Opinion Losing the Conspiracy Plot
What Mamatas stun grenade did to news TV
What Mamatas stun grenade did to news TV
Mamata Banerjee lobbed her stun grenade into a crowd of reporters outside Sonia Gandhis residence but it did most damage in distant TV news studios. Immediately after she outed Gandhis candidates for Rashtrapati Bhavan,anchors were vying to drum up the most riveting conspiracy theory of the evening. It was generally agreed that Banerjees rebellion was pre-planned and stage-managed. It was even speculated that Sonia Gandhi was using Banerjee as a cats paw to clean out her own stables. That was ascribing too much tactical brilliance to the former and too little character to the latter,but it deterred no one as the channels drifted,looping almost identical footage with identical quotes over and over again to kill time.
Zee News stood apart in that confused moment,with guests frankly admitting that they were clueless. And among the English anchors,the improbably confident Arnab Goswami unexpectedly turned soft and cuddly and declared that he was all at sea. Believe no one, he laughed cheerfully. No one has any idea.
Thereafter,though,Goswamis Newshour refused to let go of the idea that Something Was Up. How could a leader with just four per cent of the electoral college work up the gumption to embarrass her government and put up a list of presidential candidates of her own,unless someone who casts a longer shadow had backed her play?
The question is easily answered by those who know Banerjee well. She adores impossible projects,grand but meaningless gestures and lively spats (remember her dhamki diya to dekh lega speech the next day?). In her state,she is carrying forward the great tradition of the Left garnering voter sympathy by grousing relentlessly about step-motherly treatment by the Centre. Just the idea of scuppering the chances of Pranab Mukherjee,who has steadfastly resisted her demands for a bailout package for West Bengal,would be sufficient provocation.
In the early hours after Banerjees dramatic revelations,Vinod Mehta was the only studio guest to reject conspiracy theories outright. Indeed,Banerjee has made no secret of her exasperation with Mukherjee,the man who stands between her and an extended honeymoon funded by Central money in West Bengal,where the urban electorate is already as tired of her as she is of Mukherjee. In an interview with Sagarika Ghosh a few weeks ago,when asked if she would back the son of Bengal,she had sneered,Is he a son of Bengal?
No secret,no conspiracy. And yet Goswamis programme became a site of fruity aap-pehle bonhomie between seasoned journalists including the anchor each insisting that the other had got the plot first. It got so peachily clubby that Chandan Mitra,currently a parliamentarian but originally a journalist as highly seasoned as a good pastrami,felt impelled to invoke his 30 years experience in newspapers,while answering a question which had nothing to do with journalism.
Meanwhile,common sense was sporadically visible across channels. Guests on Zee News were perhaps the first to point out the obvious,that if the Congress and the BJP found common ground,they could select consensus candidates for both the presidents and vice presidents posts without any drama. It is surprising that this option got almost no play in the endless TV debates on Wednesday. And it was only on Thursday that the UPA was taken to task. Far from consulting the Opposition,it had not even taken its allies into its confidence until the very last minute. Complacency,treacly slowness and bureaucratic clumsiness,fundamental character traits of this government,had conspired to open a window of opportunity for Banerjee. That was the sum of the conspiracy.
pratik.kanjilal@expressindia.com
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