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TV news changes its tone on Ram Mandir—reverence & respect to no-holds-barred questioning

Anything associated with the Ram Mandir is usually sacrosanct. TV news channels usually report on it with respect or at least tread carefully around it. That changed last week.

Television news channels are angry. Very angry.

First, they were outraged by the alleged ‘loot’ of donations made by the public to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Next, they were enraged by the fire in Aliganj, Lucknow, in which 15 people died. This comes just a few weeks after the news media questioned Delhi’s building and norms following the fire in a Malviya Nagar B&B which killed 21 people.

“This is no accident, this is murder, murder by negligence,” said CNN News 18 about the Lucknow fire.

It is easy to criticise the civic authorities when such tragedies occur. It is quite another to attack the custodians of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Anything associated with the Ram Mandir is usually sacrosanct. Besides its spiritual significance for crores of Hindus, it is the cornerstone of BJP’s Hindutva politics. TV news channels usually report on it with respect or at least tread carefully around it.

But here they are questioning the running of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and its finances, no holds barred.

News anchors like India TV’s Rajat Sharma called the alleged embezzlement of funds from Ram Mandir a ‘maha paap (giant sin)’.

Channels such as India Today, NDTV 24×7 and CNN News 18 saw it as a breach of public “trust” and of “faith betrayed” by the Trust, which handles the temple’s........

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