We no longer examine issues on their merits

How do you respond when people say that there is no room for dissenting ideas in Indian politics?

That mainstream television media is so cravenly sold out to the ruling establishment, and social media is so completely dominated by Hindutva interests, that the only views allowed to prevail are those of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its supporters?

 

Well, if you are anything like me, you will say that this is an exaggeration. Yes, the TV channels are nauseatingly biased and yes, the Hindutva establishment understands social media better than the so-called secular forces.

 

   But we are not a totalitarian society. There is room for dissent. Print media can be relatively balanced. There are news websites (such as this one) which carry all shades of opinion. And if totalitarian control had been imposed on the media, then you would not be able to read this column.

 

   This remains my view. But each time a major story breaks and I look at how the media reacts, I become more and more sympathetic to the view that the Indian media, once the envy of Asia, is becoming an embarrassment, full of loathsome sycophancy and entirely without principle.

 

   Let’s take the fulsome praise that has greeted the government’s announcement that it will include a caste component to the census. It’s a perfectly valid position to say that you support a caste census. But here’s the problem: so many of the channels and publications hailing the caste census as a masterstroke were, only a few months ago, attacking Rahul Gandhi for demanding exactly what the government has now implemented.

 

   Any fair commentary would include the fact that on this issue, the government has accepted the Opposition’s position; a position it repeatedly briefed against and long refused to respect. Now that it has executed an about turn, you would expect the media to recognise this.

 

   On the contrary.

 

   In fact, it is as though this issue had never been raised before until the visionaries in the establishment decided to implement it.

 

   When Rahul Gandhi asks for a caste census, it’s a terrible, divisive idea. When the government does the same thing, it is a masterstroke to be applauded.

 

"I am guessing that the government changed its mind because the logic of a caste census was gaining ground and had the potential to damage the BJP’s prospects."

   I don’t want to get too involved with the arguments for and against a caste census now that a consensus has emerged over the issue. But it is still worth pointing out that, until 1990, most major national parties opposed the politics of caste. The prevailing view was that caste had divided Hindu society and had led to terrible evils. Any government policies that were based on caste were regressive in principle.

 

   This view began to shift after VP Singh accepted the recommendations of the Mandal Commission and extended reservation to more castes. It didn’t help VP Singh, but it did transform politics in North India, which moved from battles over serious and topical issues to straightforward caste and communal calculations.

 

   It could well be that the high-minded liberal idea that India should become a country where caste mattered less and less was unrealistic, propounded by people who were unwilling to accept the extent of upper caste privilege and the terrible hardships faced by lower castes. Those hardships would not be tempered by some noble ideal of working toward a casteless India. And that if politics was dominated by Hindu-Muslim conflict and imaginary Hindu grievance, then surely it was worth pointing out that Hinduism itself was deeply unfair to those who did not belong to dominant castes.

 

   Here is my point: until a week ago, neither the government nor mainstream TV media accepted this idea of a caste census. When Rahul Gandhi raised it, the ruling party either attacked him or laughed at him. And the media laughed along.

 

   I am guessing that the government changed its mind because the logic of a caste census was gaining ground and had the potential to damage the BJP’s prospects. I guess also that the timing of the announcement was calculated to distract national attention from India’s impending retaliation against Pakistan. Of course, the retaliation will happen soon enough. But the caste census announcement bought the government a little more time and reduced the pressure to rush into action.

 

   I have no problem with any of this. Parties survive by winning elections. And in any case, they have the right to reverse their policies. Rahul’s position on a caste census breaks with the policies of his father and grandmother.

 

   My concern is with the absence of any public debate on major policies in today’s India. We no longer examine issues on their merits. We never debate the arguments for and against any decision on most major public platforms. Citizens are no longer provided with the information and arguments they need to contribute to a democracy, even on issues that could change their lives.

 

   Instead, everything is about expediency and about supporting or opposing the government. When the government changes its mind, so does the media. We do not feel any obligation to explain this turnaround. Instead, we pretend that we have always felt this way. And we feel no embarrassment or shame about behaving this way.

 

   I am nobody to judge the media or to make judgements about the more general lack of discussion or debate on issues.

 

   But it worries me that we risk becoming a democracy where facts are kept from the public; where abuse replaces discourse; and where policies can change overnight without any explanations being provided.

 

   It’s not a happy situation. It’s not good for democracy. And sadly, I see no reason to believe that things will get better.