Cheap publicity

It was surprising to see a slew of politicians visit the German Bakery in Pune after the blast. Chidambaram, Ashok Chavan, Ramesh Bagve, Sharad Pawar, Sushma Swaraj, Neelam Gorhe, Narayan Rane, Nitin Gadkari, Eknath Khadse, Pune’s corporators …. The list goes on why do all the leaders have to visit the site whenever such an incident occurs?

Morever, they also visit the wounded in hospitals. They entourage follows them everywhere. Do they even realize the infection they may possibly spread? Some politicians say that they visit to reassure the citizens. Reassure what? It is the citizens who are killed when there are such blasts. These are all seasoned and mature politicians. Its time they realize that their visit only adds to the pressure of the local police and inconveniences the local populace. It also firms the old precedent that unless a political bigwig visits a scene of blast the incident does not carry any importance.

These gentlemen should set a new precedent of allowing the police to take care of the situation.

There is another improvement needed in the reporting by the electronic media. All the news channels tend to sensationalize the incident as if it were an “event”. They also ensure that panic is created in the citizens. The government should heavily penalize such immature reporting. Its time a regulation is put in place regarding reporting of such incidents. They showed visuals of shirtless wounded men. Surely the channels have to be sensitized about the dignity of those wounded and killed.