An odd thing had happened while watching the Republic Day parade on Doordarshan. The solemnities which preface the colourful pageant were proceeding at their stately pace and one of the four top people at the celebrations — India’s PM, vice-president, president and Russian President Putin — had just joined the very important people on the lawns of India Gate. The English commentator of the moment drew our attention to the many dignitaries present: “... there’s Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi’’ was the one that came to him immediately. He could not go on to distinguish anyone else with a name. Does that mean the Bengali babu is a first among equals? Or is it just Doordarshan?

Now let’s hear it for a big, bored yawn: What else is old? Experience — and a very bad experience it is too — suggests that I&B ministers have always received preferential treatment on Doordarshan. In keeping with this tradition, next to Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, Dasmunshi is the most frequent face on DD. Worse still, he’s the official spokesperson for Prasar Bharati — you know, our public service broadcaster that has been autonomous since Jaipal Reddy ‘liberated’ it from government control in 1997 but kept it firmly tied to its purse strings? Well, the I&B minister continues to treat Prasar Bharati, DD (and no doubt AIR) as his personal fiefdoms.

Throughout the recent dispute with Nimbus (Neo Sports) over DD’s right to telecast cricket played in India (for which Neo paid a regal royalty), it is the minister who has argued the case for Prasar Bharati. As he had done, on occasion, for the Censor Board — remember he previewed Da Vinci Code and declared the film would carry a disclaimer at the start? Wonder why he doesn’t simply dispense with the Censor Board and Prasar Bharati and arrogate their responsibilities to himself? That way we will get to see him and hear from him even more often on TV.

... contd.