Losing the narrative

Personally, I think the NDA government has taken significant decisions in the past 10 months, most of which have the potential to bring back India on the growth path and make fundamental changes to how this country grows and develops in the future.

However, the NDA government seems to have lost the plot on one critical aspect which was instrumental in getting them to power - the narrative!!

Whether it was the imbroglio about Smriti Irani's qualifications or the utterances of Mohan Bhagwat, Ghar Wapsi, or the logic behind the Land Acquisition Amendment Act - the government has failed to manage how each of these stories have been played out in the media. And considering the secularists have told us the BJP will reduce all non-Hindus to a manner of irrelevance and that NaMo is anti-farmer and dictatorial and so on, many have been looking for signs of the same so that we could say "gotcha."

When Mohan Bhagwat says that all those who live in Hindustan are Hindus, it is not the first time he has said things like this. He has made statements like this his entire life and they have barely made it into the national dailies. Yet, now his words are put out of context and blown up for the sake of sensational journalism and stoke fear in the minds of people.

His full statement, for the sake of completion: “All those who live here in Hindusthan are Hindus. Our style of worshipping may differ, some may not even worship at all, we may speak different languages, we may belong to various parts of this land, our eating habits may differ, yet we all are ONE.”

Religious reconversions in India are probably as old as religions conversions have been. It is common knowledge that the Christian missionaries and the Hindu groups have been engaged in this for decades in the tribal areas. The regular skirmish between Hindu boys marrying Muslim girls or vice-versa has been happening forever. Yet, now you see full page stories in leading dailies about how VHP and their associates run shelter houses and actively encourage Hindu boys to marry Muslim girls and get them to convert. Disagree you may with this practice, but to say that this is a new occurrence due to a friendly government at the center, betrays complete ignorance about the realities in India.

Yet, the fear today is that these things are happening only due to the presence of a friendly government at the Centre who is turning a blind eye to such organisations and their activities. The NDA government has been completely ineffective in addressing these fears. The least they could do is highlight that law and order is a state subject and consequently, such events should not at all happen in non-BJP ruled states.

The inability to manage the narrative has not been restricted only to the Sangh Parivar activities. The distortion by the media and the failure of the NDA government is most glaring in the proposed Amendments to the land acquisition bill of 2013. Nearly all the amendments are in public / farmer interest (national security, rural infrastructure, affordable housing), the advantages of which should be relatively easy to explain. At the same time, concerns with others like infrastructure projects where land ownership rests with government or industrial corridors can be easily explained and concerns resolved (e.g. providing employment to at least one person of an affected family). Yet, social luminaries like Anna Hazare, not to mention social activities turned politicians and full-time politicians have made it sound as if the amendments will be the death knell for the farmers!!

It is a fact that many CMs of opposition ruled states have expressed concerns about the 2013 bill. Yet, the NDA government has not done enough to put these people on the mat in a public forum on the basis of their letters and representations? I would be curious to see if Nitish Kumar will ensure that Bihar instructs the government machinery to continue following the provisions of the 2013 bill or will quietly start taking benefits under the amendments (as and when they are passed).

I think it is time the NDA government re-energized its public communications program and starts communicating with the broader population to help separate fact from fiction. If not, they may be up for larger political debacles in the face of a united opposition and an impatient population.

Disclaimer: This is not intended to be in support of any right or left wing activities!!