Now, UP Dy CM Does A Biplab Deb, Says Journalism Began Way Back During Mahabharata

"Yeh live telecast nahi to aur kya hai," he said.

By: News Desk |
May 31, 2018 7:11 pm

Journalism started during the time of Mahabharata or at least that’s what this BJP minister said, backing his claim with some popular mythological references.

While speaking at an event organised in Mathura to celebrate ‘Hindi Journalism Day’, Dinesh Sharma, the deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh said, “It (journalism) started during Mahabharata.”

Referring to Mahabharat’s character Sanjay and his ability to narrate events from the battlefield to Dhritarashtra while sitting in Hastinapur, he propagated that live telecast was also a part of the Hindu epic.“Yeh live telecast nahi to aur kya hai (if it is not live telecast, then what is it ?),” Sharma said, reports The Indian Express.

A file photo of UP Dy CM Dinesh Sharma | Source: Indian Express

In the minister’s version of journalism, even Google has a counterpart in narad muni, who is known to be the ‘messenger of the gods’ in Hindu mythology.

“Your Google has started now, but our Google started long time back. ‘Narad Muni’ was the epitome of information. He could reach anywhere and transfer a message from one place to another by saying ‘Narayana’ three times,” Sharma said

While lauding the freedom of speech of press the event, the minister also reminded people to embrace their glorious past and history.

Apparently, it is not at all unusual for BJP ministers to make the headlines for linking some modern innovation to the historic past.

A file photo of Tripura CM Biplab Deb | Source: Indian Express

Earlier in April this year, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb had made a similar claim saying that the internet and technology existed during the time of the Mahabharata and before that, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, too, had likened Narada Muni to Google.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had called Lord Ganesha to be a product of plastic surgery, In 2014 and in 2015 he said the account of Karna’s birth in Mahabharata indicated that “people were aware of genetic science”.

(Written by Shreya Bansal)