The media—and Sushma Swaraj—ought to be grateful. To Sonia Gandhi. Swaraj got to keep her hair and the media the public’s attention just when the fatigue of the elections was turning it back to the bahu brigade. No word of thanks from the former health minister, who sounded churlish like she had been cheated of the spotlight (or, was she genuinely looking for a reason to shave off her hair?), but the media expressed its gratitude by showering Sonia with unlimited footage and encomiums she is unlikely to forget—or ever hear again.Yes, comparisons with Mahatma Gandhi may have been too generous, yes talk of her ‘‘tyag’’ was hyperbole, yes the people reporting the events were often carried away by the felicity of their own words/descriptions (now, now, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vikram Chandra)—but you try doing better. Blame the babble on the heat generated by the season, the occasion—and the agitated Congress party workers.As viewers we were unable to detach our eyes from the TV screen, never knowing when Sonia might make her announcement. So, to demand detachment from those on the spot, seems unfair. For hours, they had to fill in the blanks with something because nothing except tidbits of info, and no one, least of all Sonia, was emerging from 10 Janpath.What would you do if you had to stand there till your toes fell off and keep viewers on the edge of their seats, keep them not only informed and entertained but from switching to another channel? You would sound full of import, excited as though any moment was The Moment; you would impress them with a volley of adjectives (‘‘extraordinary, historic, unparalleled’’—or their equivalents in Hindi); you would keep them hanging by constantly trying to make stale information sound fresh (Sonia told party leaders she doesn’t want to be PM, Soniaji renounces the crown, Sonia Gandhi rejects pleas to be PM.); you would let every politician or party worker speak so that you could rest your vocal chords—and you would indulge in endless ‘‘speculation’’, because there was nothing happening anyway. Look, only one event of significance occurred: Sonia’s ‘‘inner voice’’ had spoken to her. And we were all hanging around for two days to hear what it said. Which is precisely what the news channels did.Still, in these extraordinary times, ‘‘historic’’ lasts only till the next bulletin. Take Monday. In the morning, the news channels behaved like the world had ended. Not because of Sonia’s tyag (that would come later) but because the Sensex, rather like Humpty-Dumpty, had had a great fall. Such was the pandemonium, you could almost hear the shares crash. After such high-voltage stuff, came Sonia’s bolt from the blue and exhausted anchors and reporters had to raise the pitch again. Some restraint, please?Still, this was live television, not rehearsed and unputdownable. Best moments? Sonia’s speech to her parliamentary party colleagues and the interviews with Rahul and Priyanka, afterwards (DD News and then NDTV). Priyanka is the most accomplished speaker in the family, and the more Rahul speaks on camera, the more he reveals of himself. After his victory in Amethi he was restrained and modest, on Tuesday he was more loquacious but still low-key. Wednesday, outside Parliament, he went aggro with his ‘‘I pity them.(they are) seriously a joke’’ remarks about the BJP. His impatience (and something else?) also showed through when he snapped, ‘‘Don’t call me ‘Sir’—that irritates me.’’And what of three and a half hours of Congress MPs? Did we have to listen to their obsequiousness? The next day, the Press was left outside the party meeting—and what did we get? Speculation. So, take your pick.If you believe in the wisdom of hindsight, you’ll say that Dr Manmohan Singh’s elevation to PM was pre-ordained because he was the one who spoke to the media for the Congress on every occasion. Not just on economic affairs—Monday night, it was he who announced that Sonia will be the next PM. So maybe her tyag coincided with his kismet.
