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Govt can’t be Spokesman of the devils
WSN Network
 CHANDIGARH:
In the hardly veiled targeting of an editor of a Punjab newspaper
which has a luggage of strained relations with vast sections of the
Sikh community, fell foul of the top clergy and has an image of a
discomforting publication, the Punjab police has registered a
criminal case against the editor, has been raiding the newspaper
offices and displaying a remarkable sense of urgency in throwing the
rule book at the media house.
Joginder Singh, editor of Chandigarh-based Punjabi daily Spokesman,
who has been rankling wide sections of the Sikhs because of his
stance on certain controversial issues and his clearly provocative
remarks and stance against Jathedars of Sikh temporal seats, is now
accused of hurting religious sentiments, and has been booked under
Section 295 A of the IPC. Also booked was a contributor Harbhajan
Singh whose article allegedly contained certain objectionable
references to Bhagat Ravidas' followers.
A
day after the objectionable remarks appeared, and days before any
wider protests were seen, the editor rushed to seek apology,
published a strong note of regret on the front page, explained how
he was indisposed and was admitted to the PGI Hospital and that he
and his newspaper have the highest regard for Bhagat Ravidas.
 By
most parameters of media functioning in
Punjab,
rather all across India, this was pretty gentlemanly and
professional conduct, irrespective of the effectiveness of the
system of checks within the newspaper's editorial content selection.
That both Joginder Singh and Spokesman newspaper are often seen as
rabble rousers and that both are on the wrong side of the political
party in power besides being proscribed by the Akal Takht were
factors that should have had no bearing on the way the latest
fallout was tackled.
The protests started happening days after the newspaper published
the apology. The complainant is an office bearer of the ruling BJP.
And followers of Baba Ashutosh are openly being seen as backing the
protests and often even leading these. The cops arrested Harbhajan
Singh last week from near Chandigarh and brashly demanded at the
Spokesman's office that the editor be produced. Clearly, they had
orders from above.
Now, Harbhajan Singh has obtained bail, and Joginder Singh has got
interim bail.
The crux of the problem is that it was clearly not a law and order
issue and there was much politics going on.
 Spokesman has been unleashing quite a campaign against Dasam Granth
and its backers, and, apart from its opposition to incumbent
Jathedars of Takhts, its language about them and certain other Sikh
leaders has often been intemperate, and the newspaper and its editor
often claim the only-we-are-in-the-right pedestal even before
beginning an argument. But these are all issues related to a
peculiar school of journalism and religio-political domain and the
community knows well how to settle these, or will learn at its own
pace.
What is important is the sanctity of the ways in which a government
and its agencies must work, and that sanctity is being violated
every single day just as the Spokesman is violating the basic rules
of debate, discussion and confabulation. While the Spokesman is free
to pursue the kind of journalism it wants to, the state government
must remain bound by the laws and the high principles of democratic
governance.
When the state government drafts a list of editors of Chandigarh
based newspapers, it does not include the name of Spokesman editor.
When it sends out invites to editors for a function, the Spokesman
editor does not get one. It may not be possible for Sardar Parkash
Singh Badal to invite the editor over for lunch, considering that
Joginder Singh is excommunicated from the Sikh panth by the Akal
Takht -- irrespective of what Joginder Singh thinks of the incumbent
jathedar and irrespective of the fact that such devotion to
hukumnama by Badal is relaly very touching -- but going after an
editor with police force days after the man seeks an apology on page
one and unconditionally? Governments must avoid indulging in acts
that become indefensible, and one led by a Sikh must act as per the
highest norms of governance. The Gurus and the Akal Takht are not
only about making us great human beings; they have lessons for us to
become great leaders and administrators too.
12
March 2008
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