From passion to paranoia

I start this piece with a completely fictional conversation between Rajat Gupta, the fallen ex-Chairman of McKinsey and Deepak Raheja, the alleged dishonest trader held in China by the Chinese authorities.
Rajat: “Hello is it Mr. Deepak Raheja, that I am speaking to”?
Deepak: “Yes, speaking.”
Rajat: “Hi Deepak, this is Rajat Gupta calling from my jail cell in New York”.
Deepak: “Mr. Gupta, you were my hero in the childhood. I have grown up willing to become a global figure like you. Tell me how may I help you Sir?”
Rajat: “I need your urgent help, Deepak.” (With a very anxious voice)
Deepak: “Yes Sir, I am at your service. Tell me how I may help you.”
Rajat:”I have come to know that both you and I have been given more or less the same charge. Then I can see you have been getting a hero’s treatment in the Indian media whereas no one from the same media even bothered to talk with me since the day charges were brought against me. Please tell me what you did right and what my fault is.”
Deepak (with a sorry voice): “Sir, it is not at your entire fault. Actually you were caught at the wrong time, at wrong place.”
Rajat: “How?”
Deepak: “Sir, you were caught in America and I was caught in China. Sir you are an extremely intelligent person, you can understand so why both of us have been given different types of coverage in our media, Sir”

The recent reaction shown by Indian media establishment towards the unfortunate case of two Indian businessmen and a diplomat landing in troubled waters in China , can be thus termed only the same , from sensational to passionate and from passionate to paranoid.

Those who have observed the coverage of the Indian media over the years will notice that this is not something unique or new on the part of Indian media. One need to go back just four years to early 2008 when some controversial umpiring decisions involving a game of cricket between India and Australia were covered in the Indian media as if India’s honor and pride depended was wounded and a quick retribution was required.

At that time, the International Cricket Council, a governing body which runs the game, had to drop the umpire to vindicate Indian grievances. However regarding this particular incident here, one needs to hold its judgment till one gets to know the whole issue in detail after relevant legal procedures has been completed in China.

Considering the delicate relationship between India and China one would have expected Indian media to handle this matter with caution until all the legal issues have been resolved. One would have expected that Indian media would take a more mature position on this case, as befitting a rising and mature democracy, quite similar to the posture taken some months back in the illustrious case of Rajat Gupta.

Some months back, Rajat Gupta, ex-McKinsey head and a well-known success story from the proverbial “talented and aspiring Indian middle-class”, was accused of being involved in the financial wrongdoing in the USA. The reaction in the Indian media was however muted and cautious to say the least.

The reaction of the Indian consulate in China was also uncharacteristically hasty to call Indian businessmen to shun the Yiwu city for doing business. One needs to recall that very recently we witnessed the gruesome murder of an Indian student in UK but interestingly at that time the Indian diplomatic envoy in London did not ask Indian students to shun UK as a preferred destination for studying.

If the residents of the Yiwu city would have had known about the murder of the Indian student and the reaction of the official Indian media and the diplomatic establishment to this case , they probably would be asking what exactly did the UK authorities did to get away without getting an advisory such as the one they got ?
History have taught us that when two rising powers, who also happen to be competing for the same spot , clash on some issue , sparks of passion could be seen.

This is natural for two competitors, sports psychologists tell us. Competitive attitude is by nature to create antagonism between the competitors, but those passions do not last beyond competition.

Competitive passion however should never be allowed to become the birth pangs of paranoia. Paranoia makes the affected lose his rational behavior and act in ways which may prove to be harmful to him and the rest.