up in police custody and compelled to sign blank documents. This weakened the case of the prosecutor and police.
   
• Just then the prosecution came up with the claim that the Shankaracharya has confessed to the crime. The media highlighted this and had the public in a state of shock. Later on when the Kanchi mutt and the Shankaracharya officially denied having made any such confessions, there is no more talk about it.
   
• The Shankaracharya is not the only individual affected by this. Even innocent individuals like the lady Usha suffering from cancer was alleged having absconded while she was under treatment in the hospital. The media also gave a very wrong impression to the public regarding the relationship of Usha and the Shankaracharya due to its irresponsible manner of reporting.

This irresponsible behavior by the Indian media has brought about the Character-assassination of the Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and also maligned the Kanchi mutt. The media under the banner of “equality before the law” has fearlessly and without any hesitation played with the Hindu sentiments. It shows or expresses no regrets over the reporting of baseless allegations which has offended millions of devotees around the world. It has never come out with any official apology for having shocked many devotees by its reporting of false allegations like that of the Shankaracharya planning to flee the country or having confessed to the crime.  

In today’s world the media is considered to be a significant part of the society. And it would be totally disastrous for the country if the Indian media in future looses the trust & faith people impose in it. The Hindu has always been a tolerant person. He need not necessarily express his anger by violence. So the media should not misunderstand the silence to be his compliance with the media’s conduct in this issue.

Chinmay Bajekal