When you didn’t have to shout to be heard!

• Golden Era of Political Communication
• No acrimony, bitterness despite fiercest political battles
• Kahaan Gaye Woh Log & Kahan Gaye Who Standards?

By S.Narendra

(Former Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer

to the government, & Spokesperson)

That Political Communication (PC) from the leadership to the people and within the political channels stuck to the highest standards of democratic dialogue and debate was largely because of their schooling under Gandhiji during the decades of freedom movement. Almost all of them from the central to provincial leadership were highly (mostly western and English) educated and influenced by the British parliamentary traditions. Several of the leaders were in their own right were social reformers as well. Never before or after, at one point in history, India could boast of having a galaxy of leadership as erudite, eminent and principled as this.

The nation was fortunate that they were at the helm of affairs at this tipping point when India destiny had to be shaped.  Each page of the documents that record the debates that took place in the Constituent Assembly that was deliberating on the new Constitution of India showcases the best and brightest in Indian politics. An unwavering commitment to creating an ideal democracy and work for the realisation of a shared vision guided them and their participation in PC.

The political communication during these critical formative years was sufficiently strained and tested by most tragic and volatile political events. There were also transformative political developments. Together, they not only originated PC  on their own but they also had to be supported and moderated by  sane PC. The following is an overview of events and developments which were central to the political discourse of the times.

1.    The partition unleashed a communal holocaust. The population exodus and influx, marked by unprecedented communal violence had filled the air with hatred and intolerance. Both Muslim and Hindu organisations were engaged in PC for inflaming passions across the land.

2.    Massive celebrations for marking the Independence day from the midnight of August 14^th to 15^th in Delhi and elsewhere  were held under the shadow of partition and mass killings of people moving from one country to another. Yet the Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru’s stirring speech - ‘when the  world sleeps, India  awakes to a new freedom’  - and his famous ‘Tryst with Destiny’ set the tone for PC relating to the nation building tasks, especially preserving its unity. And this overarching watchfulness against divisive forces runs through India’s PC from here onwards.

3.    Ganhdiji who had won the freedom for us did not want to take part in these celebrations and went on fasting in Calcutta for convincing the Hindus and Muslims to give up mutual killing. The PC relating to violence in one part of the country was travelling fast and triggering a wave of riots. This was without the aid of mass media (that we are blessed with, today!).

4.    The PC from the government was focused on containing and stopping such violence and its spread through rumours. As described by a British general in Calcutta commanding the army deployed to deal with commercial riots, Gandhiji was a one-man army that brought peace where his troops had failed. Gandhiji’s fasting as a penance became the medium and the message and worked successfully for ending violence where official PC had failed. If you see this section in the film Gandhi, you would know what I mean. Not only the two warring communities agreed to give up violence in response to Gandhi’s fasting but it also made the prime ministers of India (Nehru) and Pakistan (Liaquat Ali Khan) visit Gandhiji in Calcutta and issue a joint appeal for peace.

5.    Gandhiji was opposed to partition; so aslo Dr.Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and many others who were part of the new governing team in Delhi. None of them raked up their differences in public for polarising the public opinion. It is recorded history that Sardar Vallabhai Patel  and Jawaharlala Nehru, two staunch soldiers of Gandhiji, had disagreed on most matters and both were contenders for the post of the prime ministership. However, when Gandhiji anointed Nehru for the post Sardar worked under him. A photograph of the  famous handshake between the two leaders across the personality of Gandhiji speaks volumes for PC. Neither side tried to reduce it to a mere photo-op (as one would experience today!) and lived and worked to honour its spirit. The volumes containing the correspondence between the two bring out the firmness with which each expressed his views on matters of great importance as well as the politeness and courtesies extended to   each other. And there were few media leaks that could have soured the relationship.

4.    On August 15^th, the area directly administered by the British government had become free. Nearly 700 princely states were yet to be integrated into the Indian government. States like Mysore, Hyderabad, Junagad, Kashmir, Travancore were prominent in defying the call for an end to princely rule and integrate with India. The freedom movement was continuing in these states and AIR became an important channel of the new government for political communication. When Sardar Patel  had to resort to police  action  in Hyderabad to persuade the Nizam to integrate his state with India, two kinds of political  communication were required, One was to reassure the people of the state that the government would intervene to support their struggle. Another was to warn the Nizam to trifle with India. A marauding group called Razkars supporting the Nizam and attacking the majority community that required to be dealt with; Another was to address the people in the rest of India who were eager to see how the new government would deal with mini-crisis. The AIR became the handmaiden of PC in those critical days.

5.    Another development requiring PC at home and abroad was the first Kashmir war that began in October 1947 when Pakistan sent tribal militias to Kashmir.  The Maharaja of J&K Hari Singh, seeking Indian assistance, acceded to India, But soon regular armies of India and Paksitan were engaged in fighting, and the dispute was taken to the UN by India. J&K’s undisputed leader them was Sheikh Abdulla, who was the principal initiator of PC in Kashmir. Nehru and Abdullah were the main voices heard by the rest of India and people abroad. The attempt in PC was to present India as a responsible member of the UN, a victim of aggression yet seeking a peaceful solution to a problem caused by a neighbour. It is notable that in PC the element of propaganda and was far lower than what transpired during the subsequent Indo-Pak wars. 

6.    A very significant stream of PC related to the making of the new Constitution. The elegant and erudite debates taking place in the Constituent assembly were copiously reported in the English news papers. The meaning of the debates was often lost in translation in the regional media. One does not know how much of the import of such debates were understood by the population, 85% of which were illiterate.

7.    The shortages that had surfaced during World War II were becoming acute by the day. Rationing of food and other essential items had continued. Now that the nation gained Independence and the freedom struggle had ended, an unprecedented admiration for certain leaders sprang up in every nook and corner of the counry. The people had invested great trust in the Indian National Congress as a movement, correspondingly in its leaders. Their credibility was high among the people. This was reflected on the walls of huts in villages and homes in small cities with people proudly displaying the photographs of  Gandhi, Nehru, Subhas Chnadra Bose, Sardar Patel, Dr.Ambedkar and many others  whom despite many people never seeing them in person. Many would even use pictures from the newspapers to show their admiration for their leaders.

8.    The Indian National Congress was a very extensive as well as powerful channels for PC during the freedom movement. It continued to retain its credibility and following in this golden era of PC. Most of the ministers in government in Delhi and other parts were former freedom fighters and members of INC. The halo effect of INC showed its big and not so big leaders in the best light and added to the credibility of the PC of the day. As far as the people were concerned, Delhi was far but not Gandhi-Nehru and the local leaders were assumed to be their followers, hence trust-worthy.

9.    An interesting feature of PC of that time of transition was its attempts to focus on India’s foreign relations. Nehru himself was steering this PC and was to become its most visible exponent and spokesman of the nation’s foreign policy. As early as March 1947, Nehru hosted the Asian Relations Conference, showcasing his preoccupation with foreign relations. Soon, India was taking the lead in the global campaign against colonialism that still controlled many nations. The Indo-Pak conflict had entered the UN generating its own PC. The PM’s visit abroad, particularly to USA in 1949 was big news back home. This was featured as the Indian people’s hero straddling the global stage like a colossus, making the chest of every Indian puff out with pride. The competition between the USSR and the West to sway India into their respective camps during in the cold war that was brewing (1945 to 1990)  was also responsible for greater foreign policy content in the contemporary political communication.

The author
sunarendra@gmail.com

This golden period of political communication, it should be noted, was before electoral politics entered Indian democracy. No doubt, INC and its leaders had contested elections under the British and there were bitter electoral battles within the  Congress party, but there was hardly any bitterness or acrimony. When Subhas Chandra Bose won the election to the office of the Congress presidentship (1938), much against the wishes of Gandhiji, there was palpable unpleasantness. However, they were clean political contests based on ideology and means to win freedom for India, and certainly not for winning power with selfish motives. Luckily for the country, even in provinces there were leaders who matched the stature of national leaders with a stellar record of participation in the freedom movement. The pan-India presence of INC gave a different direction to political communication. (Blog: (https//Spokesperson.blogspot) 

Satyagraha to Storms in Parliament: Political Communication comes a long way

By S.Narendra

(Former Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer &

Govt. Spokesperson)

Political communication, the oxygen of an open, functioning democracy like India, is at the present moment choked with vituperative confrontation. Te recent parliamentary proceedings and the TV debates have left much to be desired as far as the behaviour of our political leaders. The political institutions supposed to be dedicated for leading the healthy discussions at national and State capitals have become non-functional and alternative channels like media and social media have taken over. In this tit-for-tat era, it is instructive for students of communication like me to take a look at the evolution of political communication from the freedom movement to the present. I am sure, as you read, you will agree with me!

 

Political communication (PC) is the oxygen of a democracy like India. When it purposefully moves through the body politic, it will keep the heart and mind of the democratic polity healthy. It follows from the premise that the PC comes from many voices and in many hues, making the Indian democracy vibrant and colourful. One of the  most respected scholars on Political Science, Earnest Barker in Reflections on Government calls democracy as the revolution by consent. He pays a great tribute to India by reproducing the preamble to our Constitution as his Forward to another book of his. According to Barker, this preamble epitomises the best in western social and political theory that developed over three centuries. The preamble, along with the chapters on Fundamental Rights, (of which the rights to freedom of expression, practice of faith and profession, are critical parts), and the Directive Principles of State Policy set the framework for our political communication.

Charkha - symbol of the original political communication

The evolution of political communication in India runs parallel with the political development of India from the 18^th century. This background is essential for understanding PC. The inspiration for political communication and its broad socio-political agenda came from decades of freedom movement that preceded Independence. It initially addressed the elites of India at home and the political opinion makers in Britain. Leading intellectuals of the time  such as Gopalakrishna Gokhale and Srinivasa Shastri  adopted the British political communication styles and modes as they believed in changing the colonial rule while working from inside. In contrast, Balagangadhar Tilak and several others wanting to change the system while remaining outside of it, took a more strident stand. Tilak’s famous statement:’ Freedom is My Birth Right’ echoed in his newspaper Kesari, stands out and posed a direct political challenge to the British. With this began the political communication of confrontation. Gandhiji’s differed from Tilak in so far as the means for achieving this birth right. His peaceful civil disobedience, that set the tone for freedom struggle morphed into mass Satyagraha movement. This was a mission, a medium as well as a message all rolled into one. It galvanised the ordinary people who were recipients of political communication and became its messengers.

Wrapping PC  around symbols drawn from the common man’ s everyday life such as making of salt, making one’s own cloth from  Charkha and Khadi (to teach self -reliance), burning of British cloth (Swadeshi) for infusing national pride and arouse anger against colonial suppression of Indian enterprise were part of Gandhiji’s master stroke series! In an era when there was no media, the use of symbols (wearing the trade-mark lion cloth, half dhoti and displaying of bare chest, and symbolic acts like Dandi march, fasting, travelling by III class coaches, courting arrest, prayer meeting followed by discourse, Prabhat Pheris all became the political media and the message of  a mass movement.

Scholars’ Perspectives: The broad features PC adopted by leaders at this stage of India’s political development very tightly fits in with the definition of ‘political communication’ given by leading scholars on the subject. R.E Denton and G.C Woodward in their Political Communication in America characterise it as the ways and intentions of message senders to influence the political environment. Another view is that  the key  factor that makes communication ‘political’ is not the  source of a message, (sender and form of communication such as speeches, media coverage, ordinary citizens’ ‘talk’, public discussions) but its content and purpose. Another group of scholars emphasise the ‘strategic nature of political communication in which the role of persuasion in political discourse is critical. It is noteworthy that PC has to be ‘strategic’ strategic’ for influencing public knowledge, beliefs and action on politics. For some writers, PC covers verbal or written communication as well as visual representations such as dress (Gandhi cap, wearing of Khadi clothing, dhoti, by politicians), make –up, hairstyle (Indira Gandhi’s famous silver streak and wearing of simple sarees in public appearances) and party symbols and various other props to establish political identity. In PR terms, we call it as Image management.

Allow me to get into some nitty-gritty since its relevant in the context of current political communication scenario.

A writer regards strategic  political communication (SPC) as comprising ‘PC that is manipulative in intent, that utilises social scientific techniques and heuristic devices to understand human motivations, human behaviour and the media environment, to inform what should be communicated and what should be withheld, with the aim of taking into account and influencing public opinion, and creating strategic alliances and an enabling environment for the policies of the political establishment-at home and abroad. The PC that emanated from the freedom movement leaders stands up remarkably well to all the above cited academic frameworks and attributes  defining PC.

Initially, available media in the form of newspapers, pamphlets and widely publicised petitions to the Imperial government in London complemented the political campaign for gaining Indian representation in the governing system of India. Then came the trend of leaders of freedom movement like Gopalakrihna Goghale (The Maratha, Servants of India Soceity journal) and Balagangadha Tilak (Kesari) starting  their own news newspapers. Having one’s own communication vehicle also increased the political clout of such leader-publishers. Gandhiji’s Harijan and Navjeevan were not only his political instruments but also vehicles for propagating his social reform mission. If one glances through the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi running into more than one hundred volumes, he was an incessant writer of letters and most of them were loaded with political messages. Separately, publishers of newspapers in different languages arrived in support of the struggle for independence, especially after Gnadhiji took over its leadership. These newspaper owner–publishers were observers of the movement as reporters or even commentators. At the same time, they became participants in the freedom movement by making their newspapers as its  campaign vehicles. It was not usual for such owner-publishers to hitch their newspaper to one or the other leader. These publications came to be known as ‘nationalist newspapers’. Their credibility and influence (if not their circulation) grew in direct proportion to the government’s action to block them. It was not unusual for literate participants in the struggle to make a digest of news relating to the movement published in newspapers and circulate among the people who had no access to them. In my own house in Mysore, my elder brother and sister and their friends were engaged in this work. The word of mouth played a significant role in rallying the illiterate people.

Media’s Legacy: This ‘participatory role’  of Indian newspapers had a profound impact on the way the newspapers functioned, including  their content  in the first decade of independence. The newspapers could not shed their perspectives and orientation as less than critical followers of leaders. As Inder Malhotra, a senior journalist noted in a newspaper column that the newspapers adulation of leaders made them blind to the blind–spots of leaders who had now become rulers. If one examines the contents of newspapers of this period, they continued the practice of reproducing the speeches and statements of politicians and official press releases (the practice of printing verbatim Rastrapati Bhavan’s daily press notes of President’s engagements - an imperial legacy-  was stopped in 1972). Among the staff, political correspondents outnumbered the other reporters, causing heavy coverage of political news. Only a shock like the Indian army’s debacle in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 made them sit up, get out of their awe of erstwhile leaders of the freedom movement and  ask questions normally raised by journalists in a democracy. Of course, there were exceptions to this practice but such exceptions were drowned out by cheer-leaders. PC had to wait for many more years to emerge as communication for empowering citizenry to hold the rulers accountable. This clearly establishes that PC as a theme and its consequences for the evolution of economic and political policies deserves deeper academic studies.

Immortalised at Sabarmati

The Government Media: On the colonial government’s side, there were a few newspapers like the Statesman, Civil and Military Gazette and others.The government’s political communication translated many times into brutal action against the freedom movement, like incarceration of its leaders, mass lathi-charge and censorship of newspapers.

This action had twin effects. The first was the case for freedom emerged stronger, attracting an increased number of people into the struggle. The other was to make the political opinion in Britain to sit up in horror and search for a compromise. Not only the press in Britain but also the media in the US began to focus on the freedom struggle and the political communication, indirectly.

As and when the British government came up with constitutional reforms like Minto-Morley Reforms, later Montague and Chelmsford Reforms and the Cripps Mission, the government made efforts to put across its point of views through the official machinery. An Information department was created within the Home affairs department. The Indian involvement in the  first and second World Wars moved the  government to scale up its  information (propaganda) dissemination machinery .The radio, named AIR/Akashavani came in 1927 and acquired the tradition of working as the megaphone of the government. Ownership of radio sets was limited but as a novel electronic media wielded a great influence and increased the velocity of the word of mouth. The PR wing of the government-Press Information Bureau (PIB) was set up in mid-1930s. Its first chief J.Henessy in a first of its kind submitted an official report containing PIB’s performance to the government. In this meticulously compiled report, he tried to correlate the use of government money on PR and media relations with the output and impact. In table after table, he records the column centimetres of space gained in newspapers through press releases and other activates. Perhaps this was the first and the last such attempt by an official media unit to hold itself accountable to the money spent by it.

                   The author                 
         sunarendra@gmail.com  

The birth of official journals like the defence magazine Sainik Samachar (Ruskin Bond was associated with it), PIB and AIR during the Raj laid the foundations for the development of a larger official media system after Independence. The launch of five year plans for socio-economic development in 1952 moved the  government to expand this official ‘publicity’ set up with the addition of field publicity vans  for contact with the people, an advertising wing (DAVP), Song And Drama division for harnessing folk media, and the Publications Division for publishing books and official journals like Yojana, Kurukhetra (for publicising CD or Community development movement, an idea of S.K.Dey, a favourite of Nehru). Doordarshan made its appearance in 1959 but acquired momentum in 1970s with SITE experiment. While the official media machinery’s stated role was to spread awareness about development among the people for bringing about their participation in it, in practice they have been used by governments of all hues for political communication. The never ending  debate about their use and abuse by governments in office  is now part of political communication and electoral code of conduct for contestants in elections. (https//Spokesperson,blogspot)

Next: Post Independence Period.