Everybody fumed after Zee News editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary, after the exit polls that gave a clear majority to the Aam Aadmi Party, reprimanded the citizens of Delhi for not being concerned enough about “national” issues. But what many forgot was that after the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, many articulate voices on the Left and the liberal side of politics also fell for the same ‘blame the voter’ syndrome.
When it comes to election results the voter is the punching bag for everybody across the political spectrum.
“People of Delhi don’t care about the Ram Mandir or Kashmir… They are busy in their own personal affairs and are not influenced by larger national issues,” Chaudhary said in his DNA programme.
Chaudhary’s statements expressing discontent with the Delhi voters riled the Twitterverse, with some calling him a communal bigot. But how is Chaudhary’s “meltdown” any different from the Left and the liberals blaming Indian voters for re-electing Narendra Modi and his BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election? Or former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav lashing out at Uttar Pradesh voters at a press conference immediately after the 2017 election results that gave a clean sweep to the BJP and later catapulted Adityanath?
Following the BJP’s return in 2019, some were sarcastic, asking not to underestimate the “intelligence of voters” who have been known to elect Hitler, Trump, Putin, and Erdogan to power. A few others targeted the Indian voters by calling them “too generous” because they gave their votes to Modi despite him not “delivering ‘Achhe Din’”. Some argued that despite the outcome of the Lok Sabha election, India would remain “battered and undivided”. Others called the voters bigoted and communal on social media.
Also read: Foolish to think Hindus who voted Modi twice will shift due to threat to Muslim citizenship
Easy target
The voter has always been an easy target to tarnish by the disgruntled section which considers the election result to be unfavourable. There is an urgent need to restore some respect to the voter’s choice, agency and intelligence. Instead, blame the politicians.
The Delhi assembly election witnessed dirty politics and deliberate mudslinging by political leaders, who steered away from issues that are of interest to the voters – water, electricity, public transport, education.
The poisonous campaign deprived the voter of any insight into the policies of the political parties and their plans for the city’s development. From being targeted as “communal and bigoted” after the Lok Sabha election to now being labelled as “anti-national” and “lazy” after the Delhi assembly election, not much has changed for the Indian voter.
Also read: You can’t cancel Modi, RSS: Why US-style identity politics won’t help Indian liberals’ fight
Media also to blame
Indian journalists, especially the TV news media, must share a part of the blame. The media aided Delhi’s unscrupulous campaign by unwittingly allowing communal chants and divisive political parties to take centre stage and dominate the election discourse. All important, voter-related issues were buried under BJP leaders’ loud calls to “shoot the gadaar (traitors)” and Arvind Kejriwal’s invention of a safe, new kind of nationalism or kattar deshbhakti. The media ignited tensions by scrutinising chants by minor party members and by playing into fake news.
Blaming the voter for the outcome is lazy on the part of both liberal and Right-wing voices. Question the state of a voter’s choice and not the merit of his/her decision. Attacking the voter for not producing a result favourable to one’s inclination is a futile exercise.
All nationalists and patriots love Sudhir Chaudhary.. Its only the ‘chamchas’,traitors, who hate him. He is the BEST JOURNALIST.
U lo*sers have nothing else to do except spreading rumors, lies and hatred..
LOVE U SUDHIR CHAUDHARY…
Well done ‘the print’!
Just shut up u dum*ass and fools…
How come when dog bewasi barks no one files FIR ? BS secular crap
Nobody was more upset in 2019 win for Modi than shekhar gupta. He sounded so frustrated almost in tears.
More than Sudhir, it it you Kairvy who has a bigoted mindset in justifying an indefensible. In justifying Sudhir’s actions, you are implying that Sudhir is a politician rather than a journalist.
When any political group or public group blames then it is understandable that there is clash of thoughts or policies. But when a mainstream TV anchor does it then its wrong. Media has to be neutral otherwise they has to be renamed as particular party’s spokesperson. In that case they are useless to public and a democracy.
Only one generalized comment: Bhaag *#shjggdk
Where *#shjggdk =Sudheer Chaudhary
Hard to digest this article, you are comparing a journalist to politicians,.. Journalism has a big responsibility to show truth being neutral… I Don’t understand what kind of hatred and favoritism journalist are learning…
Guys please stop referring to Sudhir Chaudhary as a journalist
#BoycottZeeNews as they humiliated our Citizens of Delhi ncr……who the hell is he to decide to whom delhi people should cast their vote it is their right to elect any one….it is peoples choice nt sudhir chawdhrys buisness to interfere??
Never expected this kind of erroneous PoV from The Print! This anchor (read not journalist) in question has a pattern of coming up with jingoistic perspectives, he’ll be quite apt in writing and acting in Saas Bahu Saga rather than serving public at large.
Never expected this kind of erroneous PoV from The Print! This anchor (read not journalist) in question has a pattern of coming up with jingoistic perspectives, he’ll be quite apt in writing and acting in Saas Bahu Saga rather than serving public at large.
By his comments on zee news often it is seen a political will and being biased and using inappropriate words for people of india. Such kind of journalism should be demoted. He should be sorry for what he said but today again he is using inappropriate words for people of India. Either he doesn’t know what he is saying or he is very well paid.
Yep! This point is obvious to everyone. But how come the author has no understanding of the basic tenets of journalism, and how did The Print’s editors allow this article to be published?
Or is the author implying that mediapersons are not even professionals anymore, and that their reporting/editorial position would carry only as much weight as a layperson’s views?
This article is clearly not logical. Defending a low life of a journalist, like Tihar Chaudhary, when he insults the Delhi people is stupid. Readers aren’t fools to believe this crap.
Seriously!!! an article to defend Sudhir Chowdhary….. !! What a shame.
Everyone has a right to criticize , it is the basis for criticism (a mandatory requirement) that decides utility of his criticism.
Whoever has written this article has just missed a very small point. In this need to defend Sudhir Chaudhary who might/might not be directly related to them they have missed out a very obvious point behind everyone’s anger.
The articulate voices of the Left are not broadcasting it on a NEWS SHOW. A JOURNALIST SPEWING HATE FOR THE VOTERS ON A PRIME TIME is the biggest low Indian Journalism could have gone to. Apart from this, the need to defend him with just a line
“But what many forgot was that after the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, many articulate voices on the Left and the liberal side of politics also fell for the same ‘blame the voter’ syndrome.”
Is much lower than Sudhir Choudhary. At least his propaganda is clear. You are just trying to hide behind a line, to produce the whole article and deny the voters the basic right they have; outrage on someone who is blaming a population on national television being a news anchor.
Have some basic shame Sudhir Chaudhary and Have some basic shame Kairvy Grewal
Precisely, Voters have been at blame for making a constitutionally bestowed choice by the losing political groups, but a journalist is expected to be fundamentally neutral. If he or she has a political affiliation, that person is called a spokesperson and not a journalist.
Please get your contexts right.