Opinion Telescope: Who’s the smartest of them all?
TV chats work for some politicians. For others, they clearly don’t.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi (Source: PTI Photo)
You may not be seeing much of the election campaign in Bihar, or only seeing it when gentlemen by the name of Modi or Rahul deliver speeches there, but that doesn’t prevent you hearing from the major contestants. Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Amit Shah and Ram Vilas Paswan — even Pappu Yadav — have made themselves readily available to news TV.
Last week, Aaj Tak provided a platform for major leaders to tell you why the people of Bihar must not make the mistake of voting for their opponents. This week, India TV has a Chunav Manch with the leading leaders — well, how else to distinguish between so many of them?
On Tuesday, one heard BJP president Amit Shah insist his party was in favour of reservations — and so said all of his spokespersons on other channel debates. When the anchor had the temerity to suggest that contrary signals were being emitted by the Sangh Parivar, he replied with becoming hauteur, “I am the president of the party and I am saying so.” So that was that.
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Paswan and son relaxed in a garden for Zee News for an informal chat on dynastic politics. Father dominated and it didn’t help that Chirag often had his back to the camera.
Lalu did a repeat performance of his one-man-seated comic show. Unconvinced the TV interview format best suits Lalu’s prodigious talents as speaker-cum-entertainer. He needs the vast expanse of a public audience, the stature of Parliament or the ordinary surroundings of his home to do justice to himself. Seated sort of slumped in a studio chair with a serious anchor beside him for company — nah, his sarcasm and oratory are lost — and the close-ups don’t help.
Nitish looks better — earnest and serious. That may be the problem: Does he take himself too seriously for an evening before the box? Modi doesn’t smile much, but he has a force of personality that cannot be resisted; Nitish’s almost dour mien doesn’t grab the eyeballs.
Rahul Gandhi is trying to command our attention: Three public speeches in three days. Interestingly, many news channels didn’t consider those important enough for live coverage. For instance, last Saturday — when little else was making news — he flagged off the Congress poll campaign in Bihar with a rally in Champaran. Channels like Aaj Tak, ABP, Zee News, India TV ignored him.
One thing’s for sure: Rahul has been taking Hindi-speaking and speech-giving lessons. His delivery and fluency have improved as has his ability to speak extempore — well alright, he does look at his notes now and again — and again. Perhaps Narendra Modi’s far superior talents in this respect have spurred the Congress vice president to lift his performance.
However, why do we get the impression that Rahul is addressing a much larger national audience than the people who attend his meetings? Perhaps because he repeats what he has said inside and just outside Parliament during the monsoon session? He may need the services of a new speech-writer: Time to kick out the “suit-boot” comment, which was wonderfully inventive when he first made it but has lost spit and polish with every mention since.
Lastly, who is Mahesh Sharma? An overnight TV personality. Otherwise, the minister of culture. Suddenly, he’s making made-for-TV quotes on everything and everyone from Aurangzeb and former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to girls’ night-outs, the Bible and Quran, Hindi and meat. Apart from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
All the world loves a lover and all TV news loves quotable quotes, so has Sharma become someone we love to hear?
shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com
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