In the new year, a rough beast will slouch its way towards Parliament to take a seat in the backbenches. Who is this beast? The media, of course. The hottest new political trend noticed in the US and the UK is the death of the Opposition and the rise of the Media-As-Opposition. The Tories are at their lowest ratings ever and the Democrats are floundering in the face of Bush’s patriotic revolution. Most noticeably in India where national security plus Hindutva plus patriotism plus regional coalitions are ranged against the descendants of Nehru, what can the Opposition do but quietly die? Sing a sad song for Nehru’s aulad and turn instead to the TV channels and the newspapers because it is the media which now provides at least the semblance of any opposition to the BJP-led NDA. After the Gujarat results whom did the government abuse most gleefully? Not the Opposition, but the media. The media failed miserably to understand the situation, thundered the deputy prime minister. The media has lost, roared Jayalalithaa. Time for the media to apologise, gloated Narendra. Contrary to everything the media led us to believe, smiled the prime minister, we have won the election. Now hang on a minute, folks. Now that you’ve won a bravura election victory, isn’t it the Opposition that you’re supposed to be attacking? But no, after the Gujarat elections, it was the victory over the media rather than victory over the Congress, that seemed far more tantalising. In the ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ mentality of this government, the media is seen to be on the side of the ‘English-speaking’‘convent educated’ ‘Macaulayists’ whom the sangh hates almost as much as it hates Muslims. Let us take other examples of the Media-As-Opposition. When a scandal on allotments of petrol pumps rocked the nation, where did we turn to see the government being taken to task? Did we turn to vigilant Opposition MPs? No, we turned instead to the pages of this newspaper. When we wished to see Narendra being dissected, did we turn to the parliamentary Opposition? No, we turned to television interviews. When corruption in defence deals came to light, did we once again turn to Opposition MPs? No, we turned to a website. A democratic Opposition in the true sense of the term, which should interrogate the government, hold it to account, expose its failures and question its motives, is gone. The golden years of the Indian Opposition when Jayaprakash Narayan galvanised citizens against the Emergency, is over. The Opposition space has been filled with 24-hour news channels, mega multi-edition newspapers and high profile magazines. Which institution is just as sexy as Hindutva? The media. The stars of the media are almost as much in the public eye as the stars of Hindutva An important reason for the rise of the Media-As-Opposition has to do with the decline of Parliament. 35.6 percent of MPs in the first Lok Sabha were lawyers. By the 11th Lok Sabha, 52 per cent of the House were farmers. Widening democracy brought in exciting new sons-of-the-soil who were strongly popular but badly behaved. The Cambridge-educated Indrajit Gupta once lamented long and loud after the Yadav brotherhood had stormed the well for the nth time. Younger MPs today privately admit that Parliament is either dreary or violent. In the recently concluded winter session, for example, there were only 28 MPs present during the debate on disinvestment. During the debate on drought, the government was hard pressed to find the numbers required to meet the quorum. Besides, when was the last time you heard a really interesting speech from an MP? There is another reason why the media has stepped in as Opposition. This is because government and Opposition are Siamese twins on corruption. On the petrol pumps allotments scam, for example, it was well-known that the patronage system began with the Congress with the fashionable Satish Sharma playing as dubious a role as the walrus-faced Ram Naik. The kick-back culture in defence too has been directly traced to the Congress, and the name of the secular messiah Mulayam Singh Yadav tends to drift into every conversation on defence scams. On the disinvestment issue, it was found that rival MPs on both sides of the secular divide were little more than spokespersons for corporate houses. And when it comes to ‘state-sponsored’ riots, the recent acquittal of the grinning Sajjan Kumar, accused in the 1984 Delhi riots, reveals that when political bosses are allegedly involved in communal violence, not much is resolved either way, whether the tough guy in question is draped in the tricolour or swathed in saffron. Government and Opposition are indistinguishable, so naturally it is up to the media to play the role of exposer, interlocutor and cop. Also, the Opposition at the moment, like the Democrats in the US, has been crowded out by the government’s monopoly on nation, religion and security. Hindutva is proving far too sexy to be defeated by important but dull homilies on pluralism. And although it could be argued that regional factors might defeat the H-word in the states, yet when it comes to a dramatic enough ideology, the Opposition has still not been able to find an exciting enough alternative. SAHMAT-style secularism, while courageous and well-intentioned, is hardly politically empowered enough to battle the mob. The guitar-strumming lyrics of Bob Dylan are powerless against the Bajrang Dal. And the political thekedars of secularism have played into the hands of the VHP: notice the soft Hindutva of the Congress and the fancy flip-flops of the bearded wonders Chandrababu and Paswan. But which institution is just as sexy as Hindutva? The media. The stars of the media are almost as much in the public eye as the stars of Hindutva. The media is just as attention-seeking as Togadia’s speeches. The media’s massive reach, the sheer decibel level of the morning headline and new technology makes it the Adversary No 1 of the government of the day. A screaming headline can consign a political career to dust. A cleverly repeated visual can influence election results. No wonder the government is so keen to break the media-opposition, by offering journalists seats in the Rajya Sabha, Padma awards and appointments in the state. No wonder the government bashes the media with one hand but seduces it with the other. When the government takes on the media, the battle is delicious. When the government takes on the parliamentary Opposition. bah! Boring. The Opposition is dead. But the media is alive and kicking where it hurts. E-mail the Author
