Keep doing good deeds!

BY SANJEEB KUMAR SAHOO

Respected citizens of India who are patriotic and willing to die for Bharat Mata, before I proceed to the next paragraph, I’d like to confess something. It is that I become a BJP member when I visit BJP headquarters to attend press conferences after hearing speeches of their leaders. Likewise, I become a Congressi for a few minutes when I attend a press conference at the Congress headquarters.

However, I would like to make it clear that I am an unbiased political journalist who wants to do good impartial stories for our esteemed readers once I leave the headquarters of these parties.

This edition’s cover page and feature are instances of National Political Mirror (NPM) political journalism innovation, and they will motivate my bright colleagues in the media industry to share relevant stories about departed leaders. I believe that this story, as well as the stories of my great colleagues, will inspire young politicians.

According to me, good politicians exist in all parties, but people are unaware of them for several reasons, the most important of which is that we are not promoting them and are instead focusing on a small number of politicians, which is not right. So, I beg the citizens’ pardon.

So, this edition’s cover page and cover piece is about former Bihar deputy Chief Minister and great BJP politician Sushil Kumar Modi are part of another creative endeavour, despite the fact that the NPM will not receive any advertising from this story. I believe that a person’s happiness and smile are more important than advertisements for NPM.

Respected citizensI am never disheartened when I fail to secure business through advertisements for NPM, but I always try to write the best stories with facts rather than falling for fake news or selling wrong narratives. I am a firm believer that if I fall again, I should get back up. I’ve had many ups and downs in my life, but the truth is that I’ve been working very hard since I was in fourth grade, and my father died when I was two years old. .

Along with the story about late Sushil Kumar Modi, NPM also featured India’s Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal on the corner of the cover page. Sibal was recently elected as President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

I am glad that I am able to do justice with Sushil Kumar Modi, who passed away on May 13, 2024, after a lengthy struggle with cancer, through this story. I believe he will be happy after reading or viewing the edition, no matter where he is right now.

And what I mentioned earlier is correct since, as a Hindu, I believe in God, love and support needy people even though I do not have as much money and resources as many others.

My objective with this narrative is to offer a positive message to aspiring young political journalists to refrain from making personal comments about politicians, since everyone has families and personal lives. Nowadays, journalism is primarily personal commentary, with few journalists making personal comments on politicians rather than writing good stories.

I believe I am the luckiest person in the world because I have my own platform, which I founded with my late wife, a few friends, and well-wishers. The most important thing is that I’ve gotten more creative in the last 11 months thanks to a wonderful unknown woman.

I want respected citizens to know about my past. I was born in Ramgarh, Jharkhand, and grew up in Odisha. My parents are from Bihar’s Vaishali district. But I’ve fallen in love with a girl from Uttar Pradesh. I used to be a street vendor when I was in fifth grade to satisfy my daily necessities after losing my father when I was two years old.

Apart from me, my elder brother, elder sister, and younger sister were all working to make a living. In addition to selling items on the streets, we made paper bags while at home. I learnt how to create paper bags from my mother, who lost her husband while she was 10 months pregnant. My mother trained us well, as she once told us, “If I die, who will take care of you all?” So you should all master some skills and must care for each other. All of us are grateful to my mother, who taught us and made sure we got education at government schools.

You won’t believe how my mother endured after losing her husband; she had to walk every day during the rainy season because bus services had been suspended due to rising water in the Koyal river. So, my mother had no choice but to walk kilometres on foot to reach the weekly market to sell groceries.

We were all worried when my mother was late to come home, and we were saying to each other, “Bhaiya Mummy Ko Koe Mar Diya Kya” (Has someone killed our mother?), but when she arrived home, we were always thankful to God and smiling.

There are many stories about my mother and my siblings from 1987 to 2006, but I will share some of them in my editorials as needed in the future.

My respected citizens, I didn’t want to tell people personal things, but the current political circumstances forced me to do so, as few politicians nowadays make emotional speeches to grab power. Only a few politicians are concerned about India’s needy people.

I don’t want to mention politicians who are giving emotional speeches about their poverty backgrounds because people are quite intelligent and know everything, but they are all mute, and I’m not sure why.

The truth is that many people, including those beyond the age of 60, were born into poor families before 1970 but have become successful as a result of their efforts. There is no information on how many people were born into poor families before 1970.

At the same time, everyone in Birmitrapur assembly constituency is aware of my mother’s sufferings and my childhood hard work, but I can’t keep telling the same story to drum up business for the NPM.

In the event that advertisers believe that NPM is beneficial to them, then they will provide NPM with business; otherwise, they will not.

To get an advertisement from advertisers, I cannot state that NPM distributes more than one lakh hard copies per month since this is incorrect, and the truth is that NPM only prints a few copies for selected readers owing to financial constraints.

So my actual goal with this column is to raise awareness about why we should vote for honest people who always speak the truth, respect women, children, daughters, and sisters, and help those in need rather than dishonest politicians.

We should always tell the truth, even if many people don’t like it, but you’ll find a special space in their hearts, and they’ll always tell their friends and family about your honesty since it happened to me.

Note: On May 19, 2024, this piece was originally printed in a weekly magazine of National Political Mirror.