Whose sense of morality?

I spent the last week at home as I had fallen sick with viral and came home to recover fully. While at home, I got hooked to the latest TV series courting trouble, Sach ka Saamna. Just looking at the format and the questions asked, one has to admit that the widespread protests that it has attracted were expected. As mentioned by many of the commentators, even the most liberal among us cannot deny that the show promotes voyeurism of the worst kind and is an absolute delight if you want to have a peek into the life of your next door neighbor.

Most of my informed readers would know that the issue was discussed in Parliament and protest lodged by many MPs who demanded a debate on the appropriateness of telecasting the show. The ministry was prompt in its criticism and summoned the producer of the show to register its displeasure. While all this was happening and the news channels were busy debating a yet another trespass into that oft quoted but seldom-understood ‘freedom of speech’ right, another news report flashed out. This news was about the alleged lynching of a young boy in a village in Haryana who was thrashed and killed apparently at the pronouncement of the village panchayat. The mistake of the boy was to fall in love and marry a girl from the same gotra; following which the panchayat took matters upon itselves and decided to punish the boy so as to bring the honor of the village back. The same MPs when asked to comment on the above lynching advised young people to show respect and refrain from going against the traditions of the society. There was no remorse at the killing, no pledge to bring the guilty to book, no assurance to prevent such killings in future. The media also covered this news story but just as a sidenote to the more important discussion on Mumbai high tide and Sach ka Saamna. There was no special programs, no panel debates and no indignant reporters calling for bringing the guilty to book on the issue.

Today again there was a news item on another honor killing, this time in Punjab. Such are the indignities’ that our Bharat has to face each and every day.

If you read the above para clearly, you would have noticed a clear difference in the response given to both news items (Sach ka Saamna and lynching of youth) by the TV channels and the MPs. At least the MPs are consistent in their parochial viewpoint. But it is the so called liberal representatives of our society who really irritate me with their narrow minded, ignorant and insensitive stance on issues that reiterate the vast gulf that still exists between India and Bharat. My question to the TV channels is this. Do they not realize the vast difference in the sense of morality between India and Bharat? Why don’t we have debate on the question of honor killings? Is right to expression more important than right to live? Do they not understand the various compulsions arising out of the traditional fabric of Indian society or do they just not care when they expect shows like Sach ka Saamna to be screened without obstruction while youth are being killed in the name of honor killing just 100 kms away?

The earlier we Indians acknowledge that the people in India’s hinterland are not just a market that needs to be exploited but also citizens of our country, albeit ones who have a different viewpoint to life, the earlier we would be able to address this vast gulf that separates the two.