The Prime Minister of India is “interviewed” by three people who work for News18, one of India’s top TV channels which occasionally succumb to showing a bit of news. To call it an interview is a bit of a stretch. All right, I am unfair. Questions were asked, sort of, and long monologues were received in response. But an interview by journalists? Now that’s another sort of an animal. Compare an encounter between a caged tiger in a zoo and a tiger in the wild. The News18 interview was between a cage and a Master of Manipulation and Deflection. No contest. Or context for that matter, which was what I typed as the last word in the last sentence and then corrected.
I heard one worthy ask Narendra Modi the secret of his strength. I didn’t bother to listen to the answer but he did say that he was placed here by God so some such soon after the question. This was early on in the interview. Aah, you might of thought to yourself, the interviewer was soft-soaping the victim, trying to lull him into being comfortable before pouncing.
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Sorry, I had to stop and laugh at my own stupidity for a bit. Forgot my own cage metaphor there.
Anyway, Modi made his usual claims of his own greatness (God-given, duh) and of the various nefarious ways in which the Congress and the opposition was going to destroy India if they ever came to power. He reiterated his oft-repeated lie about how the Congress was going to steal the gold and jewellery of women. Not one of the other three people questioned him on this claim or asked him where this appeared in the Congress manifesto.
Much as manifestoes have become a bit of joke in the last few elections in India, the Congress manifesto for Lok Sabha 2024 has been much discussed. By contrast almost no one has had much comment on the BJP manifesto. I suspect that’s because the manifesto is Modi himself. But still, not one of three questioned Modi about his lies. He was essentially therefore not interviewed. He spoke, they listened and made a few anodyne comments.
Meanwhile, a horrific story has emerged about serial sexual abuse and assault of hundreds of women by a Janata Dal (Secular) Lok Sabha candidate, Prajwal Revanna. The JD (S) has tied up with the BJP in Karnataka – this is former PM Deve Gowda’s party and Revanna is his grandson. Revanna has apparently run from India and is now in Germany. Investigations by The News Minute has shown how gag orders were used stop reporting of the many complaints by women against Prajwal Revanna. There is a pen drive doing the rounds of these very disturbing videos of serial rape and assault. A letter by a member of the BJP advising against giving a ticket to Revanna for this very reason has also emerged.
Would this not be something to question the BJP about, if not the Prime Minister himself? But apparently not. Some obscure remark by Rahul Gandhi (or any of his ancestors), some past transgression by Arvind Kejriwal, some law and order issue in Bengal under Mamata Banerjee, these are all far more important than anything the BJP does and does not do, lies about, covers up…
If Modi and the BJP can brazen through, it is thanks to the media.
O, I forgot to mention Manipur. It’s still there. Remember that place? Because the mainstream media’s pretty much forgotten about it.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.