- Geetartha Pathak
Once again the BJP led NDA came to power with sweeping majority, thanks to politics of polarization, deft use of matters in electoral campaign, connivance of the poll regulatory body and media manipulation. Now the division of Indian society seems to be complete. We can clearly see the fault lines between the north and the south, the majority and the minority, and between the forces of secularism and the communalism. The majoritarian sentiments overshadowed all other essential considerations in choosing a candidate for vote. Unemployment, black money, bank fraud, farmers' distress, price rise, slow growth and all other vital issues were usurped by Pakistan bashing, military jingoism, martyrdom of our soldiers at the borders and ram Mandir. Black money for which demonetization was done bringing immense hardship to the economy and the people of the country was no more an election issue. A section of Indian media instead of bringing these vital issues that concerned the general people on debating platform have loudly echoed the divisive line of the ruling dispensation.
Biased Media
Failure of a section of mainstream Indian media in covering the breach of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by the powerful politicians and the biased role of election Commission of India is widely discussed by the media watch groups. This section of media also has failed to respond ethically to the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack and subsequent Balakot surgical strike which were made a prelude to the election campaign of 2019 Lok Sabha. While it is duty of the press to be neutral in election coverage, it is also important for vigilant media to focus on violations of MCC by powerful politicians and also any malfunctioning in the regulatory institutions which are vital for democratic exercises like holding of elections.
Majority of young voters especially the first time voters who are yet to enter the competitive market of employment and are oblivious of non fulfillment of BJP's electoral promise during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections of one crore jobs a year, were influenced by the Pulwama and Balakot factors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to the first time voters to dedicate their votes to the CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama and the Balakot strike back perhaps worked very well. In doing so he took the risk of attracting charges of model code of conduct violation. Modi got a clean chit from the election Commission – though with dissent note of one of the three election commissioners. It is unfortunate that the election Commission has refused to make the dissent note of one of the election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa public by ignoring his demand to record his opinion on the order.
Victory of Right Wing elsewhere
Interestingly Modi's landslide victory coincided with electoral victory of two leaders of the ruling right wing parties in Israel and Philippines. Israel's prime Minister and the leader of the country's ruling right wing Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu comfortably won the election and he is serving his fifth term as the prime Minister of the Jewish state though he is facing a pending criminal indictment on bribery and fraud charges by Israel's attorney general. Allegations against Netanyahu include seeking a secret deal with the publisher of Israel's top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot to ensure positive coverage in return for pushing forward a law that would have limited the circulation of a rival publication.
Another probe involves suspicions the premier and his family received luxury presents from wealthy individuals in exchange for financial or personal favours. It is to be noted that under Netanyahu's leadership Israel passed a law declaring that "the right to exercise national self determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people" thereby excluding Arabs and non Jewish minorities from the national identity. The law resembles the Citizenship Amendment bill brought by the Modi government. Understandably Netanyahu is among the world leaders who first congratulated Naredra Modi for his landslide victory.
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte recently won a convincing victory in a mid term election that were seen as a referendum on his controversial way of functioning. Duterte has tighten his grip on a country where he faces allegations of authoritarianism, sexism and widespread human right violations. Winning of an election is not endorsement of all the follies of political leaders, corruption and criminal acts. It is relevant here to quote from the editorial of one of the UK's leading newspapers the Gaurdians, which says-"the world does not need another national populist leader who pursues a pro-business agenda while trading in fake news and treating minorities as second-class citizens ".
Majoritarian Media
The majoritarian attitude of a section of media in covering minority affairs and news involving minority is also evident. Two Kerala youths Nizamudeen and Razik Raheem along with three others who were arrested on sedition charges and jailed for more than three years were acquitted by the Kerala High Court on April 12.Tthe acquitted men are angry with the media for "acting as mouthpieces of the police" and spreading "blatant lies" against them. "Media made our lives miserable by publishing unsubstantiated and imaginative stories," said one of the acquitted men. Malayalam newspapers Mangalam and Kerala Kaumudi had reported, quoting anonymous police officials that they were conspiring to bomb Aluva railway station.
Both the newspapers reported that the police had seized from them an Aluva railway station map and an India map without Kashmir. The Kerala Kaumudi also reported that Razik's wife, who was working with the software giant IBM in Bangalore, had close links with Pakistani terrorists, and the police suspected her of helping terrorists use IBM's servers. The newspapers wrote that the police had seized a book called 'Mass resistance in Kashmir' published by the Institute of police research in Pakistan from them.
However the police failed to submit any such seized documents in the court. While in jail Nizamudeen has lost his mother and father and he is the lone surviving member of his family. "Don't we deserve to get an apology from the media houses that tarnished our image in public?" said one of the acquitted Kerala youth. soon after the BJP government came to power in 2014, there was a media hunt in Assam after police arrested six youths for alleged involvement with Bangladesh terror group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) which was responsible in October 2, 2014 Burdwan (West Bengal) blast.
All the minority inhabited areas of the state were depicted as dens of Islamic militant groups. Majority of the media outlets in the state carried speculative news and views for at least a month demonizing the Muslims of the state. Perhaps that was a strategy of polarization of people of Assam in religious line before the run up for the 2016 Assembly elections in Assam which was eventually won by the BJP led alliance. Later on it was revealed that Muslims as a community were not sheltering or supporting Islamic militancy. Involvement of one or two disgruntled element cannot be generalized in blaming the entire community.
Overwhelming victory of Narendra Modi led BJP in the 17th Lok Sabha election cannot justify the party's failure to fulfil the electoral promises made during 2014 parliamentary elections. The renowned essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra commenting on BJP's getting massive mandate in his article in the New York times "How Narendra Modi seduced India with envy and hate", said "the sources of Modi's impregnable charisma seen more mysterious when you consider that he failed completely to realize his central promises of 2014 election".
The author of the book Age of Anger - Mishra wrote that since 2014 Modi's near novelistic ability to create irresistible fictions has been steadily enhanced by India's troll dominated social media as well as cravenly sycophantic newspapers and television channels. It is true that the Modi government divided the integral Indian society by pursuing politics of polarization on religious line. It is true that intolerance and hatred marked the five years governance of the Modi government. It is also true that the actual growth rate of the country remained stagnant. Make in India, start up India. Digital India, ujjala scheme and Swachh Bharat mission have miserably failed.
The BJP should realize that the truth cannot be voted out. We may hope that BJP led government in its second term will come forward to fulfill all of its electoral promises and build unity and integrity of the nation by shedding its majoritarian cloak. Media of the country has a bigger role to play in the future to make this incumbent government accountable to people and as a watchdog or a real chowkidar to guard the democratic institutions of the country from the onslaught of the powers that be.
