#GoHomeIndianMedia http://t.co/QowmPSqfDB @DrunkVinodMehta @kishorenepal @gunaraj @KanakManiDixit @PriyankaKarky @ibnlive @dhume
— Paramendra Bhagat (@paramendra) May 3, 2015#GoHomeIndianMedia http://t.co/QowmPSqfDB @thekiranbedi @UjjwalAcharya
— Paramendra Bhagat (@paramendra) May 3, 2015
#DoNotComeBackIndianMedia
Apparently these two hashtags started trending on Twitter. The Indian media apparently was disliked in both Nepal and India.
I do not know what exactly is being talked about. What particular coverage, what article. I have yet to come across any article in the Indian newspapers I would disapprove of. So the reference must be to TV. What footage? I have not seen anyone elaborate.
Two snippets I caught. (1) A TV journalist stands next to a survivor and asks, "How are you feeling?" (2) An Indian journalist confronts a Nepali policeman at the Pokhara airport saying, "Who are you to stop me?"
India has bee the first and the largest donor. Modi was the first to respond. The Indian government has been doing exemplary work. The Indian corporate houses have been stepping in. State governments have been stepping in. Bollywood stars have stepped in. Ordinary Indians across the country have been generously donating.
Media coverage is what makes all this possible. And TV is the most powerful medium. The help that comes from the Indian government is paid for by the Indian taxpayers. The Indian taxpayers have a right to know where their money is going. And the media helps communicate.
My worry has been some idiot will blow up some cafe somewhere and the global media will rapidly lose attention in Nepal and the donations will slow down. Happened in Haiti. The world was very interested for a few days, and, as always happens, the media got fascinated by something else.
So don't be ungrateful. Thank the Indian media that they keep covering Nepal. You should pray they don't stop. Because relief work has not even begun. Reconstruction is far away.
That Pokhara airport incident: I have a feeling the police officer might have talked to the Indian journalist the way he might have talked to a Madhesi before. India is a vibrant democracy. The media there takes pride in challenging authority. Also, the state might have been trying to prevent Indian journalists from getting to parts where relief work has not reached yet. That cover up is not something a media person would be interested in. But then I don't know the particular details.
This knee-jerk xenophobia is by people whose houses are still standing and who subscribe to the Bamdev brand of "nationalism" where as long as you can badmouth India, you can be corrupt, you can be in bed with the mafia, and nobody cares.
An appropriate hashtag to trend in Nepal would be #ThankYouModi -- another would be #NepalthanksModi --- European countries thanked him for Yemen. It is not beneath Nepal to thank Modi, currently the most popular politician in the world.
After his second Nepal visit Modi said, "ट्रस्ट डेफिसिट जितना कम होगा, काम उतना जल्दी जल्दी होगा।" The guy feels it. After all, look at where he rose from. He was selling tea as a young boy. He was trying to do so much for Nepal, and people like Bame kept getting in his way. He is the busiest person on the planet. He doesn't have time to handhold you while you are busy nursing your xenophobia.
बुद्ध ले मोक्ष प्राप्ति गरेको गया मा --- गया पर्छ बिहारमा ---- बिहार पर्छ भारतमा ---- बुद्ध भारतको होइन भनेर कस्ले भन्न सक्छ? बुद्ध जन्मेको बेला नेपाल भन्ने देश थिएन। बुद्ध काठमाण्डुमा जन्मेको होइन। त्यति बेलाको नेपाल भनेको काठमाण्डु होइन? बुद्ध मधेसी। बुद्ध लाई आफ्नो भन्न चाहने ले मधेसी समावेशी राज्य (state) को निर्माण मा खुट्टा घिसारन सुहाउँछ? तिब्बती शरणार्थी लाई बुटले कुलचनेले बुद्ध लाई आफ्नो नभन्ने।
काशी लाई नेपाली ले सधैं आफ्नै भनेको छ --- पशुपति लाई भारत ले आफ्नो भन्यो, के बिगार गर्यो?
एक एक हप्ता सम्म तामांग को बस्तीमा आफुले राहत पनि नपुर्याउने अर्काले पुर्याउन खोजे रोकने हरुको hashtag हो यो Indian Go Home भन्ने hastag.
