I run the The Bahu of Bengal blog at https://sanatanadharma2002.blogspot.com/. On my blog, I publish letters that I have sent to media that have displayed anti-Hindu bias.
This letter is in reference to the article:
Frayer, L. (2021). 'This Government Has Failed Us': Anger Rises in India Over PM Modi's COVID Response. Npr.org. Retrieved 12 May 2021, from https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995446333/this-government-has-failed-us-anger-rises-in-india-over-pm-modis-covid-response.
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| Lauren Frayer, NPR International Correspondent, Mumbai, India |
First of all, my family and friend have been impacted by COVID:
My brother-ln-law lost his uncle and the uncle’s son in quick succession. The departed were musicians (masters of the sitar) of high repute.
A friend of mine who lives in the State of Andhra Pradesh tested positive for COVID. As an observant Hindu, he wrote, “Pls pray for me and lit a small oil lamp at your Ista Devi [personal goddess]. I am covid positive and suffering.” He was self-isolating at home, as there were no hospital beds available. This was devastating, as he is a young man with a 3-year old son. Fortunately, he began to feel better after taking Fabiflu, a pill that is an antiviral drug for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients.
I will leave it to the families to determine if Modi is at fault.
That said, I will address points in Ms. Frayer’s article:
It is disgusting that media publishes photos of burning funeral pyres when cremation is a personal matter for families of the departed. I have seen this sort of voyeurism up close. We were carrying out rites for my father-in-law, who left the mortal plane in 2011, on the banks of the Ganges River. A tour bus stopped, and western tourists disembarked to snap pictures.
Ms. Frayer said that “India's health system has collapsed. There are shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen, antiviral drugs, and vaccines.” My question to Ms. Frayer is: How did this happen India was exporting vaccines to many countries? It is sad to see India dependent on foreign largesse. Ms. Frayer didn’t investigate.
Ms. Frayer said that “Nevertheless, there were few masks and scant social distancing in Modi's crowd [in West Bengal]. At the time, West Bengal had none of the pandemic restrictions reimposed in some other Indian regions.” This is not Modi’s fault, but rather the fault of the All India Trinamool Congress Party, the ruling party in West Bengal.
Ms. Frayer said that “For weeks, Modi's Hindu nationalist government had also refused to halt the huge Kumbh Mela pilgrimage, in which millions of people gathered to bathe in the Ganges River throughout April.” In this article Blame game at this juncture is suicidal, https://www.rediff.com/news/column/blame-game-at-this-juncture-is-suicidal/20210512.htm, Vivek Gumaste wrote that “But in terms of cause and effect the Kumbh Mela does not stand out as the putative factor: The second wave was already in progress when the Kumbh Mela began.”
Ms. Frayer said that “NPR contacted seven spokespeople for Modi's government or party to comment on the criticism. Two were sick with COVID-19. Another said he didn't want to talk. Four others did not respond to interview requests.” This is not surprising, given media’s hostility to Modi and the BJP. They cannot expect that media will treat them fairly.
Ms. Frayer said that “But it's unclear whether voters penalized the [BJP] party [in West Bengal] for its pandemic response because the voting was held in several stages, with some ballots cast in late March and early April before the extent of the current coronavirus wave was clear.” Here, Ms. Frayer is partly right (gasp!). Other factors might include the failure of the BJP to project a candidate for Chief Minister and its failure to understand the nuances of the Bengali language. Bengals are very possessive of their language.
Ms. Frayer said that “On May 5, the national BJP president, J.P. Nadda, held a news conference in West Bengal to talk about post-election violence in which some of the BJP's poll workers were allegedly attacked by supporters of a rival party.” Allegedly? Really? /sarc. Photos of BJP party workers who were victims of post-election violence in West Bengal have circulated online. Even the Communist Party, which the All India Trinamool Congress Party decimated, has raised their voices against the ruling party’s violence against their party!
Ms. Frayer said that “Video filmed at a crematorium in the city of Meerut and posted to Twitter on April 30 shows an argument between a family that had just cremated their loved one, who died of COVID-19, and another man who interrupts the family and scolds them for bemoaning the government.” Once again, this is voyeurism in what should be a private affair. Admittedly, the man who interrupts the family and scolds them for bemoaning the government, shares blame.
Noting that bordering countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal have not been afflicted by a devastating second wave, some suspect bioterrorism.
In 2019, Dr. Indu Viswanathan created a petition for Greater Journalistic Integrity in Reporting on Hinduism @ NPR, https://www.change.org/p/national-public-radio-journalistic-integrity-in-reporting-on-hinduism-npr. She garnered over 10,000 signatures. She succeeded in contacting Nancy Barnes, the Senior Vice President of News at NPR. Ms. Barnes said that she and her team will look closely at the petition, the demands, and all of the data that we sent their way, in addition to reviewing [Furkan] Khan's and Lauren Frayer's articles. However, NPR never got back in touch with Dr. Viswanathan. NPR owes the Hindu community a reply and continued dialogue.
Sincerely,
by Robert D. Kaplan through updates from the