There are many things that television loves to do, but many news channels like nothing better than to ‘slam’ Congress – slam, by the way, is one of their favourite words.
Consider the past few days, first. On Tuesday, the morning had barely risen out of the pollution fog when channels started ringing the alarm bells over the Bharat Jodo Yatra spreading Covid in its wake. This comes after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote to the Congress asking it to either abide by Covid protocols or ‘halt’ the yatra (India Today).
That was enough for the channels to see red and turn their ire toward Congress: India TV and Zee News went so far as to accuse it of supporting China through its actions. After India TV asked if Congress would listen to the health minister, BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla made the most outrageous claim. “Maybe those who have taken money from China, want Covid jodo India,” he said viciously, referring to last week’s BJP allegations that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had accepted Chinese funding.
The channel featured a rebuttal from the Congress, but the headline was telling – “Will Rahul Gandhi listen?” to the health minister, it asked.
It took a reporter on CNN News 18 to point out that the Bharat Jodo Yatra was “reaching a very important leg” in North India and that the political “face off’’ – another popular word on news channels – could be due to that.
As the Congress led opposition parties to protest outside Parliament with demands for a debate on the recent India-China clash in Tawang, Zee News’ coverage of what it called ‘the opposition’s halla bol’ was equally nasty. One of its reporters wondered out loud whether the Congress was voicing ‘China ki baat’. He then added, “Does Rahul Gandhi want to help China?”
Should TV reporters be voicing such strong political opinions slyly masked as questions?
Congress leaders’ comments on the Centre’s handling of the border clash with China, including Sonia Gandhi’s, were widely reported, but news channels had left no doubt where their sympathies lay. “Ruckus, Disruption, Chaos” read a Republic TV headline on the Congress’s behaviour in Parliament. “Despite the Centre making its stand clear, the Opposition continues its stir…” added one of its anchors.
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TV’s attitude toward Congress
The political storm over India-China relations and the coronavirus protocols for Bharat Jodo Yatra on TV news Wednesday were only the latest in a string of negative stories about the Congress.
Monday began with “Congress infighting deepens” in Telangana (Times Now) and “Mega Hungama” (CNN News 18) by Congress over the unveiling of V.D. Savarkar’s portrait inside the Karnataka assembly. “It’s because of minority appeasement that Savarkar is not getting his due,” remarked an anchor on Times Now.
News channels also bellyached about “Sikh riots accused in Bharat Jodo meetings” (Times Now). The presence of Delhi Congress leader Jagdish Tytler was widely publicised and was even the subject of a debate on Times Now Monday evening.
Next, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks about PM Narendra Modi behaving like a “chuha” before China and his allegation that not even a “dog” in a BJP home had opposed the British during the freedom struggle came in for stinging criticism for the “insult” (Republic TV).
Nothing is more revealing of television’s attitude toward Congress than this. On Monday, the main debates on leading news channels concerned the party: the Savarkar portrait “row” and Jagdish Tytler on Times Now, #Honour Savarkar, #Cong Misogyny (regarding a Congress leader’s remark about Union Minister Smriti Irani) and #Rahul Insults Hindi, on Republic TV.
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Channels’ priority
Flashback to last week, 12 December to be exact. News channels were consumed by the reported call to “Murder Modi” (India Today) by a former Congress minister in Madhya Pradesh, Raja Pateria. Republic TV prominently featured the BJP response: Union Minister Smriti Irani wanted to know if the “Gandhi parivar” had sanctioned Pateria’s comment.
BJP MLA Vishvas Sarang added, nastily, that this was typical of “Italian sanskriti (culture)”, and for good measure. Zee News had Madhya Pradesh’s home minister allege that “this was not the party of (M.K.) Gandhi, this was Italy ka Congress”.
The reported misuse of Nirbhaya funds in Maharashtra for ministers’ security convoys was making news around the same time. It received scant attention on most news channels. It is worth noting that when BJP claims financial irregularities by Delhi’s AAP government, they are “Now Breaking News”.
And what to make of the comments against the Congress by Union Home Minister Amit Shah dominating news of the Tawang border skirmishes.
Week after week, the stories change, the script remains the same: “Expose Congress”. Not entirely sure why the party continues to receive media attention when it rules only three states.
They say negative publicity is often the best publicity. So shall we assume that rather than a “Congress-mukt Bharat”, news channels want the party to remain so that they have something to kick around?
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Tarannum Khan)