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Journalism of Courage
For a ruling party facing its toughest poll, its central office looks far too deserted at 10 in the morning. Barring the cleaning staff, security men and a lone policeman in slumber, there is no sign of life in the Banjara Hills headquarters of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly called Telangana Rashtra Samithi) in Hyderabad.
Is the Congress presence unnerving the party? Or is everyone out campaigning? Or, has the party president and Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR, handed over the campaign to his tech-savvy son and IT Minister K T Rama Rao, in which case its thrust would be more virtual than real?
All questions are answered or evaded when you finally detect activity in one small room on the second floor. This is the 24X7 newsroom of T News, the BRS’s own TV channel. From multiple screens on the wall, feeds are already streaming in from the CM’s campaign venues, scheduled for the day.
KCR begins his campaign post lunch. He has three stops, the last one at Suryapet, a major town not far from the capital city. The TV channel’s reporter is already there, sending periodic updates “from the very dais that is waiting for the evening star”. Besides talking up the events to its committed viewership, the channel doubles as CCTV, keeping an eye on the day’s campaign spots.
The editors at the channel newsroom stand in for absent spokespersons. With repeat references to the short history of the country’s youngest state, the incumbent’s achievements are listed. On every count, from image to scores on development. First, the appeal of the party’s poll symbol “car”. “The good old white Ambassador car, the enduring sign of State power. And a clear upgrade from the bicycle symbol of the Telugu Desam Party KCR walked out from in 2001.”
They go on: “The landlocked state with no access to sea launched a blue revolution to score record production of freshwater fish.” “Ours is the most gender sensitive party. There are schemes for school girls, working women and the elderly.” “Congressmen said we will mess up everything in the new state. Look at power sector. There is uninterrupted energy for industry and homes.”
Afternoon at Suryapet. KCR echoes every word of the above script with one addition. His favourite adjective seems to be “brahmandam (magnificent)”. The B-word with Sanskrit origin recurs right through the speech to describe his party’s achievements and goals – imparting to mundane matters a certain profundity.
Not everyone in the big crowd is exactly all ears. Some start leaving even as the leader begins to speak and there is a steady footfall all through the speech. “Don’t read too much into it,” cautions a local poll watcher. “People come for darshan of the neta. The neta descending in a helicopter is no longer a rare sight, but a ritual not to be missed. Also, you have to turn up to mark attendance. The cadre party monitors its ranks.”
The T News channel is all over the place. What the channel’s editors do with the drone shots of the early departing crowd is anybody’s guess. But they would have lapped up the arrivals for sure. The steady march towards the venue of young and old — women more than men — along the banks of the long canal from the main road in the early evening sun was an irresistible sequence for the camera.
