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A tale of five men and a woman—here’s what TV news told us about them

Alapan Bandyopadhyay was the new face on TV. He made a name for himself by being 15 minutes late for a meeting with the prime minister.

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Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Mehul Choksi, Alapan Bandyopadhyay — and Mamata Banerjee. This week’s television news tells us something interesting about each one of them.

It’s tale of five men and one woman who appears to like nothing better than a good fight.

First, the man who has attained instant stardom in the last week: Mehul Choksi. The jeweler, wanted by the Indian authorities in the PNB scam, bedazzled news channels because he went ‘missing’. He continued to entrance them when he was found. Since the weekend, they have been busy ‘tracking’ him — or putting him behind bars (in their visuals), something the Indian crime busters would like to do too, if only they could lay hands on him but his being a citizen of Antigua is making that a trifle difficult.

Meanwhile, the likes of Times Now, India Today, CNN News18, Republic TV and Zee News are amusing themselves with the reported ‘honey trap’ that lured him into trouble and interviews with his lawyer.

You may well ask, why in the middle of the pandemic, when vaccine shortages continue to be a worry, when the future of crores of students hangs in the balance over examinations, when India’s GDP numbers flatter to deceive, should news channels be worrying about whether Choksi can be extradited or not?


Also read: On Indian TV news — Anulom vilom after heart attack and ‘Corona jung’ with Baba Ramdev


Over to the PM now

Next, the Prime Minister is back. After missing on our TV screens from the third week of April to mid-May, Narendra Modi has made a reappearance, most visibly in aerial surveys of Gujarat and West Bengal when both states suffered collateral damage by Cyclone Tauktae and Cyclone Yaas, respectively. He has also been sighted at virtual meetings with chief ministers, district magistrates, etc.

Then, there was his monthly Mann Ki Baat, Sunday, which is avidly watched, although all we get to see is his photograph and people in different parts of the country watching the radio broadcast on TV– could this be a first?

Whatever. The show has been a hugely successful address to the nation, each month – and positions him above other politicians. In comparison, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s virtual press conferences have a wide-eyed bewildered look about them.

Significantly, however, the PM didn’t show up on his seventh anniversary in office. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had decided not to celebrate the occasion in view of the pandemic — unlike last year when it had released a video on the achievements of the Modi government, and news channels had showered Modi with handsome praise.

This year, TV news channels seem to have taken their cue from the ruling party. While there were a few prime time discussions Sunday and Monday, these were, uncharacteristically, subdued (despite Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate’s vulgar outburst on Aaj Tak).


Also read: Congress ‘toolkit’ to TMC arrests, news channels doing politicians’ jobs — playing politics


A shy Shah and not-so-shy Adityanath

Amit Shah is still being marked absent from TV news. The only noteworthy sighting of him in recent weeks was in stills of a virtual meeting he held on the Odisha and West Bengal governments’ preparedness for Cyclone Yaas, last week.

Why the home minister has developed a sudden dislike of appearing on television when he had made a habit of it — ever since he announced the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019, he’s been a frequent flyer on TV and the government’s spokesperson in chief — is a mystery.

Any sleuths out there want to come up with an answer?

Could it be because of the loss in the West Bengal election, where he was the BJP’s campaign mastermind?

Perhaps, but Yogi Adityanath doesn’t feel the need to hide his face, although the Covid situation in Uttar Pradesh during the last month has been disturbing and tragic. Watch any news channel and every few minutes — or whenever there is a commercial break — the UP chief minister pops up, either seen busily doing something or assuring us he is doing something and the pandemic in the state is under control. Alternatively, the voice-over does it for him.

Also, news channels frequently report Yogi Adityanath’s claims that the Covid situation in the state has vastly improved — and so what if a few bodies still float in some river?

No other chief minister advertises himself the way Adityanath does, nor do news channels headline their efforts the same way. A month ago, he had stiff competition from Arvind Kejriwal but Delhi chief minister now prefers a weekly press conference.

Assembly elections in UP are due early next summer — and this avalanche of Yogi commercials suggests the CM is feeling a wee bit insecure — that the crown lies uneasy on his head — like it’s developed a wobble — for the first time.


Also read: Republic TV has become a channel of calm and India Today asking ‘where’s my vaccine?’


Alapan’s share of fame

Finally, to the least known individual on the list: Alapan Bandyopadhyay. He has made a name for himself, apparently, by being 15 minutes late for a meeting on Cyclone Yaas, with the Prime Minister. Instead, the former chief secretary of West Bengal was reportedly spending time with the chief minister of the state.

Television, perhaps like the BJP, still finds Mamata Banerjee an irresistible force to reckon with and so we have watched countless stills of last Friday’s meeting chaired by the PM without Didi or Bandyopadhyay as news anchors have tut-tutted their disrespect for the Prime Minister.

Since then, we have been treated to a photo gallery of the former IAS officer, footage of him walking beside, or two steps behind Banerjee, after he took early retirement, as he is lobbed to and fro in the ping pong between the central government and the state.

The tussle between the Modi government and Mamata Di runs like a soap opera on TV news – and we can’t wait for the next episode…

Views are personal.

(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)

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