Chandigarh, February 24

The second day of the Journalists' Literature Festival held at the Chandigarh Press Club started with a session on the evolution of narrative in Hindi journalism, transitioning from short to long formats.

Tracing the origin of Hindi journalism from the days of freedom struggle, Arun Naithani remarked that the first Hindi weekly was published from Kolkata, a non-Hindi speaking region.

During a session on 'Sports in India: Cricket vs others', seasoned journalist Vijay Lokapally was asked why cricket was dominating over other sports. He credited the BCCI for making cricket glamorous. "Earlier, hockey players were given a great deal of importance, but things changed after the 1983 World Cup win. A major credit for it goes to the BCCI," he said.

On India's love for cricket, television presenter Vikrant Gupta said, "We all know that India is not a sports-loving country. It is a misconception that it is a cricket-loving country. Actually, it is a cricketer-loving country."

Emphasising on the class divides reinforced by sports, hockey writer Prabhjot Singh said, "It was the British who brought hockey, cricket and golf to India. Hockey was played in the cantonments by lower middle-class Indians, the middle, upper middle class and some royals preferred cricket, and the elites could play golf."

The third session was on 'Political narratives in state and national elections: BJP versus the opposition'. On being asked whether the 2024 election was a one-horse race as is being projected, Nidhi Sharma said, "It's not over till it is over. Look what happened to the India Shining campaign. In 2019, even the BJP was not sure whether it would win for a second term, Pulwama was a Godsent. "INC messaging is lost, few know that before Modi started Mann Ki Baat, Indira Gandhi also had her own programme on the All India Radio," she said.

Jatin Gandhi, however, was of the opinion that BJP narrative was not Ram Temple, but Ram Rajya. The BJP was agile when it came to grasping opportunities. "The temple is there, but the shelf life of it is limited. So it is a promise of Ram Rajya," he said.

The day concluded with a discussion on whether the India-US relationship stood as the most defining partnership of the 21st century. On being asked about the Gurpatwant Singh Pannun assassination attempt, Varghese K George said, "The fact that the US would handle the Pannun case the way it did, speaks of a trust deficit. In fact, we do not know the whole truth of it."

Rahul Singh said, "Trust is just beginning to grow between the two countries. One of the biggest deals is the purchase of jets and high-tech drones. These are crown jewels of defence technology. US needs India's counterweight to China's growing aspirations."

Jayant Jacob said the India-US ties had gone through several ups and downs. The American establishment does not trust India very much as seen in the Pannun issue.