Ambedkarites see caste prejudice in two Marathi dailies’ coverage of Chaitya Bhoomi event

There is no doubt that the state of Dalit representation in mainstream Indian media is abysmal. This shortcoming is visible when the media reports on issues pertaining to Dalits and sometimes in the prejudice at display while reporting on them — a recent example of which are reports published in Maharashtra Times and Loksatta.

Every year, on December 6, lakhs of people from across the country gather at Chaitya Bhoomi, Dadar, Mumbai, to pay their respects to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. This year, too, his followers gathered to mark his 61st Mahaparinirvan Divas (death anniversary). Chaitya Bhoomi is where Babasaheb was cremated, so the place has a special significance for his followers.

Malicious headlines and captions by Marathi papers

On December 8, Maharashtra Times published a photo of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers cleaning the Shivaji Park area with a caption that said 70 metric tonnes of filth was cleaned by workers after the event at Chaitya Bhoomi on December 6, rendering the area squeaky clean.

Now, 70 metric tonnes is 70,000 kg. This is a huge quantity of trash to have accumulated at a single place — and appears to be an exaggerated figure, if not an out and out attempt to malign those gathered to mark Babasaheb’s death anniversary.

Irked by this photo caption, which essentially suggests that Ambedkarites come to Mumbai only to litter in large hordes, a group of youth went to the office of Maharashtra Times and questioned it. The newspaper staff was unable to explain how they got the “70 tonne of trash” figure, especially when scores of volunteers had themselves collected trash in the area to keep it clean. The editorial team of the daily agreed that the report and the number could probably be an exaggeration.

Resident Editor Shrikant Bojewar issued a hand-written clarification and assured that the newspaper will question the BMC from whom they received a press note on workers cleaning 70 tonnes of trash. He also said the newspaper will issue an apology.

However, instead of an apology, Maharashtra Times issued an ‘explanation’ the next day, on December 8, stating that the “70 tonne trash” figure was “taken from BMC figures and those figures have angered Ambedkar followers”.

Vikas Rode, a young PhD student, was among the crowd present at Chaitya Bhoomi. In fact, he had conducted a Facebook Live from there to telecast the goings-on.

“I was in and around Chaitya Bhoomi but nobody including the representatives of these newspapers came when thousands were stranded in rain, especially on December 5 — but now we see this malicious report. It’s extremely biased and shocking,” he said.

Chaitya Bhoomi is located right in the upscale, posh area near Shivaji Park, along the seashore. Every year, followers start arriving here around December 5 and stay on until the 7th. BMC is tasked with providing shelter and mobile toilets to visitors. They get an annual budget for this as well. Many local volunteers and organisations put pandals here and provide food and other help to visitors.

This year was a little different.

The Ockhi cyclone had caused heavy rains on December 4 and 5. Education Minister Vinod Tawde declared that schools will remain shut on December 5 but neither him nor Chief Minister Fadnavis, or BMC officials, issued a statement for those visiting Chaitya Bhoomi. Many people coming from outside the state had no idea about the weather conditions in Mumbai. Untimely rains complicated the matter and hundreds of visitors were stranded at BMC pandals. It was expected of local newspapers to have at least some reporters covering the scene at Chaitya Bhoomi and Shivaji Park in the wake of Ockhi. But that was not to be. After some frantic late night calls by volunteers, nearby municipal schools were opened up by BMC for shelter on the night of December 5.

Maharashtra Times not only missed reporting on all sides of the story, which should have included the problems visitors had to face owing to lack of preparation by BMC, but also published staggering figures provided by BMC on so-called trash created by Ambedkarites, without questioning the municipal corporation. If Maharashtra Times would have spoken to visitors, along with quotes from BMC officials, it would have at least presented a balanced view.

If that was not enough, Loksatta went a step ahead the next day on December 9. Along with the “70-tonne-trash” angle, it reported that people coming to Chaitya Bhoomi misused municipal schools given to them and spat on the walls. As proof, it used a representational picture!

Loksatta uses representative picture to show damage done to school.

Vikas says, “Report of Ambedkarites visiting Chaitya Bhoomi throwing liquor bottles are wrong. In fact my Facebook Live done on December 5 was published by Zee News, which showed it was BMC contract workers who were enjoying liquor in open, not the Chaitya Bhoomi visitors.”

The other side of the story

While the two leading dailies failed, other digital media stepped in.

It was BBC Marathi, a newly launched edition by BBC, which conducted a Facebook Live on December 5 to highlight the plight of Chaitya Bhoomi visitors in the wake of rains.

Only BBC Marathi covered the pathetic condition in nearby areas and the lack of basic facilities given to people gathered from far off places.

Zee Marathi, too, covered a volunteer group of 750 boys and girls who cleaned the area for two days.

Volunteers cleaning the Chaitya Bhoomi area on Zee 24 Taas.

Dr Revant Kaninde, a medical officer at JJ Hospital, who volunteers at Chaitya Bhoomi every year, says, “Not a single ambulance or first aid was present in the midst of heavy rain. The only ambulance working that day was from JJ hospital and students of Dr Ambedkar medicos association were helping the needy. Many kids and women who came from far were drenched in water. One of the BMC’s pandal fell injuring seven people.”

Dr Kaninde, Dr Aakash Waghmare and his entire team distributed not just free medical help, but also sanitary napkins. His effort was covered by DD Sahyadri, TV9 and the lesser known Janshakti newspaper.

(Left) Dr Revat Kaninde (extreme left) and others providing medical help. (Right) Free sanitary pads being distributed among rural women. (Image courtesy Facebook page of Dr Kaninde)

These examples of responsible citizenry were evidently not newsworthy enough for Maharashtra Times and Loksatta. But, of course, exaggerated figures on garbage accumulation found prominent space. These newspapers routinely cover the Ganesh festival or Kumbh Mela event. It is anyone’s guess if they would feature news stories solely on the garbage accumulated during these events.

The mystery ‘70 tonne’ figure

On December 7, Mirror Now reported that 80 tonnes of trash was dumped onto Mumbai’s beaches that were washed ashore owing to Cyclone Ockhi. The 70 tonne figure that came from BMC and was diligently reported by Loksatta and Maharashtra Times could very well have been owing to the cyclone and not visitors at the Chaitya Bhoomi.

Nehali Upsham, a young legal and audit professional, whose Anusaya Art group volunteered at Chaitya Bhoomi, says, “The newspaper reports do not mention Mandangad mitra mandal who had sent 750 young boys and girls for 48 hours collecting garbage. Visitors are unnecessarily being connected to the sea garbage that may have come ashore owing to high tide and Ockhi storm across Mumbai.”

Vaibhav Chhaya, who was part of the Chaitya Bhoomi story on DD Sahyadri and is an independent journalist, questions the utter disgust editors possess towards Ambedkarites for completely relying on a BMC press note. He says he reached out to the Loksatta office, but has so far got no response.

Much has been spoken about the lack of diversity in the largely upper-caste dominated editorial teams of newspapers. Such incidents highlight how deep-rooted the problem is.