Falling bridges and train accidents… Scrolling through the news in India, it almost seems like we’re back in the 1970s when we were still not fully established as a successful growing nation. Plus the 1970s version of an Emergency, except as a non-Constitutional emergency, in that it is undeclared. Add to that a media that is state-controlled, high levels of unemployment, low levels of industrial and manufacturing growth and lo and behold, maybe it is the 1970s after all, just with the addition of social media and colour television and phones for everyone.
Except of course that it’s 2024. And perhaps one of the main differences is that you’re not permitted to demand accountability. In any BJP-run government, it is clear or has been made clear, that you are not allowed to expect, let alone demand, accountability. Everything that goes wrong is because of some earlier, non-BJP, preferably dead, prime minister. This pattern has not changed for 10 years. And since the much-reduced victory in the last general election is still being understood, we have not it seems yet changed our kneejerk reactions up in the high command.
The upshot is that the bulk of the media has not yet understood that responsibility for a flailing economy lies with an incumbent government. Any minute now the Union finance minister, same as the last Union finance minister, will make a Union Budget speech. She has already literally cooked the halwa, which in colloquial metaphorical expression implies that we are cooked. Whether this Finance Bill will fix any problems is another matter, but we should not expect much media insights on this.
We also cannot expect the media to focus in full measure on the completely unconstitutional move by the UP government in getting shops and stalls owned by Muslims to identify themselves on a particular so that Hindu religious pilgrims know where to shop. That the police is implementing an unconstitutional decision is worse. But sectarian division is part of the BJP package and so is the media.
That the UP government itself appears to be in some distress and that the RSS chief keeps making potshots at the prime minister ought also to be top of media over-excitement. And yet. I did see one “editor in chief” – it’s very amusing when TV people give themselves big fat titles like these – justify in a badly worded tweet the clear Islamophobia of the Assam chief minister. No language skills, no editing skills, but more than enough talent when it comes to creating and spreading hatred.
This knack which TV has is demonstrated in the case of Captain Anshuman Singh died a year ago, saving people in Siachen. A medical doctor, Singh had specified his wife as his next of kin, which means she gets his pension. Singh’s parents have made a sorry spectacle of themselves, demanding more money, vilifying their daughter-in-law with all sorts of allegations and speaking endlessly to TV channels about their family issues and their arcane views. The media is happy – it seems – to continue to amplify the abuse poured on the young widow, as they were happy with blaming Rhea Chakraborty for the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Whether the parents know that they are being used is unclear, but they have become the next drama after the Ambani wedding.
Internationally, we have a media which behaves in similarly absurd ways. The Western media in general still hasn’t twigged on to the fact the whole world knows that Israel is the aggressor in Palestine and responsible for genocide. It insists on equating Israel and Hamas, as if the two are equal or that Hamas has killed thousands since October 7, 2023.
And the American media in general has plenty of questions for President Joe Biden – is he well enough, suitable, senile or not, makes sense, doesn’t make sense. For former President Donald Trump, who almost never makes sense, we hear about his rallies, the state of his poor ear and so on. The rules are not the same.
As we should know by now.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.