By Ranjona Banerji
For how long will Indian mainstream media ignore Rahul Gandhi or tiptoe around him, only because they do not want to upset the powers-that-be?
For argument’s sake, let’s accept that many people, helped by the mainstream media, bought into the BJP propaganda that Rahul Gandhi is a fool. Let’s even accept that this is par for the course in politics. You have to be able to take all sorts of slings and arrows. Or, to be technically correct, you have to accept all when you are in opposition.
I cannot think of anyone who is in power at the Centre, for instance, who can take a joke made about them.
But since the “Pappu” story began in 2014, Rahul Gandhi has in fact proved that he is not so much as a fool as the BJP wants him to be. In fact this “Pappu” tag – conversely, also applied to beloved sons in North India – if it only means an idiot, can also be applied to several other politicians. Some of whom are in positions of high power.
A couple of stories emerged where it seemed that the BJP was correct in its mockery, all amplified by the mainstream media. One was something about the escape velocity of Jupiter and the other about potatoes and gold. Neither of these stories actually prove anything but the enormous reach of the powers of manipulation and suggestion.
Since 2012, after the India Against Corruption movement, we were sold many pups by the mainstream media and its cohorts and collaborators. Not least that Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, was the panacea for all India’s ills. He would fix the economy, end corruption, create jobs said one lot of commentators who do not see beyond money. Another lot was overjoyed with the prospect of Modi because they knew that Hindu majoritarianism would gain supremacy. This lot was wisely silent. And we ignored them at our own peril.
There was a massive PR exercise at work here with APCO and that other chap known for electoral fiddling sorry I mean strategizsing who is silent or ignored these days. Lies were concocted, sometimes called myths which is a misnomer given the importance of myths to human existence, to create a “legend”.
The mainstream media’s idea of what constitutes a fool is intriguing indeed. From cooking with gutter gas to claiming that both stem cell research and plastic surgery were invented in Vedic times, to bizarre theories about radar to an intriguing if erroneous understanding of algebra, the Legend Himself has made innumerable errors. But they have not been called out, either with glee or gravitas by the mainstream media.
Instead, we have been instructed that it is elitist and classist to point out any errors made by Modi. In this avatar, he speaks presumably for that special vote bank: the Ignorant Indian. And the mainstream media will have you know that this is what they think of most Indians: ignorant buffoons.
Sadly for the economy cheerleaders in the media, since nothing went their way, they have even stopped their tedious “5,10,15,800 things Modi must do to fix the Indian economy” columns. He listened to none of them and only made things worse.
In case you wondered, it is not unfair to call out Rahul Gandhi because he is privileged and went to both school and college and reasonably well-known institutions at that. Fair enough, this makes him fair game.
And yet, fool or not, Rahul Gandhi has carved out a new path for himself and for Indian politics. An old-new path that is. He upsets the political purists, who want all politics to be an endless game of subterfuge and strategy because this gives them ample space for commentary and kite-flying.
Even to this day, they offer reams of election advice to every opposition politician and practically nothing to the BJP. Whether the BJP wins or loses elections, according to them it is run by a master tactician and his junior tinker who can do no wrong.
From his predictions about the government’s response to the COVID19 virus, the pandemic and the lockdowns, to the incredible Bharat Jodo Yatra, to his extremely dignified response to his disqualification from Parliament to his willingness to meet and mingle with the people of India, Rahul Gandhi has carved out his own path.
All this, without the help of the mainstream media – which practically blocked out the Bharat Jodo Yatra anyway – and without the help of PR companies which specialise in selling dictators to pappu populations.
If nothing else, the ongoing unrest in Manipur and a strangled government response might wake some of the media up and relook at Rahul Gandhi’s role in India’s politics. Not all the media. We haven’t reached there yet. But some more of us need to realise how we were sold both a pup and a real pappu. And start reassessing the issues that matter.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.
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When I joined the world of advertising more than three decades ago, I was lucky to be part of Lintas, now Mullen Lowe Lintas. While there were advertising agencies which were producing very creative, hard-hitting ads or agencies which produced ads that were strategically sound and would not elicit a second glance, Lintas had positioned itself as an agency which built brands. Be it Surf or Lifebuoy or Kitply or MRF Tyres or Chrery Blossom… the list was long.