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From: dsouza@waltz
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Rajiv and the Media
Message-ID: <40800012@waltz>
Date: Mon, 28-Oct-85 15:43:00 EST
Article-I.D.: waltz.40800012
Posted: Mon Oct 28 15:43:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Nov-85 08:06:18 EST
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Nf-ID: #N:waltz:40800012:000:1847
Nf-From: waltz!dsouza    Oct 28 14:43:00 1985


The Washington Post annually publishes a list of "ins" and "outs" for
the year. For 1985, India was in and China was out. Suddenly, it had 
become fashionable to talk about India, be aware -- even feebly -- of
India, and to have seen "Gandhi", "A Passage to India" and "Jewel in
The Crown" (yuck).

I think after all this and after the spate of stories (gruesome and
otherwise) from India in 1984, it has become fashionable in the media 
to do stories on India. Particularly since the year ended with the 
election of a young leader with a photogenic wife and family. Shades
of the torch being passed to a new generation of Indians? I don't think
the analogy is at all far fetched.

Mrs Gandhi was certainly perceived as a visionary world leader (with no
basis in fact, but we'll let that pass). But she had been around for ages
and had less and less newsworthiness as far as the Western media was
concerned. Except, of course, when she died. Rajiv, on the other hand,
is doing his best to represent youth and dynamism; his hi-tech leanings
seem to indicate possibilities of Western leanings...why shouldn't he get
a lot of attention from the media? He is having a very easy time of it,
though. Closer attention to what he does and says will show that
he is not so very different from his mother -- the same pro-Soviet, anti-US
pronouncements, the same evasiveness when faced by tough questions (did
you see him on Nightline or Meet the Press some months ago?), and the 
same intolerance of opposition criticism (witness the banning of the CFD
report on Punjab and the arrest of its authors). I think his honeymoon
with the press should (and will) end soon and then we will begin to see
tougher reports about him and less of these "Oh he's such a great guy" kind
of articles. And it will be about time, 

Dilip D'Souza.

TI/Austin.
dsouza@ti-csl.