What goes on behind the scenes of an NDTV Town Hall? Does
responsible journalism even exist in India? Who are the good guys of Punjab - the lesser evil? What are the
real problems?
So my involvement or influence in
Punjab Politics is next to negligible, but I have an opinion and that I believe
is important these days. Having observed the world, world politics and
understanding consciousness from the keen eyes of someone willing experiences
to happen, my journey has helped me to develop a holistic approach. Life gave many
opportunities to develop a macro view of the world, to see the world for what it is, and last year fate brought me closer to Punjab Politics than
I had ever really cared to be.
I’ve had the opportunity to view the working of
the Akali Dal govt. machinery from close quarters – working as an outsider who
was treated as an insider. I was responsible for their Image turnaround using
Social Media and capitalising on the resources available both with the Government and the Party. This meant understanding the initiatives they were
running on the ground, collecting information and putting it out there in a way
that creates an air of positivism all around. This also included comparatives
and creating avenues or outlets where their supporters could voice concerns,
have their voice heard and be trained in the nuances of creating and
influencing public perception and political voice.
The biggest problem I see today
is the problem of Media bias. Be it print media, or digital media, every
journalist I have come across is in some way affiliated to a political party or
a politician. If the journalist himself does not hold any such affiliation,
their producers or editors are in a position to issue specific instructions
about what aspects and what stories to cover or not to cover. The real issues
that affect people on a day to day basis are more often than not – simply
missed out. Lack of foresight and officers of the Punjab Govt. who have started
seeing themselves as the be all, end all, highly opinionated political leaders akin to profit over progress, are some of the reasons that Punjab is on a
downward spiral.
I had the opportunity a few days
ago to attend a Town Hall meeting organized by NDTV, hosted by Barkha Dutt. On
Friday, the 24th of June 2016, I was visiting a friend at the Panjab
University Student centre where the production team of NDTV was taking a stroll
as well. We bumped into a correspondent called Apta who told us about the show
and asked us both to come over and attend. While the friend I was with wasn’t
sure of her availability but would have attended with some persuasion (read
importance) that is typical for Punjabi women, they took our details and asked
us to think of questions that we would like to ask the Captain. We bid them
goodbye and went on with our conversation and coffee.
About 3 hours later, I got a call
from a gentleman whom I had met that afternoon with Apta, who wanted to know
what question I wanted to ask. This was a bit surprising for me, since I had
always assumed that the idea of a Town Hall is to have some real interactions,
but I didn’t think much of it – since even in corporate town halls, this is
common parlance. Now in the course of my time spent in understanding Punjab – I
have heard and read through various sources, including the NASA website;
regarding the extent of this problem. If you look closely and examine the
Cancer menace across Punjab, it has been spreading like wildfire and a lot of
reports point out to the quality of ground water as the cause behind it. According
to various reports by NASA and other environmental agencies, we find that owing
to factors like the cropping pattern, large scale paddy cultivation and
irresponsible Govt. actions – the ground water in Punjab is depleting at a very
alarming rate. It is predicted that if this trend continues and sub-soil water
is not replenished – Punjab will be an Arid state in the next 20 years. I had
posed this as a question to the Chief Secretary of Punjab in one of my
interactions with him and it probably earned me his disfavour. Although, it was
his reply that shocked me – he said “giving Tubewell connections is something
every Government does to secure their vote bank. Tubewell connections in Punjab
also come with free electricity. We have been doing it and it has to be done.
You don’t touch that issue”
Now coming back to the
phone-call. I shared with Shuaib that my question has to do with the depleting
ground water level in Punjab and I would like to know the Captain’s perspective
on it. He told me to think of something else as that question had already been
given to somebody else. He asked me to think and send him some questions.
Asking questions comes naturally and within 5- 10
minutes, I sent him 3 questions –
1.) What are the top 3 priorities
that you will personally drive and monitor should the Congress come into power
(this I wanted to know from the point of view that what exactly is this oldie
passionate about? What will happily keep him awake in the middle of the night
and what are the things where the buck stops with him.)
2.) What economic and Social
indicators will you evaluate your Governments performance on? (A simple
question which can answer whether he has a plan for the Govt. or not. After
all, he has been CM before)
3.) Do you believe that Punjab
has a serious problem with the water table declining? What steps do you propose
to reverse the damage?
After about an hour, at around 8
PM, I got another call from Shuaib – saying that these 3 questions are already
being asked by other people and that he would prefer that I raise a question on
the Khalistan issue. He again asked me to send him a question. By this time, I
was getting a bit annoyed at the back and forth but post my dinner I drafted a
question and send it across to him
“What’s your stand on Khalistan
and the Gurudwara’s overseas that still recognise and propagate the movement”
It was already 10 PM by the time
I sent this in, and I got no more phone calls that day.
The next day was Saturday, the 25th
of June, when this interaction was scheduled at 7 PM. At 10 AM that morning, I
received the revised question from Shuaib which read as below:
“Recently during the anniversary
of the operation blue star, some pro-khalistan slogans were raised at the
Golden Temple…there is an apprehension that the Akalis can go to any extent to
stop their political rivals, they have been accused of going back to the
Panthic agenda….what’s your stand on Gurudwara’s overseas that still propagate
the movement?”
I was amazed at how this
gentleman had just manipulated my question into something entirely different
from what I had intended. More so because, he never asked me if I was okay
commenting on the Akalis and assumed that I would go ahead. I had no problem asking the question, since it was I who had to
ask it, and I could change the context if I needed to.
At 5 PM I got yet another call
from Shuaib – he wanted me to reach by 6 as there had been some changes to my
question that he wanted to apprise me of. By this time by level of intrigue
reached another planet altogether, so much hue and cry over 1 simple
question!!!!!
I reached by around 6.15, parked
my car, said hello to all the people I recognised and went to look for Shuaib
to see what he had to say.
He told me there had been some
more changes to my question, minor ones and I could mix the two up. I didn’t
get it at the moment but since he was carrying a list that was going to be
given to Barkha (the Anchor), as a guide to steer the conversation, which had
all the questions listed – I asked to photograph my question and he obliged.
Here’s what the question read
this time:
“Recently during the anniversary
of the operation blue star some pro Khalistan slogans were raised at the Golden
Temple…we have also seen Bhindrawala’s poster along with Kejriwal’s picture…are
political parties going back to the Panthic agenda…what’s your stand on
Gurudwara’s overseas that still propagate the movement”
Clearly – he wanted me to bring
the AAP into the fray of the question along with the Akalis. Well, ironically, I never got
a chance to raise this question. I’m guessing Barkha decided on
the fly to skip it and move on to something else.
I also had a chance to peruse the
list of questions when I met Shuaib and I was surprised to find that
1)There
was no question on the water problem in the list,
2)There
was no question on the Captain’s priorities, and
3)There
was certainly no question on performance indicators
4)No
one seemed to think the sand—mafia is worth mentionin
5)The
issue of Sehajdari Sikhs being banned from voting in SGPC elections was never
raised
During the TownHall, the Captain
passed with flying colors – he was boisterous, lively, animated, even made
jokes on some of his political rivals. In addition, he was confident of solving
Punjab’s drug problem in 4 weeks – this I feel is the biggest joke of all.
If I know the way the Government
functions, even the basic task of identifying non-corrupt officers who have not
been touched by this drug nexus – will alone take much more than 4 weeks.
Bringing down king-pins and not merely stooges is another matter altogether. He
mentioned putting together a strategic task force that will ensure this
initiative throws drugs out of Punjab in 4 weeks. I give him full marks on
being imaginative!
I give the Media stooges who’ve
lost their mojo (or sold it) – a thumbs down for responsible journalism.
The Media must be more responsible in shaping
public perception, must ask the right questions, including those that they are
afraid to ask, without worrying about the Corporate House or Corporation that
sponsors them / owns them or gives them advertisements.
TO those who are reading this
post – I APPEAL to you as a responsible citizen of the world who’s
ancestors and roots are with PUNJABI heritage - Please do not think about your constituency or
locality in isolation, if it hasn’t hit you now – the WATER crisis will get you
sooner or later, the DRUG menace will get your loved ones and the Goons / Mafia
will eat away the environment and monopolise the Industry for their own
personal gain.
Let us all work together to raise awareness and bring Conscious Punjabis
on one common platform where we have a Voice that makes a difference in shaping
or disrupting the efforts of corrupt and manipulative politicians and Babus.
If you ask me, I don’t think
either of the 3 parties are any good the way they think and act – it’s like the
only choice for us is Dr. Evil, Frankenstein and Dracula. Perhaps we need
someone like Gru – to come in and change the game.
Leave your comments below. I
would love to hear your opinions and thoughts.
About the Author:
Amardeep is a thought leader with experience in New Media, Media
Strategy and shaping opinions. He enjoys interacting with and coaching young
people to achieve the life they desire and help them meet their aspirations
with integrity, zeal and hard work. He has finally decided to start sharing his
works and opinion online as well. He propagates optimism and a positive
approach as a pre-requisite to effective problem solving. He is available for
consultations and conversations at ad@transformationquotient.org
