10 years....means a lot !!
most flattering part is the 'dateline' !! and the name of website .....
Washington (DC), March 28 : Nirendra Narayan Dev is a well-known name in the world of political journalism in India.
Reporting by Washington Bangla Radio (an English website) "His books Ayodhya - Battle for Peace, The Talking Guns North East India, and Godhra - A Journey to Mayhem, have been critically acclaimed in observers and commentators on the political scenario of India. He is not only a writer, he is also associated with and a special correspondent of one of India’s and the World's most revered news dailies - The Statesman. Nirendra spared a few minutes to talk to Bidisha on WBRi about the political scene in India, about journalism, plagiarism and his current and future projects.
Nirendra was born and brought up in the state of Nagaland in North East India and his career in journalism started from there, from 1991. He was always addicted to writing and considers it to be his passion. As we mentioned above, Nirendra has written three books, with his latest work Ayodhya: Battle for Peace partly drawing on his experience on the ground when he was physically present in Ayodhya during the court proceedings and announcement of the verdict.
Sharing his views on the current patterns in Indian journalism, Nirendra says Indian journalism has changed a lot. Earlier there was more emphasis on serious news items. Nowadays it’s more of concentrating on one particular popular item, mostly based around the metros and not reaching to the interiors of the country. Earlier, a journalist had the responsibility of covering one particular sector, now he is required to write different stories from unrelated fields, often resulting in absence of required diligence in gathering facts. Newspapers now are more wanting of advertisement and big money flowing in from different sources and that certainly affects the quality of the news.
About plagiarism, with respect to India, Nirendra indicates plagiarism is there and it is mainly because the media has opened up to everyone through the internet. Journalists are expected to cover a lot more stories nowadays in comparison to earlier years and it often happens that they are not fully aware of that topic. Quite naturally there is a tendency to take help from other sources and complete the assignment in often limited and insufficient time.
Nirendra's book Godhra: A Journey to Mayhem (2004) is based on the post riot situation in Godhra. The Talking Guns -North East India (2008) covers all the seven North eastern states of India, and the subject of Ayodhya - Battle for Peace (2010) is, of course, the Ayodhya dispute, court verdict and impact on society.
In a recent article titled Expatriates from South Asia spread fanaticism in the region, Nirendra discusses how immigrants from South Asian nations settled in the west also play a major role with regard to curbing the growth of communalism in the region. The future of fundamentalism cannot be very good for the sectarian forces, either in India or even in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It would bury its ugly head soon and the return of Sheikh Hasina and a liberal progressive government in the political scene of Bangladesh is an example towards that.
Nirendra's future work is likely to be a book on Indian women as portrayed by respected and renowned Bengali writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Since the political scene in India is also brimming with news of corruption etc, there is likely to be a book on that as well.
source: Washington Bangla Radio
it was also reported in sinlung.com
'Ayodhya: Battle for Peace' ----- Book Review in 'Power Politics'
A Gripping Tale
Coming amid high voltage drama in national polity over scams and alleged Hindu terror under RSS, the book at hand cautions the ruling Congress about going overboard on 'Hindu terror'. The Hindus in general are anguished as well as shell-shocked at the allegation that their faith, known for its tolerance, is being linked to terrorism.
They believe that the Congress party led by a Christian and that too a foreign lady is indulging in politics to defame the Hindu organisations and thus win over its lost support base among Muslims. It is important to note that journalists should know their limits. We are observers and reporters of the events and should not aspire to be players.
Nirendra Dev is no big name in journalism. But having seen from close range for the last decade, one would like to admire his passion for uncovering various facets of journalistic events. Little to dispute, he likes his job and in more ways than one wants to share his experience of covering those mega events. The September 30, 2010 was one of the great events of Indian journalism in 2010. Therefore, the author's latest offering 'Ayodhya: Battle for Peace' tries to reflect those shades of viewpoints rather acidly.
In 2004, his earlier offering 'Godhra - A Journey to Mayhem' was equally absorbing.
The new book is perhaps the first book after the Allahabad High Court judgement on the protracted dispute. That way, it has to be credited.
The book is thus timely and also gripping.
However, one does not miss certain limitations and thus in this reviewer's opinion, the book could have been written and edited better.
Yet, I must say the pages are worth turning as using a variety of genres - the individual ruling of all the three judges, media reports and essays on history and the Hindu-Muslim relationship, the author scans the various facets of the dispute.
He tries to present a panoramic view of the long-term as well as short-term challenges in sustaining a cordial relationship between the two communities.
snap
Reference to London-based author Irfan Hussain's article in a Pakistani paper that, "After centuries of first Muslim and then British rule, the Hindus are finally in charge of their destiny. For the first time in modern history, Indians feel they can play a role on the world stage" - would leave very few disagreeing.
On another plane, Dev says, ".... the Hindus should give up that prism of suspicion to look at their Muslim brothers". Again he argues that the verdict rightly opens up a new chapter for purposeful talks between the two sides.
Importantly, the book also wonders whether the UP government officials over the years connived to help the Hindu cause.
"When the documents, as desired by the court, did not reach them, the court had asked the state government to make it clear whether the documents have been destroyed, the documents could not be traceable or the documents did not exit at all. The mystery of the missing documents has not only remained unexplained but had also perhaps given a new direction to the case," it says.
To sum up, the book could be an important addition to the literature on the Indian politics and also the raging debate on Hindu-Muslim relationship mainly for originality of its analysis.
The book throws light on a possible future roadmap of polity, posing questions like - where is Congress heading or whether BJP's gamble on Nitin Gadkari has failed. The first book on post-Ayodhya verdict of Sept 30, 2010, among other things also hints at latent cold war between all powerful 10 Janpath and the PMO.
The book says, "Dr Singh's admirers are reported to have floated the theory that the 2009 mandate for UPA was in effect a mandate for him (Dr Manmohan Singh)".
On matters concerning minorities, the book says the Muslims and "the protagonists who want to champion their cause" - the secular brigade need to be told the confrontationist line against the majority Hindus in India is a futile game plan and can only boomerang on the minoroties and the secular polity in the long run.
Unlike many other works of journalists from English medium, this book makes an attempt for objective study of Muslims' mindset in the historic context of how Hindus look at Muslims.
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