HISTORY, LEGENDS & MYTHOLOGY

When the Indian media thought it best to hop,
skip and avoid news coverage
by Brigadier (Retired) Victor Longer

     New Delhi: China's 1962 invasion of India was indeed a very unhappy event not only for the civilian population, but also for the members of the defence services, some of whom even today describe it as "a sad day" for the Indian Army. The Chinese attacks on Indian positions in what was then called NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh) and a part of what is now present day Ladakh left behind many a bruised soul and a memory of wanting to remove "this black mark on our forehead." What, however, defied all logic at that point of time and even now on the 42nd anniversary of that unfortunate invasion that resulted in the loss of several thousand kilometers of precious territory, was the stark contrast in the behavior and responses between the foreign and Indian media.

    This writer, who was then the Chief Public Relations Officer of the Indian Army and was based at Tezpur, was absolutely amazed by the reaction of the local press to an event that had for all practical purposes grabbed world headlines. Even as the Army was making a concerted effort to transport the civilian populace out of areas under fire, Indian journalists, who had come from various parts of the country to cover the military operation surprisingly were in a hurry to hop on the next plane out. When I asked them about news coverage, the reply that was given was " To hell with it. In any case what do they (journalists) get for it. Who would protect their (journalists) families." The news room was all but empty, except for the foreign media, who expressed their desire to stay on, waiting in hope for the elusive yet big news -- The entry of the Chinese into NEFA. Tezpur for all practical purposes became an erie town, save for a couple of cats and a few dogs. When the conflict was on, a number of soldiers of the Fourth Division broke lines and fled helter-skelter. When I interviewed some of them later at the Corp Headquarters in Tezpur, I was surprised to discover that not one of the soldiers who had escaped from the front, had eve seen a Chinese soldier. "They did not know what a Chinese soldier looked like." When they were asked what they had run away from?, they had no answer except that everyone had said "Bhago" or "Run". That the aggression was eventually brought to end by a unilateral cease-fire by China, wanting to avoid further international condemnation, had its fall out on the Indian Army's top brass as is known to all.
-Oct 20, 2004    

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