By Ranjona Banerji
“To argue that the BJP’s huge victory is the result of its grounded policies and not communalism is not analysis. It is paralysis. Moral paralysis.”
This tweet from writer, commentator and satirist Urvish Kothari aptly sums up the media response to the BJP’s victory in four of the five states that went to the polls this year.
The manner in which the BJP won in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur – with large margins bar Goa and larger margins than many exit polls — has led to massive excitement in Indian TV’s talking heads and experts. If earlier one could make the excuse that the excitement was over the excitement of election result coverage itself – CNN’s ill-fated experiment with holograms for instance – now it is more than evident that TV people are unable to separate their party choices from their coverage. (Actually, who doubted it? This is just one more confirmation.)
That NDTV, that most beloved of “fair” TV channels by India’s “liberals” actually gives you an update of what’s happening on the BJP-sympathetic social media site Koo, even as its anchors and “analysts” were full of the same glee as the other more openly BJP channels, provides a stark example of how far TV media falls into the BJP’s lap. Short of dancing on the tables with joy, TV has indeed covered itself in BJP glory as expected. What one would not expect is more in-depth sober analysis, of voting patterns and margins and also, especially of AAP’s massive landslide in Punjab, but for that you have to look to newspapers and not PR-driven “news”.
(Incidentally, only the naïve or frankly stupid will now come up with the money and threat excuses as an explanation for media cowardice: neither of those are new or unknown to a media operating in a hostile environment.)
The actual analysis – as Kothari – points out – of this BJP victory in four states would be bleak for India’s future in a real world. We all know – TV people included – the miserable state of India’s social fabric and economy, not to forget India’s inability to create a credible, respected global voice for herself. Narendra Modi’s publicity machine however has as much success in the media as it appears to have over some voters.
The Telegraph, Kolkata does not hold back: “For all the demonstrable faults and failures of the Narendra Modi regime, the broad national narrative refuse to reveal any clues of weariness or desire for change. If Thursday’s outcome were meant to preview of 2024, the die is indelibly cast: India is turning a deep saffron that imitates the hues of and haranguing of a Hindu rashtra, the Congress continues to pale perilously. Its footprint has never been more anaemic.”
The inability of much of the media to distinguish between supporting this or that party and supporting democracy brings us back to the brink. The BJP will undoubtedly push through the contentious farm laws again; and AAP is not likely to create any hurdles there. Promises of implementing a Uniform Civil Code and the possible return of CAA-NRC-NPR raise their ugly heads again with all the attendant roiling.
We already know there will be no help from the media – all those channels and newspapers which support the massive malicious RSS-BJP lie that “Hindus are in danger” will be overjoyed by Parliamentary support to anything that puts religious minorities “in their place”.
Judging from the coverage of yesterday’s results, we can safely assume that the bulk of the Indian media will not put up any struggle for democracy in the foreseeable future. That includes the 2024 general election.
Moral paralysis: what better phrase to describe us?
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.