Coming from a politics loving family, I was introduced to ‘news channels’ at a pretty young age. As I grew up, I started following the prime time shows religiously, second only to cricket. But after the rise of the right-wing party in India, the polarisation of Indian news  seem to be on the rise.

The first news channel that comes to my mind when I think of right-wing polarisation is none other than Zee news and the face of Zee News, Mr Sudhir Chaudhary. It has been only a few days since Mahua Moitra’s fiery speech earned her accolades from across the country. For those who are living under a rock, Mohua Moitra is a former investment banker with JP Morgan, Ms Moitra quit her well-paying job in London in 2009 to return to Indian politics. She is currently a TMC MP from Karimpur,West Bengal. If any of that still doesn’t make sense, she is the lady showed the finger to the great Arnab Goswami way back in 2015.

“Aap jante hai DNA mein research par sabse zyada zor diya ja sakta…diya jaata hai.” said Sudhir Chaudhary during  his flagship show, Daily News and Analysis(DNA). He claims that the speech has been ‘stolen’ from Martin Longman’s article.

There was of course a clarification from Mahua Moitra, but let me show you an example of the ‘research’ that Mr Chaudhary does. When the 2000 rupees note was about to be launched after demonetization, Chaudhary claimed that they will be fitted with nano gps chips.

In a country where matters such as data privacy are given little importance, Moitra was the one who stopped the Modi Government from monitoring online activities. She filed a petition against UIDAI’s attempts to gauge popular sentiment on Aadhaar by monitoring social media accounts.The Center withdrew its notification. But what would have happened if the Govt was allowed to go on with it’s plan in a incognito mode. Following is an extract from an article posted in Amnesty International

1. I am not doing anything wrong, so why should I care?

Would you care if the government installed voice recorders and cameras in your home, recorded every conversation you have with a friend over a coffee, or followed you wherever you go? Those actions are the physical-world equivalent of online mass surveillance.

Isn’t the better question: I’m not doing anything wrong, so why should they care? If our privacy is taken away without a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, then the assumption is that everyone is potentially guilty until proven innocent.

In the wrong hands, private data can be used to target journalists, persecute activists, and crack down on free speech. Oppressive governments will use surveillance to control opposition. If you don’t think this can happen where you live, remember that all it takes is a change of government.

Her second was against the Union home ministry’s notification that empowered ten government bodies to pre-emptively intercept, monitor or decrypt any computer to prevent any  offence. Her third petition sought an interim stay on the Union government’s efforts to snoop into computers being used in West Bengal.

So, I believe that instead of trying to hush her off (I bet you can’t), take a moment to applaud her maiden speech. It was a breath of fresh air after witnessing the politicians shouting religious slogans during oath-taking in Lok Sabha. What was more pleasing was the confidence with which she delivered the speech. After hearing opposition leaders, trying to ‘own’ the Govt for 5 long years, I finally found someone who totally owned the Govt. So try to come out of the cocoon that you are in and praise the lady who isn’t afraid to mince her words, come what may.