Politics in India; Horse Racing in an Evolving Media Democracy.

The UKs Guardian newspaper termed the Indian general election held in 2009 as the world's biggest democratic poll (Guardian, 2009). To get some idea of the scale consider this: 43 million citizens, more than the adult population of England, were added to the electoral roll since 2004. More than a million electronic voting machines were deployed at 828,000 polling stations. No voter was more than 2km from a ballot box. The Election Commission of India outlines, India's electorate of 714 million is larger than those of all of the 50 countries of Europe put together, all of Africa's 54, North America's 41, North and South America combined, and the entire Commonwealth minus India (Election Commission of India, 2009).

Termed the largest democratic franchise in history, Indian voters went to the polls to elect a new national Parliament. They have done this 14 times since India gained its independence in 1947. Each time India has voted, it has been the world's largest exercise in electoral democracy. India's growing population keeps breaking its own record. Leading author and Indias External Affairs Minister Shashi Tharoor explains some explicit details, This time (2009), the electorate includes 714 million voters. Votes will be cast in 828,804 polling stations scattered throughout the country for over 5,000 candidates from seven national political parties and several regional parties. The process involves four million electoral officials and 6.1 million police and civilian personnel (Tharoor S. 2009, Pg.11).

The exotica doesnt end here, because so many voters are illiterate, India invented the party symbol, so that voters who cannot read the name of their candidate can vote for him or her anyway by recognising the symbol under which they campaigned. Symbols range from the open palm of the ruling Indian National Congress to the lotus of the Bharatiya Janata Party and variants of the hammer and sickle for India's profusion of communist parties. India was also the first country to use an indelible stain on the voter's fingernail to signify that he has already cast his ballot (Tharoor S. 2009, Pg. 21). At every election, someone 'discovers' a new chemical
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that will remove the stain and permit one to vote twice, though this is unlikely to make a great difference in constituencies the size of India's, where each MP represents more than two million people.

In any case, India's elections have a reputation for honesty and more often than not, there are a plethora of exotic stories for foreign correspondents traversing the vast sub-continent for election news. In this election, as in previous ones, votes were cast on electronic voting machines invented in India, which combine the virtues of simplicity, reliability and ruggedness. The electoral rolls carry photographs of every individual voter, as does each voter's identity card.

So much for the ceremonial, but looking beyond this democratic spectacle makes you realise that personalities play a more than important role in the scheme of electoral politics in India. I stress on electoral politics to put into perspective this unique political set up where politicians belonging to political dynasties and elite groups contest elections and are elected to power by the electorate repeatedly. The diverse, multi lingual and privatized Indian media seem to have collectively adopted a horse-race approach to covering this election where personalities have dominated policy in every constituency. Auhtor Tavleen Singh has interesting take, This might seem common to former British colonies in the sub-continent where political dynasties and elitist groups have been at the helm of affairs since independence but the situation in India has been completely different since democracy here has been uninterrupted throughout (Singh T. 1999, Pg 96).

An astounding feature of this [2009] general election has been the catapulting rise of personality politics or rather the media coverage that these high-profile candidates have begun to garner. Akin to Bollywood, where stars ruled the roost, it is time for the Indian polity to be governed by these famous stars and star
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campaigners. Akanksha Ahluwalia questions the legitimacy of these stars and points out, While these results have been touted as the voice of a young resurgent India, it is worth wondering how many of these nouveau young leaders are actually self-made? (Ahluwalia A. 2009).

Through this paper I attempt to examine the various antagonistic views expressed by political intellectuals and scholars through their wide ranging publications on politics in India and its increasing domination by what is termed as horse-race politics cutting across party lines. I also attempt to bring to light the rise of young Indian politicians who have brought with them personalisation and professionalization into the complex arena of Indian politics but at the same time policy has been ignored. Democratic elections have come to be defined by only two factors, winning and losing and this has become increasingly evident through intense media coverage in both print and electronic.

Renowned newsman Rajdeep Sardesai has an interesting take wherein he puts the blame on political parties for lack of political communication based on policy matters and serious issues concerning the state. He points out that the Congress party increasingly resembles a closed shop, with little space for internal debate and dissent, he puts across some valid questions like when was the last time we knew what exactly transpired in a Congress working committee meeting? When did a post-election Congress legislature party meeting result in anything other than a one line message authorizing the ubiquitous high command to decide leadership issues? Banal press releases and platitudinous statements is the staple diet of political communication in the Congress (Sardesai R. 2010).

Its not just the Congress, the grand daddy of political parties in India, but all of the half a dozen national parties and countless regional parties that have embraced this trend. A few dozen camera friendly faces are now coming to become the face of multi party democracy in India. The Indian media, irrespective of the size, sector,
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language or location has never, as is the case now, focussed on the private lives of public figures, even it if it has it is only occasionally in pursuit of an investigative story. Rarely have people become the sole talking point during elections. Since, everything has changed and so has the media, as a result of the ongoing process of commercialisation or what is termed as murdochisation media coverage of politics increasingly equals the celebrity-isation of politicians. Alongside this the ongoing reconstruction of the idea and image of celebrity in India, and within it the shifting perception of politicians who are now being focussed on differently by the media just as they are using the media in new ways themselves (Mukherjee J. 2002, Pg. 92).

Author Bob Franklins notion of Packaging the Post-Modern Election (Franklin, 2004) strikes a clear chord with recent media coverage of assembly elections. It hints at the way the multi-lingual Indian media is heading and fast. Like Franklin argues, the image, appearance and media skills of party leaders are becoming more important in determining electoral outcomes than party policy. Political advertising might favour negative campaigning and tempt parties to emphasise opponents weaknesses rather than talking their own strengths. Finally, the cost of political advertising would give a substantial but unfair advantage to the party with the greatest financial resources (Franklin B. 2004, Pg. 126). An evident example of this kind to post-modern campaign is the Bharatiya Janta Partys Weak Prime Minister campaign against the present incumbent Dr. Manmohan Singh which brought into play a range of unfavourable images. The campaign may have been successful but the party was not and lost miserably in the 2009 general election. One senior leader admitted that the attacks on Dr. Manmohan Singh mostly by Mr. Advani himself, and also by party spokespersons violated the normal sense of decency that most ordinary Indians have. Many Indians would have disliked the personal attack on a decent and honest man, an unassuming personality and a competent Prime Minister, one BJP leader told the Hindu. The mazboot neta (strong leader Advani) and weak Prime Minister Manmohan Singh slogans were laid to rest as soon as the Prime Minister responded to those repeated attacks, but the damage had been done (The Hindu,
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2009). Similarly, the negative images brought into focus by the partys campaign of a people traumatised by terrorism, poverty and hunger and without any hope, did not strike the right note. The BJP failed to create any positive buzz about hope for the despairing and the oppressed.

Like authors Worcester & Mortimore suggest, Television has long become the major political battleground for parties to contest, their most important point of access to voters and voters most trusted source of political communication (Worcester R. and Mortimore R. 200, Pg. 147). Increasingly in India, pundits in every party who run campaigns believe that media reporting on the campaign and the candidates ability to fit his message simplistically into the coverage is key to the outcome of the election.

Such media frenzy about winning and losing has catapulted democratic elections into a zero-sum game, away from a process originally comprising of citizen participation. The media have created a sort of parallel electoral process wherein star journalists announce their personal verdict, painting a post election picture even before voting day, confusing citizens in a bid to manipulate their choice. A glaring example of such designer elections has been the Maharshtra assembly election [2009] where Rajendra Shekhawat, son of Pratibha Patil, The President of India was contesting on a Congress ticket. Simply, the quantum of coverage his candidature made the election a prestige issue. Right from President Patil to her son Rajendra, Indias first family has been drawing flak from the media for various reasons and the Presidents office has been at the receiving end of wide spread media criticism which is rare in the Indian media since Independence. This trend engulfed the candidature of Rajendra Shekhawat and the media proclaimed his nomination by the Congress as elitist and unjust. The Times of India went to the extent of predicting his loss and fed into public imagination the embarrassment his loss would cause to the Presidents office.

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Prez son Shekhawat ruffles feathers, seeks Amravati seat, Bookies favour Sunil Deshmukh in Amravati, SMS on President's son creates flutter, (Times of India, 2009) and Cong does the Presidents son a favour, Pratibha son gets Cong ticket, not party support in Amravati, His mothers son, Presidents South American tour, son takes North American detour, (Indian Express, 2009) were some of the headlines of the period. A certain negative vibe was felt throughout the campaign especially within the English media both print and electronic. Rajendra Shekhawat vehemently defended his candidature a few days before voting, It's an electoral process. Whether I win or lose, it will not cause embarrassment to my family. We have seen defeats of leading personalities in politics. But I am sure if I am nominated, I will emerge victorious'' (Times of India, 2009). A quick look at the media coverage of the period points out the Shekhawat was the English medias uncrowned Bad News Boy. Yet, Shekhawat managed to emerge victorious defeating the incumbent Assembly member turned rebel Sunil Deshmukh in a fierce contest both electorally and the electronically. Finally, Shekhawat garnered 61,331 votes and Deshmukh polled 55,717, losing by 5,614 votes (Election Commission of India, 2009). In spite of the negative discourse Shekhawat managed to win possibly because his voters werent English speaking, considering Amravati is one of Maharshtras most backward districts infested with farmer suicides and severe drought. Voters in the constituency are largely illiterate and the remaining others are readers of Marathi newspapers, a dozen of which are published daily from Amravati. Fortunately for Shekhawat the constituency of Amaravati does not belong to the English savvy universe the English press thinks it to be. To cut a long story short, it was a failed attempt by the elitist English media based in Mumbai to predict or rather manipulate elections in far away Amravati. The attempt might have failed here but its existence cannot be denied and if media discourse is proximate to voters, the outcome might as well be as predicted by the media. Reporting of this controversial Shekhawat election has also brought to the fore the joint attempt by the media and pollsters to oversimplify and trivialize complex political issues. As suggested by Franklin, Parties would offer slogans and sound bites as a substitute for sustained political discussion (Franklin B. 2004, Pg. 126). Excess negative reporting by the English media occupied centre stage not leaving any room for policy questions about the constituency and real issues
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concerning the people. The ethics of the Presidents son contesting an assembly election became the axis around which the entire coverage revolved. So much that there were comments even about Rajendra Shekhawats appearance, emphasising his youthful clothes line and style. Such type of reporting is rarely anti-elitist as in Shekhawats case. Pro-elitist media coverage especially during elections is common place and forces me to draw parallels between Chomskys theory of worthy and un-worthy victims and pro-elite election reporting especially in the English media where there is differential treatment between favoured and conflicting candidates. As Chomsky suggests, Victims of enemy states will be found worthy and will be subject to more intense and indignant coverage than those victimized by the US or its clients, who are implicitly unworthy (Chomsky N & Herman E 1988, Pg. 1920). Same is true of reporting during elections when the media or those owning media conglomerates pre decide winners and losers [for various economic and political reasons] and report them accordingly. The medias success rate might not be 100 percent but nevertheless it is usually successful in confusing citizens rather than informing them. There is also a profound problem highlighted by this kind of hit or miss political journalism. Regardless of which side is more successful in getting the media to report its version of events, the voting public is ill-served by the entire process. The news medias emphasis on reporting campaign rhetoric rather than the facts, their reluctance to focus on the record rather than on the claims about the record, seem to make it difficult for voters to distinguish between truth and propaganda (Lewis J. et al. 1992, Pg. 177). Critics allege that the political process is being diminished by such growing media involvement. In evolving media democracies like India, the form of political communication is now becoming more significant than substantive policy content. Few citizens have political knowledge independent from the media, and audiences are increasingly sceptical and uninterested in media presentations of politics. Electoral coverage just comprising of winners and losers has serious implications for democracy and western trends most likely to be followed in India are indeed worrying.

So much so that media based campaigning has resulted in the death of the public meeting as part of the political process (Young. 1992, Pg. 23).

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As the Indian media moves forward into the digital era, channels are bound to boom by the hundreds making the already existing media framework even more chaotic. But chaos has always defined the Indian way of things, be it a street market or the largest democratic elections in the world. Chaos continues to be the underlying essence that has surrounded civics and politics in India. How the electorate unwraps the chaos and picks the dark horses for the longer democratic race remains to be seen.

2489 Words

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The

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All

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