Opinion Finally,it’s Talktime

Now,the PM must be the slowest draw East and West,but that’s because his barrel is as long as Wyatt Earp’s. He has eventually spoken out whenever the Opposition has tried to delay reform by paralysing the House — most recently,last year. And he does like to stick it back when the Opposition draws blood in direct attacks.

There’s some archival video on the websites of India Today and Pakistan’s Geo TV from May 2009,when the BJP,led by LK Advani,had accused Singh’s government of what the ads for under-the-counter pick-me-ups allude to as “weakness”. He had struck back by pointing out that the Kandahar hijack and terrorist attacks on the Red Fort,Akshardham,Parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly had happened on the NDA’s watch. And he had unmanned the BJP with the Kargil conflict,which was plotted while AB Vajpayee was pursuing bus diplomacy.

The Prime Minister’s Lok Sabha address alone triggered so much speculation. Sardesai had titled his programme,“Can Manmohan Singh be written off as a politician?” Er,what? He was never signed on in that capacity. He plays the part only when he is under unbearable political attack.

The news,it appears,will obsess on anything that Manmohan Singh says or Rahul Gandhi does,since these events are as rare and precious as bamboo flowerings. However,the action is drifting away from TV to social media,where the Congress and the government have begun to natter. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is rolling out a social media wing. The government is opening YouTube channels and individual Congressmen are being herded online by their famously reclusive party. P Chidambaram has done a Google+ Hangout,which is a posh name for an old-style Web chat,with video.

An edition of Nidhi Razdan’s Left,Right and Centre tracked the Congress fightback online but naturally,it was impossible to arrive at any conclusions. Sanjay Jha went first,and what is it about him that makes you suspect that he will sell you a dictionary or encyclopedia you do not need? He recalled the taped poll calls that everyone used to get from AB Vajpayee,which could not prevent an NDA rout. He accused the BJP of paying people to tweet,which occasioned Seshadri Chari to complain that he had not been paid for years. He said that Congress supporters tweeted with their hearts,and that set off those disaffected with the Congress.

Tavleen Singh said that the party was not “au courant” with “new media” (two quaint phrases in quick succession),and that it was like “putting an AK47 in the hands of a monkey” (are typewriters out of style?) The columnist Sadanand Dhume said the party was developing the “DAVP of Twitter”.

And for afters,there were Smriti Irani and Manish Tewari. The former said that the youth online were disappointed with the Congress. “That’s why we keep ahead at the hustings,” crowed the latter. It’s pointless to speculate without quantifying the impact of internet media on elections in India.

pratik.kanjilal@expressindia.com