Opinion The Baba Boom

How protests levitate to mass movements through 24x7news surfeit

August 11, 2012 03:33 AM IST First published on: Aug 11, 2012 at 03:33 AM IST

Yet again,agitation is the flavour in favour. On Friday last week,former Army chief V K Singh broke Anna Hazares fast with a flanking attack,armed with coconut water well,he was beside Hazare on the dais. Then Arvind Kejriwal sounded the tocsin for electoral politics. He sang a song to mark the transition. An endless,keening,off-key song. It came with a statutory warning: Kejriwal had declared that he could not sing but was determined to do so. With so much entertainment free to air,TV anchors didnt have to do much except to keep the cameras rolling. But what the hell? The agitation was clearly over and this was a long,long,day-long goodbye to all the free programming it had provided for over a year.

In terms of dramatic potential,bringing back a bit of bronze from London is a piffle compared to Ramdevs project to retrieve solid gold from Zurich. So after a brief dalliance with the Olympics,news television swung eagerly towards him as he launched his token fast at Delhis Ramlila Grounds on Thursday. But it was like a remake with a new cast,or perhaps with Ramdev playing Hazare. Thursdays coverage began with the mandatory token genuflections at Rajghat. Ramdev wore a grimace intended to convey solemnity. Regretfully,one recalled Hazares lively sprint across the green with overweight policemen thundering in pursuit. That was such fun.

Two channels had rocket-assisted Team Annas takeoff and handed it limitless lifelines as its energy flagged Times Now and CNN-IBN. They had even been short with critics of the movement,who pointed out that the ends did not justify the means. These were the channels to watch as Ramdev launched Ramlila II,hoping to leave behind the ignominy of his first agitation,the Ravanlila from which he had fled in a salwar-kameez.

But less than ten minutes into prime time talktime,I was neglecting Rajdeep Sardesais show in favour of Arnab Goswamis. In a rare reversal of the order of nature,Goswami was on the mat and being held down by Madhu Trehan and Suhel Seth,though Trehan admitted that she felt uneasy about being totally on Seths side. Very unnatural,we agree. Should see a doctor immediately. But equally unnatural was the spectacle of Goswami standing up for the right to protest and not be censored. And quite unusually,Ved Pratap Vaidik,Team Babas designated defender,did not have to speak unless spoken to. His designated attackers were too busy attacking each other.

Trehan accused Goswami of pumping Ramdev and Anna Hazare before him with the oxygen of publicity,and he was guilty as charged. These movements could not have prospered without wall to wall TV coverage. Now that Anna has copped out,news on Ramdev runs 24×7,in video or on the ticker. Though,as Mani Shankar Aiyer pointed out,the numbers he has marshalled represent only a fraction of one parliamentary constituency.

Goswami protested that he cannot censor news. But Trehans question really was: should TV publicise movements to the extent that it works as a force-multiplier? The electoral ambitions of these movements is obvious after the Hazare camps decision to contest. Now,it is pointless to ask if Ramdev,too,will contest. The larger question is whether he is accumulating vote banks to be harvested by third parties. This has happened before,when the BJP invented the Sangh Parivar and deployed baba power to foreground Ram Janmabhoomi over all competing national issues. It is devious politics and TV news should not patronise it on the pretext of rejecting censorship.

pratik.kanjilal@expressindia.com