Most people who follow the BJP closely consider its communication and media strategy to have been an utter failure. The feeling has been prevalent especially among the party’s supporters, who fear the party’s ineffective outreach may be detrimental. A lot of the criticism is valid. There is no doubt of the fact that things could have been handled better. But finally, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Certain long-term strategies, favourable conditions and increased proactivity are beginning to bear fruit.
One has to consider briefly what the BJP was up against when it was elected more than two years ago. Ignoring circumstances while judging the effectiveness of its communication strategy is rather harsh. The BJP’s predecessors carefully cultivated an entire ecosystem around them for many years. This ecosystem, made up of the media and the intelligentsia, gave direction to the country’s mainstream narrative. Journalists were spoilt with all sorts of extravagances, from expensive foreign trips to high value accommodation to disproportionate influence in the corridors of power. People with zero intellectual capacity were proclaimed to be intellectuals, showered with awards and prestigious posts at well-funded and unscrutinised organisations. As a result, almost the entire mainstream spoke in one voice.
This was the voice that systematically spread lies about prime minister Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. This was the voice that declared Mr. Modi to be politically untouchable, and attempted to scuttle his rise in every way possible. But for once, people were tired of the real puppet masters (Congress) and threw them out of government. The ecosystem with its deep roots remained entrenched nonetheless. It continued to exercise a monopoly over the flow of information and ideas to the masses. Unlike other democracies, there never existed a second legitimate narrative in India. The BJP, with no ecosystem of its own and no experience of creating one, had a difficult task at hand. Two years down the line, say what you will, the old ecosystem stands discredited and weak while a brand new one is gradually carving out a space for itself.
The BJP’s strategy to seize control of the mainstream narrative has been long-term and multi pronged. There are four clear policies the party has followed to achieve its objective. The first is that instead of taking on their detractors, the party has allowed them to dig their own grave. The second has been a steady reduction in the influence of certain unfriendly individuals and organisations that have a hand in shaping the mainstream narrative. The third has been a conscious effort in cutting out the middleman, the mainstream media, by the extensive use of social media. The fourth has been a conscious polarization of print, television and social media.
Today a certain group of journalists, media houses and intellectuals aren’t taken as seriously as they were two years ago. The bias they held against the BJP hasn’t been as subtle after the BJP was elected, and this has been for all to see. Their positions on various issues were taken with the sole purpose of projecting the government in a bad light. Their vehement support for anti-national elements and their taking part in the bogus intolerance movement has eroded their credibility.
The BJP, instead of taking them head on, has allowed the social media and the TRPs to do the talking. The social media, which allows everyone to have an equal say, has been particularly unsparing. Unlike television and print, the so-called credible journalists have had their bluffs called out on a daily basis. This group isn’t perceived as the neutral saints they attempted to project themselves. There is a more realistic idea today about what they truly are: undignified Congress stooges.
As this group advances steadily on a self-destruct sequence, the government is using the legal route to tackle the ecosystem’s financial irregularities. Organisations such as Ford Foundation which have often funded certain operations of the mainstream media and other so called activists, most of which have had an anti-BJP undertone, are being scrutinized. The dealings of these organisations were always considered to be shady, but they never warranted any scrutiny from the previous dispensation for obvious reasons. The government has asked all such organisations to shut shop if they are unable to provide plausible explanations for the irregularities.
NDTV, a media house known for certain political allegiances, had been brought to its knees with various wings of the government investigating it for financial fraud. Besides little blows like trashing the practise of taking media contingents on important foreign trips, the illegal flow of big bucks is being gradually arrested. The government’s anti-corruption drive within the ecosystem is depleting it from within.
But the law taking its course within the ecosystem and a self-destruct sequence being set without, is not enough to take down the ecosystem. The ecosystem was designed to withstand such attacks, because it controlled the outflow of information and ideas and this allowed it to get away with anything. Fortunately, after the advent of social media, this isn’t the case anymore. One doesn’t have to be content with wrong news and twisted statements, one can gather information accurately from those closest to the action. Public servants (the prime minister, ministers, chief ministers, MPs) and departments now provide information about their work throughout the day. The process is transparent because it allows people to interact with them and hold them accountable directly.
Similarly, the entire mainstream ecosystem is held accountable against its wishes, and the results so far have been disappointing. All in all, the ecosystem which was the messenger or middleman, is being gradually cut out. With television as a medium for information receding into oblivion, the internet is taking centre stage today. Fortunately, this isn’t a platform with only one bias narrative. In fact, it is giving birth to other kinds of narratives. This is the reason government programmes such as Digital India are particularly important for the BJP’s survival.
The creation of a legitimate right-wing narrative in the country is also well underway. This is more important for the BJP than having a BJP-centred narrative. A population which holds a particular set of ideas to be valuable is more reliable as a long-term voter-base than people who vote based on issues or personalities. This is the reason why online portals that claim to be right-wing often attack the BJP, while maintaining that there is no better party for the country today. These portals and other pages or handles with similar views are steadily gaining popularity.
It would seem as if the Indian version of a political right wing is resonating with people. This has resulted in many prominent personalities and organisations within the mainstream media adopting similar views. Whether these are opportunists advancing themselves is half as important as the fact that they are thrashing the competition within the industry. Arnab Goswami is the perfect example. From being a crusader against corruption and injustice, he has gradually transformed his channel into a strong right-wing voice in India. Today his channel focuses on Pakistan, on anti-national elements and pseudo activists who seek to drag India down. He exposes them every evening with a vociferous uber-nationalist panel by his side. The Congress Party and the Aam Aadmi Party often boycott the channel. This avatar of his has made the mainstream ecosystem jittery, but despite it ganging up against him, he consistently commands over eighty percent viewership among English news channels week after week. The prime minster choosing him to give his maiden televised interview infuriated the mainstream and pushed him further to the right of the spectrum.
Proactive and clever moves, such as the prime minister choosing Arnab, will do the BJP a world of good. It is in making these moves that the party has found itself to be lacking. Genuine efforts from the party’s side to help the alternative narrative establish itself, is the need of the hour. There are indications that the party is taking this more seriously of late. At the end of July, the country’s top right-wing bloggers were called for a two-day event in Delhi. Apart from Amit Shah and M.J. Akbar, the bloggers had a chance to interact with some of the brightest right-wing minds in the country. This sort of intermingling and interchange is essential for the right-wing today. The platform for it can only be provided by, for lack of better terminology, the mother ship. The BJP has to offer impetus to this alternative narrative as often as possible.
Surely a lot more can be done when it comes to outreach. Another suggestion which comes up very often is an official press briefing in the evening every day and in all platforms, by one minister or another, so that the government is always in charge of the narrative. Another is making out of Doordashan a professional media behemoth on all platforms, and using it effectively. These suggestions need to be considered seriously, and incorporated effectively whenever possible. We must keep in mind that Vajpayee wasn’t elected in 2004 because this was the battle he lost. The BJP today is doing much better on this front than what its paranoid well-wishers would like to believe. But there’s a long way, a very long way still to go.