Live television news is the best television.
Did you watch a lively Kamala Harris take down a grump called Donald Trump at the live TV presidential debate? Or Rahul Gandhi’s discovery of India in the US? And please, please tell me you saw the live telecast of the Supreme Court hearing on the rape and murder case in Kolkata?
The SC session was full of suspense – and for real. To hear lawyers battle over the finest, smallest details in the post-mortem report or the FIR, listen to Chief Justice DY Chandrachud scold lawyer and BJP member Kustav Bagchi. “Are you trying to address the gallery outside the court? Can you first lower your pitch? Listen to the Chief Justice?”— and hear him dictate the court’s observations…oh wow, this was courtroom drama at its best. Best of all, it was live. The decision to allow live streaming of the court’s proceedings is one of the wisest judgment calls the SC has ever made. Thank you.
LoP in the US
Rahul Gandhi sounded tired at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on Tuesday. And well he might: he had been speaking non-stop since he arrived at the Dallas airport on Sunday—and making headlines back home on TV news because of his remarks.
His praise for ‘Made in China’, his censure of India’s China policy, comments on Sikhs and religious freedom, attacks on the RSS and BJP, the promise of a 50 per cent reservation, meeting Democrat Representative Ilhan Omar—que sera, sera—all of these and more displeased the BJP which rolled out Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri and Anurag Thakur to condemn his “anti-India remarks” (India Today), across news channels.
Simultaneously, news anchors derided and debated the same topics at prime time. This is poor PR: Together, the BJP and TV news have achieved precisely the opposite of what they presumably set out to do. Instead of diminishing his public standing, they have elevated Rahul Gandhi to a larger-than-life cut-out, the political trendsetter and TV’s biggest star since the Lok Sabha election results.
And, make no mistake. Rahul Gandhi hasn’t done anything particularly spectacular to gain such a heady position— he has the BJP, TV news and social media to thank for it.
Why doesn’t the BJP ignore him (occasionally) and TV news pay less attention to “RaGa”, as channels fondly call him? By lavishing their attention span on him, they give truth to his claim at the National Press Club that “…We had defeated the Prime Minister…” in the general elections.
Also read: Sensational, speculative, insensitive—that’s how TV news is covering Kolkata doctor’s rape
A composed Gandhi
How does Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Opposition (LoP), emerge from these live interactions? Remember, while he does speak in Parliament, at rallies and to the news media at press conferences in India, we don’t see him in one-on-one interviews as we did in the US.
So, what’s he like?
First, he doesn’t appear in his trademark white T-shirt and trousers. At the functions in Texas and Washington, he was the instantly recognisable Indian politician in a white kurta-pajama and black Nehru jacket. Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister MK Stalin, who has been visiting the US, mostly appeared in suits, perhaps because he met with business leaders.
Rahul Gandhi interacted with the Indian diaspora, held Q&A sessions with university students, and attended a press meet at the NPC. The subjects he spoke on, were similar: “love, respect and humility” in politics, the Congress yatras, caste census, the sanctity of the Constitution, democracy and the BJP’s attacks on both, reservations, China’s manufacturing miracle, remake India, its economy and social fabric, the Modi governments fault-lines—and how the Congress’s bank accounts were frozen during the election campaign. Phew, no wonder he’s tired.
However, Rahul Gandhi’s claims were often exaggerated. For instance, the party’s accounts were frozen and then unfrozen.
BJP and Modi were not “defeated” in the elections – they lost electoral ground but still formed a government at the Centre.
Watching him during interviews or Q&As across a table, you’ll notice certain habits: He fidgets. He taps the chair’s arm, shakes his legs periodically, rearranges himself and his clothes, and moves about. Normally, these are signs of nervousness. However, when he speaks, Gandhi is quite composed.
Gandhi’s language is a mixture of conversational, such as— “I was blown away by the wisdom of India” (after the election results) and then less accessible as in—”(The Bharat Jodo) yatra was speaking on its own—pretty much everything (I said) was coming from the yatra, not from me…I was not communicating as Rahul, I was communicating as the yatra was communicating.” He went on to talk about “annihilation of the self…the destruction of the person taking place…the person is actually dying and the voice of other people is taking over…”
Good TV? It’s difficult to follow—on TV, you explain and then deliver the punch line, but Rahul does it the other way around.
Trump-Harris face off
US Vice President Kamala Harris is also known for her language eccentricities. The one most cited is this: “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
At the presidential debate against former President Trump, she minded her ticks: Her delivery was strong, passionate, and fluent. It was as if she knew everything backwards. Her arguments were clear, and thought out. Her attacks on Trump, to goad him into losing control, were spot on—CNN International said she was “needling him to devastating effect.’’ She trolled him, belittled him (or the size of the crowds at his rallies) and by turns baited him and called out his lies.
More effective than her words was her body language: she is a good 12 inches shorter than Trump but in the split screen close-ups, she was on equal terms. While Trump scowled or grimaced into the camera, he never looked at her. Harris, frequently turned to him, often looking at him in wonder or amazement—like he was a laboratory specimen.
She smiled with all her teeth, laughed at him, mockingly, raised her eyebrows, frowned, narrowed her eyes, slid them across to him, gestured with her hand, and cupped her chin – it was a performance deserving of an acting award.
It was also great live television.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)