Over the past few months, the news cycle has moved frantically from topic to topic, all orchestrated by the BJP. This included discussions on a Uniform Civil Code, simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, the special session of Parliament, a possibly fabricated story of an ornamental staff or sengol gifted by the British to Nehru and the just-concluded G20 summit. In most host nations, the G20 summit is a low-key event. But in India, the Modi government converted it into a palooza, with television news running breathless coverage of the rather bureaucratic affair.
Many of these topics are frivolous. Bharat versus India or the sengol have no relevance to the governance and politics of modern India. But as a previous India Fix has noted, even the media attention on topics that are relevant to politics rarely translates into policy. In the case of the Uniform Civil Code, for instance, after the intense media coverage, senior BJP leaders put out anonymous tips to some media houses that there would be no such policy action in the near future.
In many ways, then, for the BJP. the media frenzy seems to be an end in itself.
What explains this unusual governance style? Part of the answer lies in today’s media environment, where society is suffused with information via television and social media. For the ruling party, swamping this environment with information that seems to favour it seems like good strategy. Voters have little time to remember previous news storms before they are hit with the next one.
11/09/2023