Lessons from Gujarat for opinion makers

Ira  Pande

Those of us who still read at least four newspapers a day and watch ‘prime time’ news are in danger of becoming bipolar soon. Because while our newspaper editorials and news anchors predict a certain kind of election result or trend, the exact opposite happens and while we all profess to practise and swear by the Constitution, public behaviour seems to be headed another way altogether. We swear by religious tolerance but look around you to see the depth of religious violence prevalent all across the land. We claim to be in a new century and yet I see more sliding into the Middle Age than marching into a brave new world. We claim to worship women, yet crimes against them are multiplying at an alarming rate.

Perhaps the answer lies in the collision of the values passed on to us by our education with the new world that is emerging after globalisation and neo-liberalism. The rise of this dangerous trend the world over is way past mere condemnation and tut-tutting. We have to look within ourselves to find out why an older social system based on the firm bedrock of high-minded personal ethics and public morality appears to be retreating in the face of aggressive self-interest and where the goal is more important than the means. 

To make it clearer, take the example of the recent election campaigns run by the two major national parties in Gujarat. To extract victory anyhow, every rule was thrown to the winds. The Election Commission seemed paralysed by the sheer audacity of political leaders and the blatant violation of time-honoured boundaries. The unseemly controversy stoked over the efficacy of the EVMs and the sly hints at tampering were the final straw. Is it time to revisit some of these guidelines? In an age of instant news dissemination and the enormous reach and penetration of social media, is it not absurd to expect that roadshows, interviews or political appeals should be stopped 24 hours ahead of an election? Show me one person who is not tracking all the above on their mobiles and I will eat my words.

As for our opinion makers, the time has come for our newspapers and digital media to come out of the echo chambers they have set up. The English media particularly, hampered by their unease over local dialects and languages, have long retreated to their editorial chairs or pontificate from the safe confines of their studios. If they do step out it is to eat at popular street stalls and ask a few questions of the people they encounter there. Most of these seem more eager to flash a V-sign to their families and take selfies with the anchor and can hardly be described as the quintessential man on the street. Stock questions will elicit stock responses. I am tired of the long-winded questions that our news anchors frame (often leading questions) that prompt the answer they seek. By and large, they seem to be preaching to the converted. When faced by the rising new class that prefers to watch films and serials that have no connection with their own and bombarded by advertisements that make them hanker for more and more, do you think the appeal to lead simple, honest lives and be good makes any sense?   

Most ordinary people prefer to believe what they see, not what they are told. So if they see their leaders preach one thing and practise another, believe me they are not going to be swayed by the meaningless, preachy rhetoric of election speeches. If Gujarat taught us anything, it is that you can fool some people for some of the time but not all people for all the time. The verdict delivered by the state to its favourite poster-boy is that we bailed you out this time but watch out, and for the new leader of an old party, it is that unless you build your broken party from scratch, there is no hope for resurgence the next time. The lesson for our media and political commentators is that just because you went to posh colleges and universities, don’t think you understand the world better than the man on the street. In the new India that is emerging out of an old shell, there are no entitlements — whether of class, caste, education or ideology —  that you can safely bank on. Let us remember that the men who most harmed their party’s prospects in Gujarat were a brilliant, silver-tongued Brahmin and a seasoned lawyer. And what dealt the other party a slap on their smug faces was their arrogance (or arrogancy, as they say in Gujarat).

The wheel of fortune is turning and those who were at the bottom a few years ago are riding the crest today. In the brave new world that is emerging, it is the Dhonis, Virat Kohlis and Rohit Sharmas who can afford weddings that we thought only the Hindujas and Mittals could hold. So before you quote the virtuous views that you grew up on, pause and think whether they hold water any more.