Reform, Perform, Transform-Enough of talk, time for action

Our leaders are good at preaching, be them political or religious heads. BJP says what Congress ought to have done and the Congress says how BJP has failed. We have been listening to this and reading about it for the past eight years. And the same record plays even during the 8th anniversary of PM Narendra Modi's rule. Look at what PM Narendra Modi himself said recently at ISB Hyderabad: "If you compare the last 8 years with the 3 decades before that, then you will definitely note one thing. The need for reforms was always felt in our country but there was always a lack of political willpower. Due to the continuous political instability in the last three decades, the country saw a lack of political willpower for a long time."

Modi conveniently forgets the fact that the process of reforms began much earlier than 2014, during PV Narsimha Rao's rule when Dr Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister. I am not saying this as a spokesperson of the Congress which I am not! In fact, it was during the Rajiv Gandhi rule that the technology and telecom revolution (and the process of reforms) was initiated. The telecom revolution that Modi and BJP talk about today was given the much-needed fillip during the Manmohan era when mobile telephony reached every nook and corner of this country. This tech tool is what enables Modi and BJP to reach out to the last man.

The Congress was entangled in yet-to-be-proved scams such as 2G spectrum and Coalgate and the anti-corruption wave created over that had helped BJP to sweep the polls and claim the position of 'saviour' of the nation. Despite former CAG Vinod Rai apologising for wrongly implicating Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam as one of the leaders who tried to pressurise him not to mention Manmohan Singh the spectrum case, the Congress could not rise from the ashes. BJP and Modi's onslaught on the Congress was so powerful that the grand old party's offensive against Vinod Rai was almost lost.

The Congress got further entangled in its internal strife over leadership and lack of clarity of vision and thought that it had no focus on improving its image. Whatever little efforts that Priyanka Gandhi made to change the party's fortunes appeared to be a half-hearted attempt. This was because her brother Rahul Gandhi exhibited an utter lack of seriousness. Even during the post-UP poll attempts to resurrect the party, Rahul was away on a "pre-scheduled" foreign trip at a time when Sonia Gandhi was engaged in discussions with Prashant Kishor on the roadmap for revival. The recent Japur Chintan Manthan did not produce anything tangible for the public to consume on how the party plans to stage a comeback for the 2024 general elections. To return to my original argument that we are good at preaching, the Congress is merely criticising the BJP for its alleged failures – from demonetisation to mishandling of Covid to inflation. Can Congress not present alternative plans? To start with, can they just start writing essays titled "If I were the PM…" Or just draw out the National Agenda?

Look at the BJP's game plan. The ruling party treats every year as election year. They are sending all their MPs to their constituencies to spread the narrative of Modi's achievements. Modi himself has, in fact, already begun doing it in India and abroad. To the world, he presents the picture of India being a Vishwa Guru and at home he conveys the message that BJP is the real guru of politics. Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are going to witness polls this year and Modi, just as he had done in 2013, snatched the initiative and already started talking to voters. Whatever he does and speaks has this underlying thought that he must win the elections.

He tells B-school students: "Since 2014, our country is witnessing the political willpower and reforms are being made continuously. We have shown that if the reform process is carried forward with sincerity and determination, then the public support automatically increases." If this is not an election speech, what else is? There is nothing wrong with political leaders making election speeches. But unfortunately, these speeches or messaging remains a one-way traffic and go unchallenged. BJP also talks about collecting feedback.

That again is nothing but another one-way traffic process that the Modi team has mastered. Show me one street corner meeting or a debate where the BJP leaders sit in public and ask a cross section of the civic society to stand up and speak. On the contrary, they believe only in quelling the opposition. This is where they also need to reform, perform, and transform and think beyond just winning the next election. Unfortunately for us even the celebrations of the 75th year of Independence do not translate into building on the strong foundation that the nation laid and the way to build an edifice for the next goal.

The BJP talks of building the party for the next 25 years. Is it not leading to a new narrative – BJP is Modi and Modi is India?

Now let me turn to my favourite subject, media. The opinionated coverage of various events is not helping the nation move with the Reform-Perform-Transform mantra. We have been witnessing fiery debates right from the days of Bofors and subsequently the 2G and coal scams. We, as the people, have also been victims of high decibel debates during the investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput's death, the muckraking over drug rackets and ultimately the ridiculously shameful stories presented during Aryan Khan's arrest. Vinod Rai has apologised to Sanjay Nirupam. Will the Narcotics Control Bureau of the BJP which again launched an onslaught on Bollywood apologise now that Aryan has been exonerated. Who will compensate for the trauma that Aryan and his family had gone through? Forget that. Will the media discuss the series of botched up investigations?

The caged parrots are not being allowed to free themselves from their political masters. Certain BJP leaders keep talking about impending raids by ED and CBI on their political opponents. And we get to see the raids that were forecast turning into reality in less than a week. To add to that, an influential section of the media has begun to support and blow up the so-called investigations by caged parrots.

The debates during the SSR and Aryan cases are still available on Youtube. Nobody can deny their role and or defend themselves. Then we had the stories of TRP scam which saw Media Vs Media debates with more of personal attacks. The print medium may not be as badly divided as the television supporting one line of thought or the other. But what is viewed and heard with high decibel and terribly opinionated debates leaves a much more powerful impact on the audience than what is read in print. A miniscule minority feels that printed words are still credible. I for one support this minority.

Late M Chalapathi Rao wrote in his autograph for me – "Facts are sacred and comment is still free". That was during the Emergency of 1975 when we visited him as part of journalism students' educational trip to Delhi. We learnt journalism under media censorship. Yet, Rao's autograph made an indelible impact on me and continues to guide me. It is about time we discussed media reforms much as we debate police, judicial, political, banking and various other reforms. Because facts are sacred and comment is still free.

(The author is a Mumbai-based media veteran known for his thought-provoking messaging)