Mohammed Shami controversy: When accountability and responsibility go missing

On careful scrutiny it was discovered that much of this vilification emanated from across the border in Pakistan; an orchestrated attempt to sow dissension in our country.

- VIVEK GUMASTE

The media is a powerful determinant in a democracy; the standard-bearer of truth and honesty and the ever-vigilant watchdog that oversees free expression. But with this daunting power comes a weighty responsibility: the need to ascertain facts before they are published and the need to meticulously analyse the ramifications before passing pointed judgments. Nothing can be more disastrous for a nation than when its media abuses its power and authority completely oblivious of moral principles.

Certain sections, still smarting from the overwhelming victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, appear to be on a mission of punishing the Indian people (or anything that symbolizes India, including the Indian cricket team) for democratically exercising their rights much against the diktat of an entrenched liberal elite. To this end, every untoward event is given a religious hue, blown out of proportion and broadcast to the world to project India as a boiling cauldron of religious hate. The Mohammed Shami controversy is the latest in this litany of warped narrations.