- 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 14th
to 15th 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 15th, 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.
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| 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:
