In Bollywood movie Namastay London, an old British aristocrat mocks India, quoting wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill as saying, “In India you will find goons everywhere.”
In reply, the hero of the movie elaborates what Indians have achieved and retorts, “Being humble is Indian culture, with a grounded perspective.”
Sir Winston could be pardoned for his comment, because the only connection he had with India was an army subaltern posted in the South Indian City of Bangalore. He called an otherwise ‘Garden City,’ a ‘Garage City’ in his book titled, My Early Days.
However, New Zealand mainstream media cannot be pardoned for biased reporting on the murder of Ranjeeta Sharma whose burning body was found on a remote road in Huntly near Hamilton on January 20.
Some journalists equated her death to ‘Honour Killing’ as “a normal practice in India,” despite the New Zealand Police stating that Ranjeeta’s death was being treated as homicide and not as Honour Killing.
Honour Killing is non-existent in Fiji, the victim’s country of origin.
What is the problem with New Zealand’s mainstream media when it comes to reporting on Indians? Their biased view is akin to that of Sir Winston and former TV1 presenter Paul Henry. No media has the right to report factually incorrect stories.
Not that Honour Killing is not practiced in India. But one has to understand that women have occupied high status in domestic and public life. In the current scenario, President (Pratibha Patil), Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament (Meira Kumari), Chief Minister Uttar Pradesh (Mayawati) and President of the Ruling Party Congress (Sonia Gandhi) are all women.
Deliberate misspell
Sheila Dixit, whose Surname almost every mainstream newspaper and commentator in New Zealand consistently and perhaps deliberately misspells, is a well-respected politician and Chief Minister of Delhi.
Indians worship their country as ‘Bharat Mata’ (Mother Nation). The Great Epics Ramayana and Mahabharata have chapters describing how wars were fought to avenge dishonoured women. Women command respect and love and instances of Honour Killing, are few and far between; it is certainly not the norm.
During my student days in Waikato, many would ask whether women practiced ‘Sati’ (a religious practice in ancient India) in which some recently widowed Hindu women either were voluntarily or forced to immolate themselves.
I would tell them such an obnoxious practice does not exist in India and that the country has had many women achievers in many fields, some of them renowned worldwide.
New Zealand journalists and commentators should get to know India better. The large and growing Indian population in New Zealand (which also has several achievers) would be able to apprise them of the ‘Real India.’
They could visit Disney Land in California (which is closer than India) and find American organisations honouring Ivy League educated Indian women.
If they want a cheaper option, they could purchase copies of ‘The World is Flat,’ in which author Thomas Friedman outlines how, given equal opportunity, Indians have become great achievers. Among those he quotes as examples, is Pepsi International Chairman & Chief Executive Indira Nooyi, who was born in India. Last year, she appeared in the Fortune and Forbes lists of ‘The World’s 50 Most Powerful Women’ and ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.’
Balaji Chandramohan is our Delhi Correspondent and Editor, Asia for World Security Network and Correspondent for World News Forecast.
mohanbalaji2003gmail.com
