When PM’s speech was shot on ‘blank’ TV camera!

Lessons for communicators on preparing 

for disasters and how to avoid them, too

By S.Narendra

(Former Information adviser to PM & Principal Information Officer and

Spokesperson Government of India)

Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao was to board the special plane on his visit to New York at 10.30 AM on November 2, 1995. He was to address the United Nations 50^th anniversary ceremonial session, somewhat a non-event. The entire Indian delegation, including myself, was already at Palam airport, awaiting PM’s arrival.

Since returning from G-20 meeting in Argentina barely a week earlier,   the PM was engaged in hectic parleys with political parties for holding Assembly elections in J&K that had been under the President’s rule from 1989. Pakistan had managed to prevent the holding of elections by assisting J&K separatists and intensifying terror and violence. The longer India was prevented from holding the, greater was the advantage to Pakistan internationally.

J&K voters enthusiastic over polls
(Representational pic)

Islamabad was making out a strong case before the UN and other international fora for an outside   mediation in the bilateral dispute over J&K between India and Pakistan. It was propagating that India was deploying massive security forces in J&K for suppressing the state people’s demand for separation and independence. By holding   free and fair elections in J&K, the prime minister wanted show to the world that people in the Indian part of Kashmir had a choice to elect their own government, unlike in the Pakistan occupied part of Pakistan where no elections had ever been held since its forcible occupation in 1948.
The prime minister, in fact, had been preparing the ground since 1993 beginning for restoring normalcy in the state and holding of elections. Around this time, he had taken me and his trusted political aide, P.V.R.K.Prasad into confidence and instructed us to work for creating an enabling media environment for the polls.   

Yo-Yo Poll Parleys: Pakistan was not the only one hell bent on frustrating Rao; there were forces within and outside   Rao’s  government  itself working  behind the scenes to derail  his Mission J&K poll. That had made Rao redouble his efforts to get everybody on- board. From the early morning of his day of departure, the prime minister was having a final round of talks with political leaders, particularly Farookh  Abdullah, son of Sheikh Abdullah ,and president of the National Conference, the state’s dominant party. NC’s participation in the poll, therefore, was very essential. Normal political activities by political parties in J&K had come to a total halt due to violence and death threats held against political leaders. Against this background, persuading political leaders to resume political activities leading to elections was not an easy task, despite assuring maximum security cover to political leaders. An announcement of J&K

J&K: Pak tries to spoil peace and poll

elections coinciding with the UN’s 50^th anniversary assumed significance in the context of Indo- Pak dispute. Pakistan was sure to rake it up in this session. Besides, J&K people had strongly signalled that they were fed up of militancy and ready for elections and normal life.  

Last minute Search:  During the  negotiations, Farookh Abdullah and other J&K  leaders, had put forth a demand that the prime minister should make an immediate  national broadcast reiterating the state’s special status (under Article 370), including the state Assembly’s right to accept or reject the application of central laws to the  state. Soon after concluding his negotiations, Rao wanted official documents relating to J&K, in order to base his broadcast on the commitments made in those documents. He was not satisfied with the documents supplied by the home and external affairs ministries and called me at the airport  asking me to collect as much material as was available with me on J&K, particularly the two agreements reached between J&K’s leader Sheik Abdulla and the government of India. I requested the PM to give me time to return to my office   and home for gathering such papers - that meant further delay of PM’s departure (we left at 2 pm).

Tricky Satellite Slot: As the PM was to leave on a foreign trip that very day, his crucial broadcast on J&K matters could not be made from the Indian soil. Rao was halting for two days at Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso in West Africa on the way to New York. It was one of the most backward countries, with next to nothing in terms of communication.

Blank recording? PM PV could have been foxed, but for PLan-B

Any broadcast of PM had to be relayed

over satellite to Doordarshan in New Delhi and within the few hours available we managed to book time on a European satellite for 3^rd and   4^th November. But there was a tricky issue. This particular satellite would hover over Ouagadougou for just an hour in a 24 hours cycle and we could not miss it any cost. I had taken with me a Doordarshan   team specifically for the Ouagadougou leg of the trip, so that they could uplink   the recorded address of the PM through the satellite at the fixed one hour slot.

No out of Turn Word:  The political negotiations had stipulated that soon after the PM’s broadcast (from abroad), the union cabinet presided over by the home minister, S.B. Chavan   (in PM’s absence) was required  to pass a resolution announcing the decision to hold J&K Assembly elections. Both the PM’s broadcast and the cabinet decision were to be   publicly welcomed by the J&K leaders, indicating their willingness to participate in the   elections. Such announcements were to be followed by a formal election notification by the election commission. The purpose of such an arrangement was to send out a loud and clear message of national consensus. There was to be no out of turn word.

And the gaffe: The   prime minister of a big country like India visiting a far off small African country was a rare event and the President of Burkina Faso ,had  fully filled up PM’s the two -day visit with engagements. We officials were entrusted with the job of drafting the PM’s broadcast address could hardly get a few minutes for consultation with PM in-between his crowded diplomatic engagements. When it came to preparing his speeches, Rao was his own draftsman and   very demanding when it came to researching facts. We had managed to put together a final draft and I took the PM to an improvised recoding room for recording the broadcast. The Doordarshan camera person switched on his camera and gave the go-ahead signal.  The PM spent about half an hour for recording   the speech and left the room after ascertaining that the recording was okay. Only a few minutes were left for our departure for the airport when the Doordarshan cameraman came trembling and blurted out: ‘Sir, PM’s broadcast... there was no tape in the camera’. You can imagine the gravity of this carelessness by a small link in the chain and its profound consequences.

Luckily, breaking the official procedure that required only Doordarshan   to record official broadcasts, I had asked the cameraman of the Asian   News International (who was in the accompanying media party), Surinder Singh,   also to be present while recording Narasimha Rao’s  broadcast.  And, Surinder's tape saved the day, and a historic broadcast of the prime minister managed to catch the elusive satellite uplink. Another Disaster Averted. Lesson: Always keep plan B. I can never forget Surinder's big help! God bless him wherever he is is!

When PM’s goes abroad, a team of telecommunication experts travel in advance and rig up a ‘hot line’ communication connection with the PMO in New Delhi. Normally, senior officials accompanying the   PM have access to it. I was using this facility to be in touch with my office. During one of my calls, my deputy informed me that he had been asked by the union home secretary   to arrange a press conference for him, a few hours before the PM’s broadcast. This was not part of the political arrangements set before PM’s departure from India and no one in the government was supposed to speak on the J&K matters until after the PM’s broadcast.

My deputy had duly followed the home secretary’s instructions and had not cared to inform me. As Narasimha Rao was closeted with his Burkina Faso president, I could not consult him about the home secretary’s press conference.

The author
(sunarendra@gmail.com)

The then home secretary was also concurrently secretary in the department of J&K affairs, of which the PM was in charge. And, the home secretary was known to have his own mind and speak out of turn. I feared that his media interaction was very likely to stray into J&K elections that hung in the balance. Using the   PM’s hot line, I spoke to the home secretary, enquiring about the subject matter of his press conference and how he planned to respond to questions about J&K issues.

Pulling his rank, the home secretary asked me ‘Do I need the PIO’s permission to meet the Press’? I responded: ’sir, you are very senior and trusted by the government. You are free to address the press conference. Since some delicate political issues are there, the media would not be interested in any other subject you may like to brief them. They could trip you and put words   into your mouth.  I think you are slated for higher positions, and as a well wisher I am calling to caution you. You are free to address the press conference. But I will bring this to PM’s notice’. The home secretary’s response was “Thank you Narendra, I will take your advice’. He cancelled the press conference.