 |
||
|
||
|
||
BJP suffered a massive defeat in the recent assembly elections in
Delhi and Rajasthan and failed to defeat the Congress in Madhya
Pradesh. Political pundits are giving numerous reasons like anti-
incumbency factor, price rise of a few essential goods,
factionalism, etc. Some others may add organisational lapses at
the ground level and forwarding of wrong candidates in some
seats. All these might have affected the outcome marginally
because on the performance front, Rajasthan and Delhi
governments' records were very good, if not excellent, barring
the last six months in Delhi. In both these states, there was
not a single corruption charge against any minister.
A contrasting scenario was there in MP where Congress was in
power. All reasons of BJP defeat put together could not have
effected the same outcome had the media not, in its anti-BJP
zeal, consistently magnified and ferociously attacked to kill BJP
chances altogether.
Even before the last general elections, going by the media mood 1
had been saying that even if BJP came to power at the Centre, the
media would do everything in their command to demolish it. In
their zeal to tear it apart, they would not wait for its success
or failure. Everyday they would pass interim judgement,
irrespective of the merit of the case. That is what has happened.
I was surprised to see a similar realisation in a column of the
editor of The Hindustan Times, V N Narayanan, last Sunday. He
wrote: 'A very sensitive nerve in me was touched the other day
when someone whom I respect greatly told me that Prime Minister
Vajpayee wondered whether he and his government had not done
anything praiseworthy for The Hindustan Times to write positively
about. That hit me at the core, the true core of journalistic
conscience where the basic duty becomes, not exposure of wrong-
doing in society but to uphold the values of truth and fairness
... That anguished query of the Prime Minister - haven't we done
(anything) which you can praise us for - is nagging my mind and
stirring my journalistic conscience. Have newspapers crossed the
threshold of fair and constructive criticism and (gone) into the
mire of partisan attacks? 1 compare the first year of Nehru, of
Shastri, of Morarji, Indira to the present and realise that the
Press was utterly overindulgent to Nehru, cynical to Indira
Gandhi at first and obsequious later on, but no Prime Minister or
government was so harshly judged in the media and by the media as
the present one.'
The biggest media group has taken the responsibility of bringing
in a government led by a lady from Italy. The entire strategy of
this newspaper group is implemented on day-to-day basis through
news management by its captain. The newspapers of one group or
the other became something like party papers of Congress. One
Hindi daily temporarily led by its ex-chief editor lost its all
sense of proportion and fairness and behaved as if it was at war
with BJP.
All its pages acted like AK-47 guns, using every news as a bullet
to kill BJP. Barring a couple of newspapers in the whole region
of Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the rest temporarily
turned into anti-BJP campaign offices. BJP was not defeated by
discredited Congress, but by its political adversaries and the
media. The media were fighting the assembly elections from the
first day of Vajpayee government, for, this government came into
being in spite of the best efforts of most of the TV channels
and English press.
Their final goal is not yet achieved, for, according to them,
Sonia Gandhi is not yet ready despite their repeated and
inspiring pleas.
All this is not to suggest that the price rise factor was not
there. There was a shortage in the production of certain
essential commodities. There was also some mismanagement.
Opponents had every right to make it a poll issue, for, it
affects the lives of millions of people. But even in this, the
media lost its sense of proportion, forgot the interest of the
consumers and tried to build it up as a mega issue resulting in
still greater rise in' prices. Hoarders, wholesalers and even,
retailers made money while media were motivated by the political
kill.
I might have used the word media as a whole, but there were
newspapers and correspondents behaving in a balanced manner. It
must be said that objective newspapers and journalists were in a
hopeless minority. One could see the mentality of a herd of sheep
in the media coverage of assembly elections.
Just a couple of days after the Pokhran-II, a sober journalist
told me that now BJP can rule the country for 10 years. What he
meant was that BJP cannot be destabilised for five years and it
would win next general elections also. The general mood of
exhilaration was reflected in an opinion poll wherein 83 per cent
people were feeling proud of it. Opponents of BJP were looking
at the political fallout of this historic courage. Scared
opponents were hinting at political motives behind the decision.
Sensitive to criticism as Vajpayee is, he refused to deposit this
'billion dollar cheque' in the 'Image Bank'. He cancelled some
party programmes to celebrate it. The party refrained from
politicising this issue of national pride. This gave the
opportunity to the opponents of BJP to minimise the importance of
historic Pokhran-II.
Many of the analysts have concluded that the assembly elections
have shown the erosion of BJP's USP, i e superiority of national
leadership over its opponents. The facts are otherwise. BJP and
its allies had come to power not because of negative votes. It
was a positive mandate. Therefore, the public In general had very
high hopes.
Despite the adverse publicity generated by a number of factors -
from its allies, magnified and multiplied by determined anti-BJP
media - the performance of the Vajpayee-led government during
nine months has been. better than any Central government in the
last one decade. It is not only Pokhran-II, solution of the
decades-long Cauvery dispute and turn-around in the Kashmir
situation, but also handling the economy in the most difficult
situation, in India as well as outside it. People have not heard
about corruption at high places during the present dispensation.
This by itself is a very important aspect of this government.
The Congress government of early 90s was known for mega scams.
Even in subsequent UF governments, certain ministers were known
for their corruption. A number of policy decisions, as in the
field of information technology, can be cited.
One of the positive aspects of the results of the assembly
elections is the confirmation of the trend of bi-polarity in
these states. For, Congress and BJP are the major forces in these
states, both in terms of votes and seats. Put together, they had
more than 80 per cent of votes Other parties could get about 10
per cent.
|
||
|
||
|
||