Newspapers now live in an age of a post-ideological generation which does not carry the past and always looks to the present.
The newspaper today has to address this “selfie generation,” senior journalist Shekhar Gupta has said.
Gupta was speaking at the release of his book, ‘Anticipating India: The Best of National Interest’ here on Saturday. Gupta, like most journalists of his time, carries a load of anecdotes and he narrated many at the function.
Gowda and IT
He recalled a more recent one involving former prime minister Deve Gowda. “Gowda had for a long time been troubling the IT industry. When I asked him why, he said the IT people were grabbing land. So I told him that’s good - the more the land they have, the more the number of jobs they will create.
IT companies are at least generating jobs with the land, but what about politicians? what are they doing with their land?”
In response to a query by Narayana Murthy, Infosys mentor, who released the book, Gupta said that three people made a difference to his life - Arun Shourie, Arun Poorie and S P Singh.
On Modi
About Narendra Modi’s rise, Gupta said Indian politics has space for both the Left and the Right. Modi, he said, faces a new challenge.
“Modi will make mistakes because no human being is perfect. We shall see what mistakes he makes and how he learns from them,” he said.
Gupta said that he had never spent more than a day in the city.
“I don’t know Bangalore at all. And yet I can say that there is a feel-good factor about it. It can give you ideas like I got one on a Friday for my column National Interest.”
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks