Why is The Socialist Big Tent Collapsing?

Why is the Socialist Big Tent Collapsing?

The Pioneer, this very newspaper, was once the flag-bearer for the British Raj in the United Provinces. It had famous people like Winston Churchill and Rudyard Kipling writing for it, albeit before they became famous. Along with the once legendary Statesman of imperial Calcutta, and Times of India of mercantile Bombay, this troika carried the Union Jack held high, haughtily designed to strike fear and awe into the breast of the subjugated native.

The Raj carried the White Man’s Burden in this, their prized Jewel in the Crown, with exemplary aplomb. And the Raj papers above-mentioned maintained an infallibility of editorial tone.

They expostulated, rather than explained, the Government’s  policies and deeds as it saw fit. There was no felt need for fairness, or balance, or even a hint of a native point of view. In all sincerity, and without the least trace of irony, that was that.

Britain owned the bakery, didn’t we know, and everything and everybody in it. It did not feel any need to ingratiate itself.  So the British-Indian media narrative only buttered the British side of the bread, and audaciously ignored the rest.

The Pioneer, established in 1864, went into a long hibernation after the British departed. Only to emerge afresh, but in a  radically different, Left-leaning avatar, under the ownership of  suave Industrialist Lalit Mohan Thapar and the Editorship of Vinod Mehta.  The original logo, of the leaping stag against a yellow sun, has however, survived.

Mehta went on, of course, to preach his blatant ‘pseudo-secular’ line, as he self-deprecatingly puts it himself, in the Outlook Group of magazines, and still oversees it all as Editorial Chairman.  

But, it is a stark if strange truism, that for the last 20 odd years, the lone sentinel of the Right of Centre discourse in India has been The Pioneer, under the current BJP MP Chandan Mitra’s  editorship cum ownership.  He too, truth be told, has travelled the distance from Socialism as a student, to realising later that it does not work.

The Pioneer has been joined, but only of late, by the highly successful digital media offerings from  IT entrepreneur Rajesh Jain’s NitiCentral,  helmed by ex-Infosys staffer Shashi Shekhar. And, most recently, Swarajyamag, begun by two young entrepreneurs working out of Bangalore: Prasanna Vishwanathan and Amarnath Govindarajan.

Swarajya is edited by well-known media-man Sandipan Deb .The Swarajya  team is also in the process of reviving C. Rajagopalachari’s dormant magazine in a monthly print edition as well.

Arvind Panagariya and Jagdish Bhagwati, for long the stellar gurus of the Indian economic Right, shining a light on the goings on here from distant Columbia University in the US, are also centre- stage at last. They are being heard, and listened to, along with a number of lesser mortals, including myself, who also want 9% GDP growth year- on-year for a decade or more, and think it can definitely be done.

But this, ladies and gentlemen, is the sum total of the declared Right of Centre crowd. And you can probably fit all the Right leaning economists, columnists, speakers and cartoonists, comfortably into one middle-sized auditorium .

All the rest of the vast Indian media/intelligentsia; in print, digital, and broadcast, are, and always have been, pushing the Left of Centre Congress world vision. This was ordained by the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and passed down, like the Holy Grail, through most of our nearly seven decades as a nation.

While the idea of a zebra changing its stripes may be a non sequitur; the tone and tenor is definitely changing, as the extant media comes to terms with the prospect of a decade or more of BJP rule.

In the broadcast space, the dramatic change of ownership in the CNN-IBN/TV 18 Group from  entities controlled by Raghav Bahl to ones that belong to Mukesh Ambani has resulted in a shake-out.

While the Reliance Group has a track record of being pro-whichever Government is in power, it fully realises that Modi is here to stay. It is interesting to note that it finds repeated forays into the not very lucrative media and think-tank areas, cogent to its plans.

Similarly, yet another cash-strapped broadcaster, a pioneer and incubator for the industry, the NDTV Group, has also been bailed out by Reliance.  This, if not the advent of a majority BJP Government led by Modi, has resulted in instant moderation of its former bias.

Even the well-heeled Times Group, no doubt with a view to protect its bushels of advertising revenue from the DAVP, is also shifting position.  Vineet Jain signalled the change in stance himself by praising the Modi Government’s use of ordinances to break the legislative logjam.

There is some evidence that the India Today Group, sustained more by its state-of-the-art and large scale Thompson Printing Press, than by its media activities, is also coming around to a closer appreciation. Aroon Purie has ostensibly taken the Prime Minister’s invitation to promote the Government’s Swatchh Bharat campaign quite seriously.

However,  since  Purie continues to provide sanctuary to a number of ousted, Congress- loving, editors, maybe they too will put their considerable  journalistic acumen to work by learning a new tune, more in keeping with the times.

But many politicians, across the spectrum  have got it horribly wrong, and become misfits overnight. The CPM is hanging on by a thread in Kerala, its last perch. All the more or less Socialists in the fragmented Opposition, feel betrayed and wronged. Perhaps they can’t be blamed for being in denial. Socialism has been the default position in this country for a very long time.

But now, the voter has turned his face. This is not just the middle class who have enough, but the poor, urban and rural. They have rejected welfarism, rejected the dole and subsidy route.  The vote shares too have shifted in favour of a soft, inclusive, capitalism.

So is Socialism yesterday’s hit that is thoroughly played out? It sure looks like it.

 But since there are a masses of political parties, which live on caste calculus, as Marxists,  Lohiaites, and/or inspired by the activism of Loknayak JP Narayan; they can’t believe their eyes. What will they do when reality eventually dawns?  

Judging from trends, all politicians except those who can’t leave because of too many skeletons in their cupboards, will probably join the BJP. This is happening already, and will most likely snowball as the economic initiatives of this Government begin to bear fruit. There will be  speed. And, when politics becomes economics convincingly; implementation, as the IMF points out, is decidedly the key to success.

(1,097 words)

January 20^th, 2015

Gautam Mukherjee