The Asian Age

KEEPING THE MEDIA AT BAY

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AS MADHYA Pradesh is slowly coming to terms with the June 6 Mandsaur tragedy, in which six farmers were killed in police firing, the “mystery” behind the unusual move by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to insulate himself from media for around 48 hours after the shocking incident has begun to unfold. The power corridors in the state capital of Bhopal are currently abuzz with whispering­s as to how Mr Chouhan, otherwise known as a media-savvy politician, chose to keep himself at a safe distance from media following an “unpleasant” mock trial he had conducted soon after the incident to prepare himself to field questions from scribes. If talks going on in the CM’s office are to be believed, Mr Chouhan had arranged a mock media conference soon after the incident asking his close aides to shoot him questions; those possibly crop up during his address to journalist­s. He had decided it would be unwise on his part to face the media at that juncture after he encountere­d the very first question on the occasion and shelved his plan, forthwith, to address journalist­s.

The question put at the mock media conference was, “Will you own responsibi­lity for the death of six farmers?” He had shied away from the media for the next two days and had a formal chat with them on June 8 after announcing a slew of measures to douse the anger brewing among the farmers in the wake of the police firing incident. Incidental­ly, much to his relief, he did not face the “uncomforta­ble” question at his first formal briefing after the incident. The trial by fire (preparing him for apparent tough media scrutiny) was too rigorous! Insiders in the chief minister’s camp are still wondering.

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