By Patricia Mukhim
Elections are getting closer. Most of us in the media are busy reporting what political parties are doing or not doing; who they are giving or denying tickets to; the infighting that ensues denial of a ticket to one aspirant when there are two contenders etc. Till date none in the media have asked any of the political parties as to what public issues they would be taking up as they seek their votes. More importantly, what are the issues that affect people and which the public expect them to take up for the long, medium and short term. It is not for nothing that the media is called the fourth pillar of democracy. When the other pillars are shaky and do not exactly cover themselves in glory can the media be any different? Every pillar of democracy has a leadership role. By that metaphor the media too is supposed to lead, not to follow. Unfortunately, we have all got used to being led by politicians and really have no agenda of our own. So where is the agenda setting role of the media?
Justin Lewis author of “Constructing Public Opinion” says both politicians and the media misrepresent public opinion. Citing an example of what is happening in the United States, he says that while 75% of the American public want more investments in environment, education and health and nearly 80% want a legislation on gun control, what actually gets reported is what the political elite want which is more defence spending and pro-big business legislation. Lewis calls it a myth therefore to believe that politicians or the media reflect or represent public views. Our plight here is that politicians hardly have a view on matters of urgent public concern. Most of those we elected in 2008 have not spoken a word in five years and probably do not have a view on anything except to make money.
Someone had rightly remarked that in the developed states money is used to build roads. Here roads are used to make money. What an irony indeed! We in the media should be girding our loins to find out how much money is spent by the PWD where and in doing what. We should be digging up muck about whether an amount spent in road repair is commensurate to the work done. Other Departments such as Education, Health, Urban Affairs, Mining & Geology, PHE etc also need our attention. Instead of chasing politicians to report their gibberish we should be getting more active now to see how MLAs have spent their MLA funds and whether the money has been used to create public utilities and assets – not just plastic chairs and buckets, mugs and the like.
As a principle, we in this newspaper do not believe in giving coverage to events where the local MLA distributes largesse to his constituents. We have taken a stand not to support patronage democracy that turns decent human beings into poltroons waiting for crumbs from the high tables of the political elite. One MLA known for his brash behaviour one day shouted over the telephone to this writer asking why the paper did not cover his benefaction programme and why we publicise functions of the chief minister and other ministers. If an MLA does not understand the difference between an official function where a scheme that benefits large sections of the public is launched and one that is related to the MLA scheme, then the less said the better. We maintained that we saw no merit in advertising an event where sundry materials were distributed out of public funds. He replied back saying his wife was from the coal belt and she sold prime property there amounting to a few crore rupees and that he was using his private funds for public good. We said we would wait and do an RTI on that and if found true we would acknowledge his charitable deeds. Knowing how long it takes to get answers to RTI questions, the publicity campaign might come a little late in the day, if indeed the man was generous and mad enough to use his wife’s hard earned money to squander on vote winning gimmicks.
Elections are about big money. With each election the money exchange gets bigger as the number of moneybags from the coal belts as well as the cement company sponsored candidates increase. But why defame only the coal mine owners. One contractor candidate is said to have told someone that he would see how much his rival spends on each voter He would just double the amount. As I have said earlier and I reiterate, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is not much bothered about the vulgar display of ruthless spending by candidates. Their prime concern is to ensure that all those who have reached the age of 18 should vote and those voters, especially urban voters should queue up at polling stations so that the percentage of voter turn-out increases and they get a good report from the ECI. Period. The State Election Department has asked a few people to appeal to all who have reached the voting age to enrol themselves and vote. From what one gathers the ECI is not bothered about the quality of candidates that the elections will throw up or the money power that will influence nearly all 60 constituencies.
The question to ask now is whether any of the 60 candidates really care about issues closest to peoples’ hearts. One indicator of that is to see if there are public consultations in all district headquarters about burning issues. If poverty and squalor have risen and livelihoods are scarce then each political party should spell out how they aim to reduce the numbers dropping below poverty line. If livelihood or the lack of it is what troubles people then political parties must not only say pontificate about creating employment but also show us how, where and from what avenues they will generate employment.
Environmental degradation due to coal and limestone mining is a major issue for Meghalaya. How many politicians are ready and willing to make this an election issue since it is an issue that affects people directly? And how many will stand up to face the fact that coal mining is no longer a cottage industry but a billion dollar industry generating foreign exchange and that no less than the chief minister of the State has announced that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would be invited into the mining sector. Do you invite FDI into a cottage industry unless you want to pulverise it completely? These ambiguities are stunning but we the people of Meghalaya look on like nincompoops while politicians make statements that fly in the face of reason. And the media has failed to hold politicians truly accountable. It seems we are afraid of losing their goodwill. If politicians and wannabe MLAs are not going to take up issues of critical concern, then what are they contesting elections for? I know that many have a ready answer to this question. People contest because money alone does not win them respectability. They also need power to amass more wealth and bend and crush the system and the legislature along with it. If you ask me, today what we have is Plutocracy thinly disguised as democracy. If those in government have failed to implement schemes and make them work, the reason is because they are using the tools of democracy in this Plutocracy. In a Plutocracy people are dispensable. They are mere receivers of patronage should the rulers deign to drop the crumbs on their dirty plates. Can media be part of the Plutocracy?
I honestly admit that we in the media are not punching holes in every statement that a politician makes in his election speech. Lewis calls all that gibberish by the name that we hesitate to utter. He calls it ‘bullshit.’ It’s the media’s responsibility to unravel this ‘bullshit’ and tell people that the candidate speaking to them was actually not saying anything of substance.
And now that elections are close at hand, can paid news be far behind? Now if we in Meghalaya think that paid news is alien to our vocabulary we are only deceiving ourselves. It is alive and kicking here as it is in Maharashtra, Bihar and Delhi. Fact is we in the media have been too busy chasing our tails. Its time we get real and get cracking. Else we are no better than the politicians we castigate!