The 'reel' real story

"For me you are the veena

Caressing finger me for you”

-          Bharathiyar

“Ganesh Kumar is an excellent actor, but the Oscar should go to Oomen Chandy for his acting in this whole episode”

-          Kodiyeri Balakrishnan from CPI[M]

Perfect Match

Second of April dawned with a surprise news. Minister for Forests K.B.Ganesh Kumar became the first minister to resign from the Oomen Chandy government. As a good Congressman, Oomen Chandy tried to delay the inevitable but could not delay too long. The resignation was on the cards, as the chance for reconciliation between Ganesh Kumar and Yamini seemed out of bounds. Both of them leveled charges of physical assault in public and it became a treat for the media. Photos of Ganesh Kumar with bruises were aired; opinions sought from different quarters, the media frenzy came to a temporary halt with his resignation.

Now two questions arise naturally. Is it mandatory a Minister or a Government servant resign on personal issues/allegations? To what extent media can give prominence for such stories?

The first question is tricky as we have not yet come to terms with absolute freedom that is proposed and followed (to a certain extent) in the West.  But we can state that if a Government Servant’s personal allegiances affect his daily activities and amounts for a larger impact on the society, then it is no more personal. It is for the media/public to scrutinize that. For example, Nehru’s relation with Edwina affected the independent India as much as his leadership hence it is nothing wrong debating that.

In this episode, nobody including the strong critics of Ganesh Kumar could charge him any wrong in ministerial affairs. He is one of the performing ministers in Kerala Government more than anything he was able to make the changes happen. Renovation of government theatres and excellent hosting of IFFK was one such example of excellent work by Ganesh Kumar and his team.

Media has become a punch bag of late for all thanks to its sensationalism. But the prominence given depends on the general public’s interest and most importantly on the competitors. Both these factors go hand in hand. Comparatively Indian English News Channels could themselves appropriately in a situation like this. We have some lessons to be learnt from how English Media handled the Abhishek Manu Singhvi video in compromising position with a fellow lawyer.

This is another episode to analyze the psychology of Indian Public like the Abhishek Manu Singhvi episode. All said and done, if Yamini withdraw her complaint today Ganesh Kumar will be reinstated within hours.

Hence Kodiyeri’s comment quoted above is very much valid but he missed include the public as well; we too acted our part very well.