The advantages of populating the social media network with falsehoods are many. In future searches, these will surface for those seeking information effectively painting a bright picture amidst a pitch dark state of affairs.
Frivolity, thy name is politics. Is it a new import? Could it be the result of hit and run strategy in the age of social media, the era of short attention span? Or do the shrewd politicians feel that when information has been democratised, available in every handheld, unedited by a sensible editor, any kind of flippant comment can be sold against votes? Thus the senior leaders resort to falsehoods, gimmicks and sensational stories to attract attention. Hence comes the narratives from a sitting chief minister that India’s Border Security Force guarding the India-Bangla border facilitates infiltrators in crossing into India through West Bengal. Or another gem from a former chief minister that the Yamuna river water is poisoned by the neighbouring state Haryana to kill Delhi residents. India’s Leader of Opposition makes the facetious remark on the floor of the Lok Sabha that Dr Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister was sent to Washington in order to solicit an invitation for the inauguration of Donald Trump. Another recent example is chanting “Modi” “Modi” by a section of the ruling party members in the Lok Sabha when the Finance Minister was announcing tax benefits for the middle class, winking at the seriousness of the House proceedings. These are just few random examples indicating flippancy among the politicians at the helm.
Such glib falsehoods with no facts to back up and behaviours suited to a roadside tea stall in an august law making body illustrate both the quality of the audience for whom such narratives are created as well as the political brains which manufacture those. In fact the conviction that the voting class will digest any falsehoods served, emboldens many a political leader to spend large sums of taxpayers’ money on events which result in mere wasteful exhibitions. Take for instance West Bengal’s Bengal Global Business Summit, held with fanfare and massive media spent. Year after year, event after event since Mamata Banerjee assumed power the state has seen MOUs and announcements of investments of a few lakh crores with all remaining consigned in the news releases and papers signed during the event. This is quite an expensive frivolity fed to the people year after year.
Advantage of the digital age is that the hit and run type allegation remains firmly etched on the web to be googled in future. Take for instance the wild assertion of Rahul Gandhi that Dr Jaishankar had been seeking invitation for Prime Minister Modi from the in-coming Trump inauguration team. It was a vacuous social media comment that attracted snigger from those who hate the three-time Prime Minister of India. But when such flippancy is served in the highest debating body of a nation and that too by the most important leader from the opposition it exposes their feeling on the quality of their target audience. There always are some who have faith in such farcical views, especially in the age of social media. They will love to deliberate on the same and crowd social media platforms.
West Bengal’s “Global Business Summit” is a similar expensive effort to feed “stories” to the gullible voters. The advantages of populating the social media network with falsehoods are many. In future searches these will surface for those seeking information effectively painting a bright picture amidst a pitch dark state of affairs. This is serious political misinformation, cannot be called frivolity though the data fed through such “serious” efforts are mostly erroneous and carefully “manufactured”. Sadly, politics, especially in India, and political narratives let imagination run riot to misguide the gullible.
On careful “fact checking”, hollowness of most such claims gets exposed. Take for instance the complaints that in the unfortunate stampede in a section of the massive “Kumbh” at “Prayag” “thousands” died and their bodies were dumped in the water to hide the number. In order to ensure that such wild allegations receive due traction, prominent individuals join in spreading the shocking falsehoods. Actress turned a “Samajwadi” fixture in the Rajya Sabha, Jaya Bachchan is one such person.
Not to be left isolated, the West Bengal Chief Minister advised the UP Chief Minister to learn from the “successful” arrangements of the “Ganga Sagar” fair in her state. The annual fair sees few lakhs of visitors coming for a dip in the river, against crores coming to the Prayag on every “special” day. This is nothing but frivolity sanctified by people occupying high positions and in effect turning political narratives murky. Can there be rules to teach sense to them?
It seems that even rules are weak when it comes to implementation. This was seen when Arvind Kejriwal went scot free with his preposterous allegation that Haryana was pouring poison in the Yamuna to harm Delhi residents. Had an ordinary person used such views he would have, in all probability, received some good thrashing by his sensible friends. Since the likes of Kejriwal has crossed that level they can merrily accuse anybody without attracting any reprimand.
Such frivolous exchanges are not unique to India alone. Remember the popular allegation that Russia helped Trump to win the Presidential election in 2016? There never was any proof for the same yet the opponents of Trump kept the fire burning. Don’t forget the disgraced Canadian leader Justin Trudeau who kept blaming India for a crime committed in his country. Frivolous comments spread with all seriousness in a well planned manner rule politics today. The condition helps the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Jaya Bachchan, Trudeau et al till they are finally exposed. Sadly the damage of such falsehoods spread to turn frivolity into serious narrative hurts people’s faith in political institutions. In their zeal to remain relevant such people are making democracy irrelevant.
* Sugato Hazra is founder of Poliminds Consult, a content agency for aspiring and practising politicians.