From Behenji to Il Duce
By Nandini Ramachandran
The IPL controversy has so preoccupied the Indian media this past
fortnight that they clean forgot to lampoon their favourite
whipping-woman, Mayawati. The BBC, uncomfortable with the lull and
anxious to contribute to the cause, has thus decided to jump into the
fray-http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8625337.stm.
The correspondent, who 'tiptoes around caste' and mystifyingly manages
to cover Indian politics nonetheless, evidently believes his political
correctness will eclipse (or excuse) his palpable ignorance.
The entrance to Ambedkar Udyan, Lucknow. Mayawati's chief
architectural legacy till date
The Palazzo delle Civiltà del Lavoro, popularly known as the EUR aka
The Giant Beehive, fascist Rome's most enduring image
The article follows the blueprint for Mayawati-bashing, and was
probably written by someone in London after they read a few Times of
India articles. It projects Mayawati as a megalomaniac obsessed by her
vanity projects, diverting precious resources towards irrelevant
architecture when people are starving; someone who exploits her Dalit
womanhood to garner votes (isn't she the lucky one, to be born into
such a fortuitous combination of identities) while she spends the rest
of her time being irredeemably corrupt. It is a standard-issue rant:
misleading, condescending and often plain wrong.
Just one example of this is the the article's take on the Lady's plan
for a publicly funded militia to protect Ambedkar statues across UP:
"What for, asked one incredulous opponent? Will they lose height or
weight? Is someone planning to disfigure them?" If the reporter had
done his job, he would know that these statues have a remarkable
tendency to get decapitated and thus while the move might be
extraordinary, it is certainly not ludicrous.
But the purpose of this post is not to deconstruct such a mediocre
piece of reportage. A small section of media (notably the
indefatigable Shivam Vij) has already made a good case for the
importance of iconography in empowering identity, and I will not
repeat their excellent arguments here.
What puzzles me is the lack of creativity in the mainstream ire. With
the column-space the Lady commands, surely editors would find it
prudent to break free of the dated formula and be marginally
distinctive? I find it incredible, for instance, that no one has drawn
(to my knowledge) the Mussolini analogy yet. Here is an
architecture-obsessed dictator just waiting to bestow Mayawati with
evil-fascist associations, and yet he remains an untapped resource.
Mussolini's buildings display the awesome scale Mayawati seems to be
vying for, and the man was as haunted by Augustus as Mayawati is by
Ambedkar. The Hindutva branch of bashers understandably will not want
to stir such a murky cauldron, but one would've expected liberal India
to have cottoned on to the connection years ago. It would be a project
of dubious historicity to club Il Duce and Behenji into the same fold,
but when has that ever stopped anyone in the quest for political
expedience?
Nandini Ramachandran lives and writes in Bangalore. She plans to blog
about media and politics in the region for Himal.
------------------------------------
----
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment