Where does the truth lie?

Gurbachan Jagat

Over the years, I have often wondered as to why most of us tell lies. Lies that are harmless, lies that are malicious, lies that distort facts, lies that are the product of a vivid imagination, lies to mislead voters, lies to please bosses, children lying to escape the consequences of mischief, and so on. From a child’s lie to the malicious lies of the adult, there is a gradual progression. The ability to tell lies is only matched by the seeming willingness to believe lies. Although one was conversant with the phenomenon of falsehoods, yet one was confronted with it fully when listening to senior politicians. In one’s earlier days in the police, there were ample opportunities to be a close observer of even Chief Ministers indulging in it, both in private and public meetings. They told big lies with emotion and straight faces, and awe-struck people heard them open-mouthed. The CM knew that he was lying, the people knew the same and we all knew it, but everyone’s face showed utter belief. Was this the willing suspension of disbelief? I think that phrase was meant for another context that is drama.

Before proceeding, let us take note of the progression of lies from childhood to adulthood and then onto institutions, both private and public. The adult gradually, consciously and subconsciously, tends to make lies a big part of his quest for worldly success. In the society in which he operates, it does not always pay to be totally frank and straight-forward. You have to tweak facts and your opinions in tune with your goals; sometimes, you have to resort to outright fabrication. As you come to join government, public or private institutions, you come into contact with ‘pressure groups’ — with stated and unstated goals, with public and private faces. The final decision to align yourself with such forces and their goals lies with you and you should not, just for the sake of mere survival, barter away your ideals and your allegiance to the rule of law. Of course, this is a path that entails some amount of personal discomfort, but then the path of truth also leads to personal salvation… ‘the truth does set you free’.

Government is a huge business and has multifaceted duties to perform for which there are multiple departments. Let us divide them broadly into management of finances, development work and maintenance of law and order (internal and external security). Development is a huge task, but then gigantic promises are made. In the absence of fulfilment of these promises, humongous public relations exercises using sophisticated methodology for disguising the truth and telling lies have to be undertaken to befool the people.

As far as the domain of finances is concerned, we have data thrown at us to prove GDP growth, per capita income, poverty levels decreasing, inflation rising and falling; however, as we all know, data and statistics are only as good or bad as the people manufacturing them. The government comes out with one set of figures, the Opposition with another, the World Bank, the Asian Bank, Moody’s, and other private players have their own figures, and each set of figures comes with the stamp of eminent economists from the finance department, RBI, professors from Columbia, Harvard, etc. Recent events such as the telecom and coal scams, demonetisation, disinvestment of major national assets, etc, are all examples of muddled data and statistical artistry. You can believe whosoever you want to, some lies, some truth, some according to the ideology you subscribe to.

Let us briefly look at the internal and external security aspects. The normal uniformed police departments are supposed to perform their law and order duties. In India, these have become the handmaidens of the ruling parties, no matter which party is in power. In investigation and prosecution, fabricated versions of the truth are the norm today and not the exception. Then we have specialised agencies of the Government of India, that is the IB, NIA, CBI, ED, NCB, RAW, etc. Most of these agencies are not statutory bodies and are not answerable to Parliament. They have been created for specific purposes but again, made very flexible and malleable by the politicians in power to further their personal agendas. They get away with it because of no accountability. Foreign intelligence agencies of most countries indulge in intricate conspiracies, creating unrest in other nations, fuelling insurgencies. In most of these tasks, truth is the first casualty, the creation of misinformation and a cover story, etc, are the basic ingredients of this game. The Taliban were raised, trained and funded by the CIA with the help of ISI in order to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan.

Subsequently, after 9/11, the same Taliban and Afghanistan were bombed for 20 years; today, they are back again in the saddle and the Americans have left. New conspiracies are now being hatched by different blocs of countries to further their own goals in this strategic region. Similarly, in the second Gulf War, the Americans and the British with their allies descended on Iraq with all fury and fire — why? The Iraqis evidently had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) which posed a great threat to their national security. The United Nations inspectors came to the conclusion that there were no WMDs. The British and US intelligence said there was very reliable information to the contrary. And so, Iraq was reduced to rubble, Saddam killed, and petroleum resources were taken over. Later, it was admitted that no WMDs were ever found or that they existed — again, what was the truth, what were the lies and what did the people believe?

Coming closer home, what is happening on the LoC, the LAC and in the disturbed areas within the country? These are mostly inaccessible areas, and one has to go by the government’s handouts and by the media reporting on the handouts. Independent observers, mediapersons and Opposition parties have no access to these areas. Whereas government reports indicate that all is well at the LAC and LoC, other reports and purported satellite images show a different reality. Because of major national security issues being involved, I would like to believe the government’s truth, but I keep my fingers crossed.

One can go on and on and see how major and minor events have been preceded and succeeded by a web of lies. However, one more example of the big lie and which comes from the beacon of democracy is the last presidential election in the US. Joe Biden was officially declared elected, but his rival Donald Trump refused to accept the result and claimed that the election was stolen from him by the Democrats. He went on propagating ‘the big lie’ and encouraged an armed attack on the Capitol. Others labelled it as an insurrection and inquiries are ongoing. However, Trump continues his rhetoric, and his followers believe it. So, there is one truth that was officially declared, one enunciated by Trump and the people are divided on party lines. On the first anniversary of this infamous episode, President Biden stated that we have to face the truth for that is what great nations do: “they face the truth, deal with it and move on.”

I have not touched matters at home because of their religious and inflammatory nature. However, the major dramatis personae have their own brands of truth and lies — take your pick, but take it knowingly. It is still difficult to sift the truth from the lies, but it is becoming easier by the day for those who are willing to call out the lies when they see them. The child still tells harmless lies, but the grown-ups are becoming more malicious and vocal. What kind of world will we leave them — with a beacon of light and truth, or a chimera of darkness all around?

One last thought about the agency that was created by people and organisations of vision with lofty ideals and goals to help people sift through this maze of deceit and falsehoods — the media. From state-level newspapers and magazines to national chains, to the visual and social media, the original ideals have been replaced by a media controlled by state and corporate strangleholds. There are facts and alternate facts, myths and realities, heavy doses of fabrication and manipulation of truth… a few nuggets of truth are occasionally thrown in to keep up appearances. There do remain a few beacons of truth which shine ‘the light’. The emergence of social media with all its ‘freedom’ has led to further muddying the water and this medium is again dominated by those commandeering large armies of trolls. So, where do we go from here and whom do we believe — where does the truth lie? I, for one, hope that the media will rise to the occasion and follow the old dictum: “ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”.

— The writer is ex-chairman of UPSC, former Manipur Governor and served as the Jammu and Kashmir DGP

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