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The rise of the Media-As-Opposition
 Sagarika Ghose

In the new year, a rough beast will slouch its way towards Parliament to take 
a seat in the backbenches. Who is this beast? The media, of course. The 
hottest new political trend noticed in the US and the UK is the death of the 
Opposition and the rise of the Media-As-Opposition. The Tories are at their 
lowest ratings ever and the Democrats are floundering in the face of Bush's 
patriotic revolution. Most noticeably in India where national security plus 
Hindutva plus patriotism plus regional coalitions are ranged against the 
descendants of Nehru, what can the Opposition do but quietly die? Sing a sad 
song for Nehru's aulad and turn instead to the TV channels and the newspapers 
because it is the media which now provides at least the semblance of any 
opposition to the BJP-led NDA. 

After the Gujarat results whom did the government abuse most gleefully? Not 
the Opposition, but the media. The media failed miserably to understand the 
situation, thundered the deputy prime minister. The media has lost, roared 
Jayalalithaa. Time for the media to apologise, gloated Narendra. Contrary to 
everything the media led us to believe, smiled the prime minister, we have 
won the election. Now hang on a minute, folks. Now that you've won a bravura 
election victory, isn't it the Opposition that you're supposed to be 
attacking? But no, after the Gujarat elections, it was the victory over the 
media rather than victory over the Congress, that seemed far more 
tantalising. In the 'Us' versus 'Them' mentality of this government, the 
media is seen to be on the side of the 'English-speaking''convent educated' 
'Macaulayists' whom the sangh hates almost as much as it hates Muslims. 




Let us take other examples of the Media-As-Opposition. When a scandal on 
allotments of petrol pumps rocked the nation, where did we turn to see the 
government being taken to task? Did we turn to vigilant Opposition MPs? No, 
we turned instead to the pages of this newspaper. When we wished to see 
Narendra being dissected, did we turn to the parliamentary Opposition? No, we 
turned to television interviews. When corruption in defence deals came to 
light, did we once again turn to Opposition MPs? No, we turned to a website. 


A democratic Opposition in the true sense of the term, which should 
interrogate the government, hold it to account, expose its failures and 
question its motives, is gone. The golden years of the Indian Opposition when 
Jayaprakash Narayan galvanised citizens against the Emergency, is over. The 
Opposition space has been filled with 24-hour news channels, mega 
multi-edition newspapers and high profile magazines. 

An important reason for the rise of the Media-As-Opposition has to do with the 
decline of Parliament. 35.6 percent of MPs in the first Lok Sabha were 
lawyers. By the 11th Lok Sabha, 52 per cent of the House were farmers. 
Widening democracy brought in exciting new sons-of-the-soil who were strongly 
popular but badly behaved. The Cambridge-educated Indrajit Gupta once 
lamented long and loud after the Yadav brotherhood had stormed the well for 
the nth time. Younger MPs today privately admit that Parliament is either 
dreary or violent. In the recently concluded winter session, for example, 
there were only 28 MPs present during the debate on disinvestment. During the 
debate on drought, the government was hard pressed to find the numbers 
required to meet the quorum. Besides, when was the last time you heard a 
really interesting speech from an MP? 

There is another reason why the media has stepped in as Opposition. This is 
because government and Opposition are Siamese twins on corruption. On the 
petrol pumps allotments scam, for example, it was well-known that the 
patronage system began with the Congress with the fashionable Satish Sharma 
playing as dubious a role as the walrus-faced Ram Naik. The kick-back culture 
in defence too has been directly traced to the Congress, and the name of the 
secular messiah Mulayam Singh Yadav tends to drift into every conversation on 
defence scams. On the disinvestment issue, it was found that rival MPs on 
both sides of the secular divide were little more than spokespersons for 
corporate houses. And when it comes to 'state-sponsored' riots, the recent 
acquittal of the grinning Sajjan Kumar, accused in the 1984 Delhi riots, 
reveals that when political bosses are allegedly involved in communal 
violence, not much is resolved either way, whether the tough guy in question 
is draped in the tricolour or swathed in saffron. Government and Opposition 
are indistinguishable, so naturally it is up to the media to play the role of 
exposer, interlocutor and cop. 


Also, the Opposition at the moment, like the Democrats in the US, has been 
crowded out by the government's monopoly on nation, religion and security. 
Hindutva is proving far too sexy to be defeated by important but dull 
homilies on pluralism. And although it could be argued that regional factors 
might defeat the H-word in the states, yet when it comes to a dramatic enough 
ideology, the Opposition has still not been able to find an exciting enough 
alternative. SAHMAT-style secularism, while courageous and well-intentioned, 
is hardly politically empowered enough to battle the mob. The 
guitar-strumming lyrics of Bob Dylan are powerless against the Bajrang Dal. 
And the political thekedars of secularism have played into the hands of the 
VHP: notice the soft Hindutva of the Congress and the fancy flip-flops of the 
bearded wonders Chandrababu and Paswan. 


But which institution is just as sexy as Hindutva? The media. The stars of the 
media are almost as much in the public eye as the stars of Hindutva. The 
media is just as attention-seeking as Togadia's speeches. The media's massive 
reach, the sheer decibel level of the morning headline and new technology 
makes it the Adversary No 1 of the government of the day. A screaming 
headline can consign a political career to dust. A cleverly repeated visual 
can influence election results. No wonder the government is so keen to break 
the media-opposition, by offering journalists seats in the Rajya Sabha, Padma 
awards and appointments in the state. No wonder the government bashes the 
media with one hand but seduces it with the other. When the government takes 
on the media, the battle is delicious. When the government takes on the 
parliamentary Opposition... bah! Boring. 


The Opposition is dead. But the media is alive and kicking where it hurts.