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Gujarat: RSS activists slam media for 'distorted' picture

Tara Shankar Sahay in Kurukshetra

Agitated activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Friday slammed the media for its 'distorted reporting' of the events pertaining to Godhra and the Prevention of Terrorism Act on the eve of its two-day national executive meeting commencing here on Saturday.

The preparatory meeting on Friday was held amid strict security in the Geeta School for Girls, where RSS activists in khakhi shorts stood guard. Barring senior party members, no one was allowed to enter.

The RSS activists also voiced their anger during an exhibition-cum-seminar, where photographs and clippings from newspapers and magazines were displayed to show the 'bias of the mainstream media' in its reportage of the events in Gujarat.

Entitled Anoothi Pradarshan Aaina, organised by Image India Foundation, Delhi, the exhibition saw speakers ridiculing the media's description of the Godhra incident as a 'spontaneous development', underlining that it was pre-planned.

Contending that a particular section of the mainstream media had ganged up with opposition leaders, including those from the Left parties, one speaker, who said he was a lecturer, contended, "An unholy campaign has been unleashed by these people to hide the truth and spread lies."

He said that a prominent Hindi daily wrote a series of editorials to highlight the opposition viewpoint of the Godhra incident and its aftermath in Gujarat.

"Blatantly ignoring the truth, this newspaper wrote certain things which was a travesty of the truth, but politically suited the opposition parties," he emphasised, adding that he and his colleagues had 'studied 5000 newspaper clippings' before arriving at their 'conclusion of distorted reporting'.

He alleged that during the Gujarat riots 265 Hindus were killed, and a number of its community members were living in relief camps, but the mainstream media had 'chosen to black it out'.

He lashed out at the political editor of a prominent television channel for saying, "The camera will not lie."

"But the camera will only record what its operator wants to record," the speaker said, adding that the 'sufferings' of the majority community had been 'deliberately ignored'.

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