Tehelka in the Regional Vernacular Press

There is an encouraging sign that the regional language papers from the non metropolitan districts are coming of age. Most of them are seized with the enormity of the crimes committed in Gujarat 2002 genocide of Muslims now caught on the camera of the sting operation of the weekly Tehelka news magazine.

Daily Deshdoot (Marathi) was the first to carry the disclosure on Friday October 26, 2007. It leads the rest of the papers from the Nasik district. It highlighted the seriousness of the fact that the components of bombs and gunpowder were brought from neighbouring states. However the bombs were made in Gujarat itself. The entire plot was conceived and prepared in the presence of the activists of RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP. They had prior knowledge of preparation and the ultimate use. It also shows how uncountable dead bodies of Muslims were thrown into the Narmada River. In the editorial, the first in the Marathi papers, the paper says that there are Ravanas and Kansas ruling in the name of Ram. The rising number of criminals who get elected will make it necessary to hold Lok Sabha session in the Tihar jail or make the jail a part of the parliament. The editorial mentions Babu Bajrangi, Narendra Modi and home minister Zadaphya who took active part in managing the pogroms, encouraging and praising the killers and shielding them and says that we shiver when we read today what had happened five years ago. The culprits are still in power and boast about their black deeds. The editorial enumerates other criminals of the day: Amarmani Tripathy and wife are sentenced to life imprisonment, a Delhi deputy commissioner of police and nine constables are also facing the same sentence, Shibu Soren is already convicted as a murderer and member of parliament Anand Mohan is sentenced to death and wife to life imprisonment for the lynching of the collector of Gopalgang. MAA Fatmi has link with criminals in Bihar. The paper exclaims that such are the leaders of India today!

Gaonkari reports the exposure twenty four hours after Deshdoot, on October 27th. It focuses attention on that part of the sting operation where the Chief Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Zadaphya had given the rioters three days for murder, mayhem and loot and arson. The paper also mentions on its front page the insistent demand of the opposition to have L.K.Advani and Modi arrested for the massacre. There is also upfronted news about how the Ahmedabad collector has banned the telecast of Aaj Tak, CNN, IBN and ND TV as well as the sale of Tehelka publication. Again on the front page the paper gives in a box the demand of the state Congress spokesman Hussein Dalwai who says that Modi is a vinash prush (a man who destroys) and not vikash prush (a harbinger of progress and prosperity). It also gives the name of the reporter at the centre of the operation, Ashish Khetan.

Lokmast also takes up the story on Saturday October 27th. It begins with the demand of the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadu who has demanded immediate arrest of Narendra Modi and L.K.Advani. The exposure has removed any remaining doubts that the pogroms were state sponsored. Lokmast also mentions the central minister Kapil Sibal who says that the people have now the opportunity to pull Modi to court for his heinous deeds in the five years of his misrule. The Election Commission’s refusal to ban publication of Tehelka in view of the election there also finds mention on the front page. Congress Spokesperson Jayanti Natrajan has said that his party would like that Modi should be prosecuted for the massacre. His party is in the government but the government cannot sue any chief minister in the court of law against whom the Supreme Court is already hearing a case. The paper also gives in a box the sharp reaction among political leaders, human rights activists, jurists. The paper opines that there is clear proof of the involvement and complicity of the Chief Minister in the massacre.

None of the papers has taken any political stance in reporting. This is unlike the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Samna which emphasizes “why now”, rather than “what new!”