Noise over Voice of America: I&B Secy becomes fall guy

India had to have powerful transmitters to counter Chinese propaganda during the 1962 aggression. The I&B Minister okayed an agreement with VOA which led to the government coming under domestic fire. The I&B Secy became the Bakra.

By S Narendra

Former Adviser to PMs and Govt of India Spokesperson

(Political communication is the oxygen of an open democracy like India. Its role and complexion changes when a nation confronts an external threat. PC becomes a ‘aapath dharma shastra’ or weapon for survival by rallying the people behind the flag. But PC as propaganda has its downside as well since it tries to steamroll dissent, the essence of democracy. Also, peace negotiations after the armed conflict becomes difficult)

As mentioned in the previous posts, the 1962 Chinese attack was a chastening experience for Indians and its government. It made the government revisit many areas. One of them was the propaganda policy and organisation for, and its structure, people and channels. The WW II propaganda machinery such as AIR and its monitoring units in Simla that were listening to external radio broadcasts and providing inputs to intelligence wings, PIB, Armed forces Information Office, film documentary wing,  and the new five year plan publicity wing and advertising wing over -night became critical assets in the wake of Chinese aggression.

The Chinese armed  assault on India had been preceded  by propaganda aggression for several years before, especially targeting people living  in the Himalayan border areas. The government had not thus far given any attention to propaganda coming from across the borders both from the west and the east. Even within India various foreign embassies were distributing vast quantities of propaganda material.

As a student, I had the personal experience of a government funded Kannada journal publishing my article that was a translation from an English magazine that I came to know later in life was a channel for anti-communist western propaganda. Some of my journalist friends who were recipients of foreign propaganda material would translate such material and get them published in their newspapers. They were paid handsomely for their efforts by concerned the foreign embassy. The academia was influenced by supplying them with slanted articles by home country academia. Among the latter, there was an unstated bias against the west, particularly US seen as an ally of Pakistan, mostly induced by political communication.

After declaring national emergency, the government hastily put together an emergency media cell in the government for churning out official propaganda material for use by media. However, the officials working in this unit did not have China -related information resources for their work and they had to depend upon the US information service. This emergency cell soon became a patron of private feature services agencies which expected to remain credible but regularly turn out material plugging the Indian (government) view point vis a vis adversaries. Such agencies were paid on the basis of their subscriber base and impact.

During the Mrs Gandhi’s personal emergency in 1975, such feature agencies pro-actively worked for the government.

Another valuable source the emergency cell could access was the AIR’s foreign broadcast monitoring service, a relic of WW II. Located in Simla, this unit monitored world-wide broadcasts on a 24 hour basis and mainly serviced the intelligence community as well as AIR news wing. Overnight, its importance was recognised and it was given more resources. Another wing that assumed importance was the external broadcasts of AIR. While the number of foreign language broadcasts could be increased, reaching them to intended audience was a serious problem. And there by hangs a bizarre tale.

I&B Secretary Fired: The Chinese were beaming broadcasts in Hindi and other Indian languages including in north-east dialects from very powerful transmitters. Suddenly, it was realised that AIR had not been equipped with powerful transmitters even for its domestic, leave alone external, broadcasts for countering China.

  The I&B ministry’s secretary P.M.Laud I.C.S. was asked by his minister Gopala Reddy  to  come up with an immediate solution. Since the prime minister had personally pleaded for urgent and massive American military aid, the I&B secretary with the approval of his seniors had approached the US. The latter readily agreed to spare the transmitters of Voice of America radio located in Ceylon for AIR’s use and a deal was struck.

The Author

When the  the news of the deal became public, the deal met with severe criticism on the ground that such an arrangement could open Indians  to American (capitalist and anti-communist) propaganda. Not only the deal was cancelled but the secretary, P.M.   Laud was forced to quit the government to save the government’s face. 

Laud later went on to become an editor of the Financial Express.

(Next: War By Other Means..Lessons Learnt from 1962-65 wars)