By: Balbir Punj

We lost a well known media personality VINOD DUA yesterday. I had known him for over three decades and his untimely demise has left me sad. He was full of life and a karam yogi.

However, his ‘ journalism ‘ was obviously shaped by the ideology he believed in. In last years of his life, he sounded more like an urban naxal, not as a journalist in pursuit of truth.

Over the years, VINOD’s heavily biased views overshadowed his journalism. He ignored inconvenient facts, or twisted them to suit his narrative. No wonder, in such a scenario, truth was the first casualty. But he couldn’t care less.

Can we call him a journalist? I am afraid not. He was essentially a political campaigner, wedded to his worldview. For him, MODI & RSS couldn’t do anything right, and communists / Jihadis / evangelists did nothing wrong.

For many VINOD was ‘ fearless’. He wasn’t. He was a part of the establishment.

In post-independence India, the ‘Left’ is the establishment. The media and academia are still dominated by this self-hating creed. They have the power to set a national narrative.

Here is an illustration. Commies, along with British and Jihadis, were responsible for the creation of an Islamic Pakistan. For this ‘ Establishment’, Commies are not only super secular , they are the ones ‘authorised’ , to issue certificates of being secular/ Communal to individuals and organisations.

Look at the irony: those who created ‘ Pakistan’ are ‘secular’ and the ones seeking a Ram temple in Ayodhya are ‘ Communal ‘.

VINOD was a part and beneficiary of this establishment for long. He usually toed the establishment line – may be out of conviction or for some other considerations – I am not sure.

However, as a person, VINOD was a good, vibrant and entertaining company. He had a sense of humor, and a capacity to laugh at himself. I will surely miss him and mourn his untimely departure from this world.