Chairing a symposium on the Role of Constructive Journalism in Communal Harmony, Dr Sayeda Hameed, former Member of Planning Commission, recalled, “In 2004 in a meeting of Planning Commission after the Gujarat riots my conscience forced me to ask Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, as to who was accountable for 2002 Gujarat riots. I was at that point of time totally surprised to find my colleagues in the Planning Commission were completely silent and it is because of that silence we are facing the problem now.” The symposium was organised by mazameen.com, in collaboration with Department of Urdu, JMI in the capital on 6 November.
Speaking particularly on the constructive role of Urdu media, Prof. Akhtarul Wasey, Vice Chancellor of Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur said that constructive journalism was long ago started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (Tahzeebul Akhlaq), Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (Al Hilal and Al Balagh), Hashrat Mohani and many more. Even during those days there were galaxies of people promoting constructive journalism. They played an instrumental role not only in the freedom struggle but also worked upon communal harmony and social development.
In the present context, Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD said that because of their role, Rana Ayyub (formerly with Tehelka), Rajdeep Sardesai (Headlines Today), Ravish Kumar (NDTV), Raj Kamal Jha (The Indian Express) and Manisha Bhalla (Outlook) are the modern faces of constructive journalism.
Highlighting communalism and communalism in Media, Anil Chamadia of Media Studies Group said that our journalists are importing the communalism of abroad and playing with the words with prejudiced mind in order to manifest hate and anger. According to him, democracy can only be saved by preserving and promoting secularism and so far there is secularism there will be no threat to democracy.
The Editor of Milli Gazette, Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, informed the audience about the insensitivity of the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the Gujarat riots. In reply to a question, do you have any regret for what happened during Gujarat riots, he said that he regrets that he could not manage the media? On the corporatisation of media he said that long ago media giant Rupert Murdoch had said that for him a channel or a newspaper is just like a product to earn profit and the present thinking here in India is no different from that.
After the release of Urdu version of Gujarat Files, Rana Ayyub, a renowned investigative journalist, while criticising the role of Muslims, asked the community to become more proactive for their rights and not to live like a dead community. Shehpar Rasool (Head of Dept. of Urdu), Manisha Bhalla of Outlook, Saba Naqvi (senior journalist) and Syed Faisal of Sahara also addressed the gathering. The programme was conducted by Dr. Khalid Mubasshir.