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Political communication (PC) is the oxygen of an open democracy
like India. In the first decade after independence, PC was mostly one way from the government, that meant
mostly from the first prime minister Nehru to the political system and to the
people. It was almost direct communication, not mediated by media. The latter
was prone to report Nehru and what the government said and did at length. Its
reach was limited. While Nehru was keen to provide adequate space for the
opposition, it was puny, in the face of the Congress juggernaut. However,
there was a sudden political churn at fag-end of the decade. Robust signs of challenge
to Nehru’s authority, government and
Congress party government and the policies appeared...Also, sings of
emergence of dynastic politics. Read the fifth in a series by S
Narendra, former adviser to PMs and Govt Spokesman.
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While
the Karnataka government raised a controversy in trying to mark Tipu Sultan’s birthday on November 20th,
not many in India would remember or like to remember November 21st. On this day
in 1962 China declared unilateral ceasefire after occupying territories in
North East Frontier (in present North East states, especially Aurnachal Pradesh
and Assam) and inflicting a humiliating military blow to India. The one month
long Indo-China war ended on this day. In a broadcast to the nation, Prime Minister
Nehru had said ‘my heart goes out to the people of Assam......’ as the
ill-equipped and under-clothed army had limped away to Tejpur, Guwahati was expected to be under
threat. President Radhakrishnan in a radio broadcast had mildly upbraided the
government for its lack of anticipation of Chinese threat and absence of
preparation.
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| An Express report on Chinese aggression |
The
then Times of India editor N.J.Nanporia in a scoop of the century, through series of articles written from about
November 14th onwards had predicted such a unilateral ceasefire by
China.
K.
Hanumanthiah, Congress MP and a former chief minister, in a quotable quote had
said “We seem to be fascinated by the word ‘non’. It was non-violence to begin,
later non-alignment’. It has come to mean that half the cabinet is aligned with
Washington and the other half with USSR and a prime minister in between.
A
rare picture of a pensive Nehru, with a heavily slumped shoulders,
clasping hands at his back, walking alone
and away from the camera (T.S.Satyan a
great photographer from Karnataka, had taken one of them) in Parliament corridor had appeared in
newspapers. It pictured the state of the nation’s morale and the shattered
ideals and optimism which had characterised the political communication until
then. A new questioning phase in PC was palpable.
The
political rumblings had arrived in 1959, when C.Rajagopalachari launched the
Swatanatra party, as a counter to the Congress party’s embrace of socialistic pattern of society.
The Bharatiya Jan Sangh founded by Shyam Prasad Mukherjee in 1951 was also a
critic of the government’s tilt against the
private sector. Thus, there was some convergence of views and the two began to coordinate their attack
on the government. In the meanwhile, the Communist party of India that had
opposed the Congress party and Nehru in the initial years had softened its
stance, as its external mentors in USSR had now become India’s economic partners
and the prime minister’s close friends. This party also had allies like Krishna
Menon in the Congress party.
The
Communist party had newspapers in different languages including its English magazine New Age and through the People’s Publishing House the Communists
were able to penetrate the public opinion space. On the other side of the
spectrum was the Current weekly by D.F.Karaka (in early
fifties Karaka had written a book- ‘The Lotus Eater from Kashmir- and presented
it to Nehru).The latter had also exposed the in -flow of money from USSR to PPB
house and foreign exchange remittance to some leaders of the Communist party.
In
order to fill the big gap in India’s foreign reserves, the government had introduced
a scheme under which Indians could receive foreign remittances without facing any
questions. Russi Karanjia of the Blitz weekly was reportedly another
beneficiary of Soviet generosity. While the Blitz was blazing away against
critics of the Prime Minister, Karaka was soliciting one Rupee contribution
from the readers of Current for fighting communism.
Corruption Folklore: PM
Nehru, who had declared very early in his stint that he would hang from the nearest
tree any one found to be corrupt, was facing serious corruption charges against
his partymen in government. His son in law Firoze Gandhi had mounted the attack
on corruption by exposing the LIC-Munhdra scandal in 1957. A judicial enquiry headed
by Justice M.C.Chagla indicted the finance minister T.T.Krishnamachari (TTK) and the
finance secretary H.M.Patel ,forcing them to quit the government. The
‘folk-lore on corruption was spreading’ was the warning given by A.D.Gorwala committee, set up ban the government for suggesting anti-graft
steps. It had found that ministers, legislators and bureaucrats were involved
in corruption. While the prime minister’s integrity was not under question, he
was seen as somewhat ambivalent in
dealing with the corrupt (there was a precedent before Dr,Manmohan Singh).
For
example, Krishna Menon came into the cabinet even though he was under the
shadow of corruption during his tenure as the High Commissioner in U.K. TTK came back into the cabinet in 1963.The
Punjab chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon was alleged to be corrupt but was seen to be in PM’s good books. There were several
other names of ministers in states and the
centre who were considered to be of doubtful integrity.
Poor Image of Private Sector: The
highly government controlled and regulated private sector was not above board either.
The political communication on behalf of PSUs had put the latter on a pedestal,
extolling the fact that PSUs represented the best in private and public ownership (It is now the
turn of PSUs to face this criticism as inefficient and prone to political misuse
and calls for their dismantling mounted in the wake of the economic reforms of
1991) .
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Next:Part VI- Pre-Emergency Sledging Phase.
Garibi Hatao, and 1971 elections,AIR misuse attacked by Opposition, Media
represents 00.001 percent-Mrs Gandhi, Newsprint Crisis. Media Urges
government to set up newsprint mills, Price-Page Schedule Struck Down by SC, BBC
Thrown Out, Myth &Reality Campaign by Frank Moraes, B.G.Verghese Removed
from HT for his campaign on Mrs.G, foundation Laying spree, STD arrival
worries government, spying on foreign media, JP's Gujarat and Bihar
agitations queer political pitch, Student Strikes and Media Strikes etc
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This
implied that the private sector not only did not serve the public purpose but
was dominated by purely profit (greed?) motive. What was more damaging to the private
sector image were reports of mismanagement
of firms, manipulations of their accounts and stock market rigging. This
prompted the government to set up the Vivian Bose Commission to enquire into more
than a dozen companies including the Bonnet & Coleman company publishing the Times of India
and several other papers, controlled by Ramakrishna Dalmia-Jain family. This
family owned airways and an Insuracne company as well. Ramakrishna Dalmia was
jailed after a trial on charges of embezzlement of funds of companies under his
management. Sriyans Prasad Jain also
faced similar charges. The government had moved for removal of the Board of
Directors of TOI group of newspapers headed by S.P Jain on the ground that it
was being mismanaged and company funds diverted. Even the ownership of TOI was under question. TOI
editor had appealed to the government to transfer the ownership to a
cooperative. (During the emergency full ownership
was restored to Ashok Jain.). A commission of enquiry had established serious
fraud charges against S.P.Jain but action was not taken against him reportedly
because he enjoyed the protection of the home minister G.L.Nanda. Again Nanda’s
reputation for probity was unquestioned.
The
Vivian Bose Commission in a separate enquiry into the state of Audit in the
private sector had found that the
institution of auditors had lost
credibility, as some famous auditing firms had conducted audits but had
not cared to check the records for their veracity (in the same way Arthur Anderson and other so-called
Audit biggies had audited multi-national firms such as ENRON, WorldCom in 2000-02
and Meryl Lynch, AIG in 2007 ).
The
Tatas and some others had even quit
FICCI, as S.P.Jain accused of misappropriation of funds of companies he was
managing and facing legal proceedings had refused to quit as FICCI president (reminiscent
of the case of the former BCCI boss K.Srinivasan controversy!)
C.Rajagopalachari,
had coined his famous ‘Licence -Permit Raj’ as a short hand for denoting the prevailing
corruption. The country had adopted the decimal system (1957) and Naya Paisa
became the currency replacing the earlier Rupee, Ana, and Paisa (a Rupee had 16
anas further divided into 192 Paisa). For the first time, aluminium alloy coins
came in circulation, replacing genuine
silver, copper and brass coins. Rajaji, commenting on this transformation of
coins, had written that the rot in the government was so bad that even the
coins minted by such a government had lost their weight and begun to float in
water (the light weight 10 Naya Paisa coin actually floats in water for some
time before sinking and that was a fun game kids of my generation played!).
PSU – PR: PSUs
were duty bound to be more open and expected to engage in public communication
about their activities. This burnished the government image as well. As a
result they became the patrons of PR and pioneers by setting up well staffed PR
units with good budgets. This was in contrast to the private firms. Excepting
some big, far sighted houses like the
Tatas, very few private firms engaged in PR. Of Course, they had advertising
wings. Even in the field of advertising,
corporate PR and advertising was not in much vogue. Most brands in the market
were extension of international brands, as Indian FMCG and other products were
a very small part of the market. This supplementary position of private sector
continued for several years after independence.
Overall,
the (mis) behaviour tendency of the private sector and the political communication that derided the
profit motive of private enterprise
largely have gone to condition
the Indian public perception of the private firm. It has not come out of such
a negative image even after role of the PSUs and the government in the economy
have undergone a substantial change in the post-reform period.
Father-Daughter in Driving
Seats: On the political front there were some
unusual turns. The PM’s daughter Indira Gandhi had been made the Congress
president in 1959. Although senior party leaders were very resentful of Mrs Gandhi’s elevation, there was no open
opposition because Nehru was the tallest
party leader and a vote catcher. For the first time in history in 1957
elections, a communist government (headed by E.M.S.Namboodaripad) had come in
Kerala. With the active support of Mrs Gandhi as the Congress president, a
massive agitation was mounted for toppling this duly elected state government. Religious
sentiments were stoked for the move. The
president of India Dr.Rajendra Prasad (according to the autobiography of D.P.Misra, a Congress chief minister of M.P and a staunch supporter of Nehru and
Mrs Gandhi) very reluctantly had approved
Nehru cabinet decision for dismissing this elected government. This was the
first instance of the central government misusing Article 356 of the
Constitution that vests power in the Union government for removing a state
government, if the latter was not in a position to be carried out in accordance
with the constitution. The prime minister was roundly criticised for using his
daughter for this political putsch.
There
were sudden developments on the northern borders of India derailing
the much hyped ‘Hindi-Chini Bhai,Bhai’ and Panch Sheela declarations. The
Chinese army had occupied Aksai Chin (part of Pak occupied Kashmir) heights
ceded to it by Pakistan. China had ended autonomy of Tibet and the Dalai Lama had sought asylum in India.
Around this time, there were unconfirmed reports (now confirmed in a biography
of Gen,K.S.Thimmiah, though) that the army chief Gen. Thimmiah had offered to
quit his post. The army chief had differed with the defence minister Krishna
Menon over the defence forces preparedness to meet the Chinese threat. Reportedly,
there was pressure to cut the defence spending that was just a little over
Rs300 crore. The Indian Express had reported that factories meant for making
guns and ammunition had made improved coffee filters under the orders of the
minister. Also, Krishna Menon was alleged to have interfered with senior army
appointments.
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| Nehru and Krishna Menon |
There
was a blistering attack on Menon in Parliament by one of the opposition
stalwarts- J.B.Kripalani, a freedom fighter and a Gandhian who was not afraid
of differing with Gandhi. Kripalani was
now in the socialist party and a critic of Nehru. In a memorable speech in
Parliament, Kripalani said; ‘under Menon’s watch we have lost 12,000 square
miles of our territory without striking a single blow “ (reference to Chinese
occupation of Aksai Chin). It seemed that the entire opposition ire against Nehru
was being heaped on Menon, seen to be a favourite of the prime minister. There
were media reports that some of the members of the cabinet were not even on
talking terms with Menon.
The
1962 parliamentary elections were held against backdrop of several challenges before the government.
While the Congresss victory was a foregone conclusion (even a lamp post would get elected under the
Congress flag, to quote Frank Anthony M.P),
the entire nation’s focus on North Bombay constituency where Menon was
challenged by Kripalani. It was a high profile and a tough contest at that, in
which Nehru staked his prestige. One campaign poster on behalf of Kripalani had
this memorable ditty: ’Chini hamla hote hai/Menon saab sote hai’ (from the book
on this contest by Dastur). The Congress party
saved Menon’s seat by investing enormous
resources. The poll campaign was remarkable for its high decibel level
that inaugurated the confrontationist politics.
Rajaji
had galvanised and united the splintered opposition. Nehru had carpingly
described the Swatantra party as the party of tycoons, landlords and princes
representing a bygone age. The Congress juggernaut, as expected, rolled on and
won 361 seats out of 488 contested. But the opposition despite its
disadvantages had scored. The Communist party was the biggest gainer with 29
seats. Swatantra party made its debut with 18 seats. Jan Sangh touched double
digits (14). What the opposition lacked in numbers in parliament, it made it up
in terms of the personalities.
Krishna
Menon’s poll victory turned out to be a pyrrhic one. In October, the Chinese
had moved their army into Indian territory and inflicted heavy defeats. This post
has begun with the mention of events
leading up to November 21st, 1962.
The
politics and political communication then on moved into a new phase, replacing
the single most dominant voice of the
first prime minister with many. The most significant outcome of India’ s
debacle on its borders was that for the
first time the hitherto unthinkable question - Who After Nehru - began making the rounds. A year later, an
American writer By Welles Hengan published his bestselling book with the same
title.
VR
or Virtual Reality is creating a minor storm in news organisations, especially
the broadcast networks. 360 degree video and Chat apps have transformed news
content.
