Thursday, June 05, 2008

More than meets the eye.

A former Times Ahmedabad man told me that the 'crisis' in Ahmedabad will just blow over. Times' RE in Ahmedabad Bharat Desai, who has also been mentioned in the FIR's is pretty close to Modi. But then again, Police commissioners are also political appointments. Gujarat, like many other states, has a history of fairly dodgy cops - some are murderers others cheat on exams and everyone knows that there might well have been complicity during the riots.
But, hachet jobs on people, especially when they are the lead stories require a couple of things. First, the knowledge of very senior editorial people as well as a very good political source. Just like the Lalit Modi story as HT's lead might well have been an excellent plant by Modi's rivals in the BCCI, and believe me, Modi has his fair share of rivals straddling the political spectrum. Journalists don't just 'come upon' stories unfortunately, there is always an agenda behind them. Covert slaying Sharad Pawar? Well, MJ and Suresh Kalmadi go back a long way. Every story like this, where an individual is a target has a fairly well-established agenda behind it.
So, I'm not so sure what is going on? Is the Times' caught inside Gujarat BJP hi-jinx? The BJP is not immune to intra-party fueding, though in Modi-Land it has been kept to a minimum thanks to Modi, but I am pretty sure that petty difference exist. I wonder...

2 comments:

Personal Finance Plan said...

Times of India going to Editor's guild and getting a edict issues was the biggest joke of this whole thing. Times has always sneered at Press Council EG. Samir Jain used to say, I dont need things like Editor's Guild because I dont even have editors!!

Anonymous said...

I wonder whoever said Bharat is close to Modi. If anything, both can't stand each other. And Bharat has been vocal about his dislike for Modi on every forum that cares to hear him.