Too Much of Media Attention to Valentine's Day

For past few years, no other festival has ever attracted so much of media attention than the Valentine's Day. In the era of globalization, the whole world has become one common place, with people of one country openly welcoming the culture of other nations. As a result, no festival can be considered as unique to one country or religion anymore. Like Christmas has become a universal festival, similarly, Durga Puja or Ganpati Puja are also celebrated with much pomp and show in many foreign countries. In such a scenario where people are no more prejudiced towards those belonging to other ethnic backgrounds, it is quite common for a festival like Valentine's Day to find acceptance worldwide.

In late nineties, some Hindu and Muslim activists did protest against the celebration of Valentine's Day in India. However, it did not have much impact on our society. Couples were free to express their love for each other. There were also many who did not want to celebrate this day because they did not attach much importance to the day. Whatever be the case, it was completely an individual's decision to celebrate it or not. It is only in recent times that we have started witnessing a lot surrounding the celebrations on this day. In fact, many state governments have started taking stringent steps to curb any kind of social unrest on this day. Why all this is happening? The answer is simple: too much of media attention to those handful of extremists who have been trying to gain some kind of political mileage by protesting against the V-day.

Who knew Muthalik ( the head of Sri Rama Sene) before his goons thrashed some young girls and boys sitting inside a Mangalore pub? For 1 week, we found all news channels showing detailed news reports on that episode, not to forget, the entire bio-data of this so-called Muthalik. Attracted by the wide scale media coverage on the nuisance created by Sri Rama Sene workers, many other big and small, extremist groups (both Hindu and Muslim) started raising their voice against the V-day. They were least bothered about protecting the rich Indian culture and heritage, their sole aim being able to gain some kind of media attention and publicity.

It's really pity that the Valentine's Day has been used by some groups for their political interests. Who is to be blamed for all this? It is only we who have given so much of attention to these groups for no reason. Second on the row to be blamed is our media for there is much more for them to capture and present to the viewers. The audience as well as the media need to be least bothered about groups like Sri Rama Sene and soon we will find them fight for better causes.