By Swapan Dasgupta
It is sad that Indian newspapers, unlike their
British and American counterparts, have not yet digitised their archives. Had
they done so, I would have been able to offer readers a selection of the
choicest quotes from Professor K.K. Tiwari, once a Minister of Information and
Broadcasting in Rajiv Gandhi’s Government.
Tiwari, who was said to have been a teacher of
English, loved using Shakespearian analogies to pour venom on the Congress’
then favourite hate figures, notably V.P. Singh who had emerged as the foremost
challenger to the Rajiv government. Some of Tiwari’s interventions were very
funny and the others were mystifying. Most people viewed him as a ridiculous
loudmouth who used the government monopoly to transform the electronic media—AIR
and Doordarshan—into propaganda vehicles for the Congress.
However, Tiwari wasn’t quite the buffoon he
sometimes appeared to be. Subsequent investigations suggested that he had a
major role in designing the St Kitts frame-up targeting the son of V.P. Singh—a
conspiracy in which, quite regrettably, a section of the media played a
collusive role.
The transgressions of the Emergency which even led
to AIR blacklisting Kishore Kumar for his non-performance at a Youth Congress
function—surely a warning to Lata Mangeshkar to now prepare herself for
recriminations after she publicly endorsed Narendra Modi last Friday—have been
well documented. Less recorded are the ways in which the Rajiv Gandhi
government tried to narrow the space for dissent by putting pressure on the
print media. The Indian Express, Statesman and particular individuals in The
Hindu were targeted for unearthing the dirt on the Bofors scandal. But pressure
was put on all publications to toe the line. At one time, the Ministry of
External Affairs even had two IFS officers working full-time to ‘manage’ the newspapers.
I mention these incidents from the past because
there are definite indications that history is repeating itself. Having erred
in its belief that the anointment of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime
ministerial candidate would lead to a favourable polarisation in favour of the
Congress and UPA, a disoriented regime has reacted in panic. Where persuasion
and better governance should have been the natural democratic reaction to political
adversity, the government has embarked on the path of calumny, subterfuge and
arm-twisting.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal whose political ratings
inside the government took a nosedive after Rahul Gandhi rubbished the
ordinance to insulate convicted politicians from immediate disqualification,
has crafted his rehabilitation strategy with a frontal attack on Modi. In
itself that is a legitimate exercise in political warfare. But Sibal descended
from the sublime to the ridiculous by blaming Modi for the sharp increase in
the price of onions.
On his part, I&B Minister Manish Tiwari, who
must take exceptional care that he doesn’t come to be viewed as the natural
inheritor of K.K. Tiwari’s mantle, has put out a circular warning broadcasters
with uplinking facilities that they risk their future by putting the Prime
Minister’s Independence Day speech on par with others (namely Modi) who attempt
to steal the thunder. Since it is an open question whether Manmohan Singh will
address India from Red Fort in 2014, this silly advisory is less aimed at
protecting the fragile dignity of the incumbent as instructing the electronic
media to reduce their Modi coverage.
Then there are those who, even at this late stage,
insist that Modi should be ruled out of the 2014 race using the police powers
at the disposal of the government. In recent weeks, inordinate pressure has
been put on the country’s premier investigative agencies to call Modi for
questioning and thereupon file an FIR against him on the charge of
masterminding encounter deaths. Pressure has also been put to somehow or the other
implicate Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley in a case that dates back to 2008.
That officials haven’t succumbed are due to two
facts. First, the political antennae of the babus are very sensitive to
stirrings on the ground. The emerging consensus within babudom this Diwali is
that the UPA isn’t coming back. Secondly, the recent Supreme Court order on
tenure has ensured that civil servants and policemen won’t do anything remotely
irregular unless it is accompanied by a written ministerial order.
So far the attempt to make politics into an abattoir
has not succeeded but a section of the government believes that no means are
too petty to fight Modi. The manner in which advertising largesse is being
dangled in front of media companies who are experiencing a squeeze on account
of the general economic slowdown will no doubt see many channels and
publications suddenly going soft on the UPA Government. There has already been
the curious spectacle of media managers donning the editorial mantle and
penning articles advising the country to be wary of Modi. Presumably, these are
not aimed at influencing public opinion and calculated only to informing the
money-disbursal teams in the ministries that the hints are being acted on.
Past experience suggests that last ditch attempts to
undo the damage inflicted over the past four years are rarely successful.
Therefore, unless the next six months lead to something dramatic, all the
indications are that this may be the last Diwali, for some time to come, that
many of the anxious political stalwarts are going to enjoy in a ministerial
bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi.
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