More than 160 million people across the world witnessed the historic Bhoomi Pujan ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. The momentous occasion, once in a lifetime, was cheered not only by people of the country but was celebrated across the world with much exuberance.
However, there were certain individuals, who seemed to be unhappy, took to politicise and mock at the event only to target the ruling dispensation and the BJP.
In a similar act, Punya Prasun Bajpai on Saturday took to Twitter to discredit the success of the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony by making illogical claims. Punya Prasun Bajpai, quoting a news report, said that while BJP grabbed around 23 crores votes in the 2019 general elections only 16 crore people watched the Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan ceremony on Wednesday.
The journalist, in his attempt to portray the cultural event of Ram Mandir ceremony as a political event, went on to make absurd comparison stating that even people who voted for the BJP in the last elections did not watch the Ram Mandir ceremony. Essentially Bajpai was insinuating that the BJP had lost support among the masses as nearly 7 crore people who voted for the BJP was not interested in witnessing it.
Bajpai’s poor understanding of statistics
The inability of journalists like PP Bajpai to comprehend statistics and viewership data is understandable. Perhaps, Bajpai thought only one person watched the event on one particular TV set.
Secondly, the viewership of 16 crores is of DD National as revealed by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi S Vempati. The live feed of DD National was also telecast by more than 200 other TV channels. Then there is digital space and social media platforms, which is now a major medium to watch any live program. So the viewership of the event will be much higher than 16 crores.
Most importantly, not all people voted for BJP will have TV sets at their homes. Moreover, watching the Ram Mandir event was not made mandatory and hence corresponding the viewership of an event to the total numbers of votes polled in specific elections is laughable at the best.
