29/06/2015

Pappu Yadav, now a new darling of media

Soroor Ahmed

After Nitish Kumar, and for a brief period Jitan Ram Manjhi, it seems that the Madhepura MP, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, is emerging as a darling of the media, especially the electronic channels.
As television journalism, in particular, thrives on actions and theatrics leaders like Pappu Yadav can easily fill the space.
Giving due coverage is all right, but giving it more than what a person deserves raises serious suspicion and even questions the integrity of the media. Even if the media need a person with Yadav surname to cut Lalu Prasad or Nitish Kumar to size there are many others who can do the job. Be it Nand Kishore Yadav, Ram Kripal Yadav, Ranjan Yadav etc––if not Hukum Deo Narayan Yadav or Om Prakash Yadav––they are no doubt leaders of much bigger stature than Pappu. But they lack the CV that Pappu––or for that matter Sadhu and Daddan Yadav Pahalwan––possesses.
It is strange that the media quotes Pappu and Sadhu to counter the family rule of Lalu Prasad when they are the product of the same phenomenon. 
Pappu’s case is all too unique. He and his wife got elected to Parliament on two different parties.
The problem with Pappu is just not that he had a controversial past, but he continues to relish in repeating the same deeds. His diktats against doctors was not received well though it is also true that most of them lack humanitarian qualities and go only for money.
Similarly what he did in a Patna-New Delhi flight recently can not be defended, yet he had the audacity to say that all this was the handiwork of Lalu Prasad, who want to get him killed.
The tragedy is that the media highlighted his version dutifully. 
It would be wrong to say that Pappu is a much powerful state level leader. He never was and never can be as he has serious limitations––that is his image.
Yes, he still has a good hold in Kosi belt and can harm the prospect of JD(U)-RJD combine in a few Assembly constituencies in the coming election.
Pappu has a tendency to be soft towards powers that be in the Centre. He tilted towards the Vajpayee government and is once again showing his inclination towards the NDA––he met prime minister Narendra Modi a few months back, while still in the RJD.
He was never reminded of the family rule when Lalu Prasad made him his party’s candidate in 2004 after the RJD supremo vacated the Madhepura and retained Saran seat.
Now that he is out of jail after a long legal battle he is successfully ‘managing’ the media, which, it seems, have lost moral obligation. 
Pappu is not the only person to win election on his own and not the party. The present Siwan MP, Om Prakash Yadav, won the 2009 Lok Sabha election defeating not only Hena Shahab, the wife of don Mohammad Shahabuddin but also the BJP-JD(U) candidate, Brishen Patel, the then minister in the Nitish cabinet. This was so notwithstanding the fact that the NDA won 32 out of 40 seats in that election.
Om Prakash Yadav won notwithstanding the fact that there was strong Muslim and less Yadav presence in Siwan in comparison to Pappu’s Madhepura. This time the BJP gave him the ticket. 
Yet Pappu’s achievement is highlighted more in the media than anyone else’s.
But the mediapersons have their own compulsions. The BJP has failed to raise the genuine issues plaguing the state. Or if it is really raising it, it is lacking the moral courage to take them up strongly.
For example, paddy scam is the biggest such case of corruption in the recent years. Though it involves thousands of crore yet the saffron party never demanded a CBI probe even when the fact is that the BJP is in power in the Centre. This is obviously because the origin of this cam can be traced when the BJP too was in power and many of the mill-owners involved in it were alleged to be close to this party.
The BJP remained silent on all the misdeeds of Anant Singh, and even after his arrest, because of obvious political reasons.
The BJP leaders are not taking to streets or launching any concerted agitation against the state government’s alleged misdeeds. The party leaders are just issuing statements and holding Press conferences and waiting for Narendra Modi to ensure victory.
Pappu is at least doing that. Be it rushing to Barh or Jehanabad or braving the rain during the Raj Bhawan march on Saturday, he is making news.



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