Things deliberately hidden by SUN TV

Among the many Ghats on the banks of the Ganga, Harishchandra Ghat is exclusively used for cremation. This was the ghat where Harishchandra’s wife Taramati brought the corpse of their son for cremation, when the king was the caretaker, according to the Puranas. That was how it earned the name Harishchandra Ghat.

As per the Sastras, it is a normal practice to immerse the ashes (asti) in a water body like the sea or river after cremation. Yet SUN TV projected this ritual as a shameful exercise. The channel did not show any of the Pitru Kriyas being performed in the Ganga by thousands of pilgrims. It didn’t show the Ganga pujas and the magnificent arati. 

Instead, it repeatedly showed the so-called Aghoris smoking and eating flesh. It is said that such Aghoris were there since ancient times, and we have also heard of ‘Kabaligas’ roaming around with skull-garlands. Nowadays we see only Naga Sanyasis, that too only during the Kumbh Mela time, and they do not eat human flesh. The channel showed just one person, attired like a beggar in rags, eating something like flesh sitting near a burning corpse. He was not shown taking the flesh from the pyre; it could well be some other non-vegetarian stuff.  

The SUN TV team did not go to any of the famous temples in and around the town. It did not bother to show the pujas inside the temples, or any other significant places. It did not tell viewers that Kasi has been a centre of learning and knowledge for ages; that the famous kings of Kasi ruled it upholding Dharma and serving their people. The Channel did not bother to show the famous Visalakshi Temple and how it is being maintained by the ‘Nagarathar’ community from Tamil Nadu.

The channel did not present facts about the barbaric rule of the Moghuls and how they destroyed Hindu Temples. It did not show the huge Nandi which faces the mosque, as testimony to the fact that the Moghuls destroyed the Vishwanath Temple and built a Mosque in its original place. 

It did not bother to talk about the late shenai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, an ardent devotee of Ganga Ma and Kasi Vishwanath, and how he praised our culture throughout his life. It didn’t show Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple and tell viewers that jihadis planted bombs inside it some years ago, killing scores of bhaktas.

‘Missionaries of Charities’ have a branch office close to the banks of the Ganga and indulge in conversion activities. They focus on the fishermen (boatmen) community, which is an integral part of Hindu tradition and plays a vital role in the performance of Pitru Kriyas by pilgrims. The organisation is on an exclusive mission of converting these boatmen, so that the roots of Hindu culture in its most religiously important town are ruined. The channel was silent on all this.

The channel tried to project Hindu customs as the reason for the pollution of the river. It did not show the lack of basic amenities for the local people and pilgrims and the lethargic attitude of the government, totally neglecting the town. It did not show the scores of silk factories, hotels, restaurants etc which pollute the river by releasing dirty effluents into it. It didn’t tell viewers that crores of taxpayers’ money has gone into the pockets of politicians in the name of purification of Ganga.

The channel’s team did not bother to visit Sarnath and show its splendour. It did not show how Shaivism, Buddhism and Jainism flourished in that holy town, and ignored the lovely Chinese and Japanese temples.

SUN TV’s hidden agenda

SUN TV’s agenda was to show the burning bodies, beggars as Sanyasis and elderly worshippers as death-anticipators to denigrate Hinduism. It tried to belittle the divine significance of the sacred town and river and make viewers hate them. It repeatedly showed the burning bodies, beggars and drug addicts and tried to project them as the real face of Kasi. Through such a malicious attempt the company hurt the religious and cultural sentiments of Hindus; this is utterly condemnable.  

Questions to SUN TV

-          Do you have the guts to produce and telecast programs denigrating other faiths, or questionable aspects of their ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’?

-          Do you have the courage to show the ‘other’ sides of Nagore or Velankanni as you have shown Kasi?

-          When you could send a team to Uttar Pradesh a thousand kilometers from Tamil Nadu, why can’t you send a team to Kerala and produce a program on the scandals exploding in the Catholic Churches?

-          Why not a program on the book ‘Amen’ by a catholic nun?

-          Kerala is the biggest breeding ground for Islamic terrorists; why not a program on terrorist organizations like NDF, PDP and PFI?

-          Why not a serial on ‘Love Jihad’?

-          There are a number of Homes for children and girls along the East Coast Road from Chennai to Rameswaram, where many foreigners visit and reportedly indulge in shady activities. Why not a program on them?

-          A number of padris have committed financial crimes cheating gullible masses in villages. Many have siphoned off the tsunami rehabilitation money after converting the fisher folk. It surely deserves a program?  

-          How about the ‘true’ face of Madurai? Your own office in Madurai was burnt down and three of your employees murdered due to your own family feud! A CBI enquiry was ordered for the sake of formality and all the culprits were acquitted as all witnesses turned hostile. Why don’t you present a program on why and how the witnesses turned hostile, on whose instructions and threats, and what are the true facts behind the case? Why have you not bothered to go for an appeal against the acquittal of the culprits?

Condemn and protest

We have seen how the Christian-owned Vijay TV of Star TV Group denigrated Hindu culture and now we see SUN Group with a similar agenda. Our campaign against Vijay TV is not yet over and the case is alive at the Chennai Police Commissioner’s office. The COP had asked for a legal opinion based on the complaint given by Advocate Subramaniam, who along with other volunteers is determined to teach a lesson to the channel.

Hindus must similarly condemn the SUN Group and protest against it. Hindus must boycott such channels and perhaps also boycott the products of the sponsors. The contact details of SUN TV are:

Sun Network Corporate Office

4, Norton Road, Mandaveli, Chennai-28, Tamil Nadu, India

Phone No: 044-24648181

Fax: 044-24648282 Fax us at: 91-44-24648250

queries@sunnetwork.in

More to the point, the program on Kasi by SUN TV was violative of ‘Rule-6’ of the ‘Programme and Advertising Codes’ prescribed under the “Cable Television Network Rules, 1994”. 

(http://www.mib.nic.in/ShowContent.aspx?uid1=0&uid2=51&uid3=129&uid4=0&uid5=0&uid6=0&uid7=0)

Hence we are entitled to send complaints to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at

mib.inb@sb.nic.in, psmib.inb@sb.nic.in, msib.inb@sb.nic.in, psmsib.inb@sb.nic.in More details about the ministry can be obtained at

http://mib.nic.in/writereaddata/html_en_files/contactus/mibphone.pdf

The anti-Hindu agenda of the mainstream media, both print and electronic, in India, must be condemned and consistently protested. There is no point in tolerating them or ignoring them. If at all the next generation is to be saved from the onslaught of alien cultures, the present generation must realize the imminent danger and rise up to the occasion. It is the need of the hour and must be done right away!    

(Concluded)

The author is a freelancer