Uddhav and his dark secrets: TOP DRAWER
Some developments that have taken place in Maharashtra in recent times are a matter of serious concern. Cases against the Republic TV and film star Kangana Ranaut just go on to exemplify how intolerant a ruler can be and how the ruler can influence the system to fix his critics.
Every journalist worth his salt, even if not associated with the television industry, knows it pretty well that the TRP is a game of numbers that is brazenly doctored. In fact, the game of TRP is not the only culprit in manipulating the numbers. Take for example the opinion polls. The outcomes are fixed based on whom a publication or a channel wants to show as being ahead. The results of an opinion poll are invariably in the direct proportion to the money coughed up by a political party.
The system to ascertain newspaper circulations are also heavily flawed. The worst is the system to determine readership. I have often wondered how the readership numbers are arrived at. Supposing a family of four buys a newspaper. It is possible that just one member of the family actually reads it one day and on some other day two, maybe the entire family reads it. But how does the agency responsible for it knows who is reading the newspaper behind those closed doors and arrive at the figures?
Are not the number of hits to a website also manipulated? Fine, there is a system to monitor how many people log in to a website and for how long. But does Google or any agency not know that I could have logged in to a website but not read anything at all? The entire process of search engine optimization (SEO) is questionable. There are agencies galore who for a price ensure that your website gets rated among the top 10 when results come on your screen.
Not long ago, famous rapper Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia, popularly known as Badshah, was in news for being accused for paying Rs. 72 lakh to buy fake views to one of his latest songs on YouTube. Creating a fake e-mail or social media account is so very easy. Even top leaders like Narendra Modi and Donald Trump have been accused of having millions of fake followers just to establish their popularity amongst netizens.
The list is endless. Wherever there are numbers, they are bound to be manipulated, particularly if the numbers can spell success and attract money. I often wonder how blind an advertiser or the advertising agencies they hire can be. Do they blindly go by the TRP ratings? Definitely not. They go by the viewers they are targeting. For example, a producer of chewing tobacco, even with a pseudo advertisement (since tobacco products are not supposed to be advertised), won’t release their ads on a top-rated English news or movie channel. They determine where their potential consumers are and then take a considered decision. Likewise, a luxury car maker won’t be advertising his vehicles on a top-rated Hindi or regional channels and opt for English channels despite their low TRP ratings since they know which channels their potential buyers might be watching.
My point is, if the entire system is mired with fake numbers and manipulations, why single out just the Republic TV and some other channels? The answer is that the channel in question has dared to repeatedly ruffle feathers of the powers that be in Maharashtra. The case filed by the Mumbai Police is definitely not aimed at exposing and fixing corrupt practices adopted to determining the TRP system, but just to use to fix Arnav Goswami.
The same is the reason behind the case filed against Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli for allegedly spreading communal hatred. Who does not know that the two sisters are in a race over who has a louder mouth? Not long ago, Twitter had suspended Rangoli’s account.
Whether Goswami or Ranaut sisters, they are at the receiving end for daring to question and criticise one Uddhav Thackeray, who appears dead drunk on power. He is in the chief minister’s chair immorally if not illegally. With just 56 MLAs in the house of 288, he dared to dream of becoming the chief minister and got the support of opportunistic powers who despite being rejected by the voters wanted to enjoy fruits of power.
The actual problem with Uddhav Thackeray is that he probably does not know that respect cannot be commanded. Yes, his late father Bal Keshav Thackeray (I guess I will be prosecuted for not calling him Balasaheb!) too was intolerant, but he deserved the respect rather than commanding it. A chip off the old block, definitely yes, but Uddhav Thackeray is under tremendous mental pressure. Some pressures coming from allies are known. But there seem to be so many unknown and unseen pressures that are fogging his brain.
Uddhav is not the only intolerant politician. His Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee was far ahead of him until not long back. She apparently had mellowed down of late though just a bit in view of public criticism of arrests and police cases against anyone critical of her. Name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also included in the list of intolerant politicians, but at least his critics are not being silenced the manner Uddhav is going about.
It is high time for Uddhav Thackeray to understand that his actions against his critics are exposing him and making him unpopular. He should leave it to the judgement of the public to decide if Goswamis and Ranauts are speaking the truth or spreading lies. It’s not that whatever they say are taken by the public as the gospel’s truth. Definitely, they have not questioned Uddhav Thackeray yet on how he earned that Rs. 143 crore that he professed through his affidavit before the Election Commission by actually doing nothing in life before becoming the chief minister!
Trying to silence his critics with police and court cases, demolitions etc. are not doing any good to Uddhav Thackeray’s image and his political future, unless he is afraid that they know and will spill out some darker secrets about him and his family, if they are not silenced and fixed right now.