“Continuity and consistency are important in a democracy,” says Shekhar Gupta
Shekhar Gupta
Ever since Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2014, there have been robust debates in various circles. Some have hailed it as progressive; some have termed it unimaginative, while some have chosen to adopt the ‘wait and watch’ stance. It, hence, came as no surprise that the Budget was also the hot topic of discussion among Rotarians in last week’s meeting; even the speaker’s topic was “Budget 2014 — Walked the Talk?”
But what made the gathering an exceptional and stimulating one was the extraordinary personality who addressed it, a towering figure in the field of journalism. In his preliminary address, Rtn. Manish Kejriwal said that veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta needed no introduction. “However, the only new point I want to share with you today is something that is not well-known — it is how Shekhar adeptly handled the twin roles of Editor-in-Chief and Business Head at the Express Group of Publications by not giving in to anyone. There were times when the paper and brand faced formidable challenges but Shekhar tackled them all. He is not only a journalist but also a true professional and a wonderful human being,” Rtn. Manish told Rotarians. When Shekhar took the podium, all eyes were on him; you could have heard a pin drop in Taj Mahal Palace’s Ball Room.
Clad in a simple green kurta, Shekhar began his speech by thanking Rotarians for giving him what every speaker hopes for — a full hall and their undiverted attention. “And that too giving it to somebody who has come to Mumbai from Delhi to give you gyaan is wonderful. Mumbai and Delhi are sovereign republics who are yet to establish diplomatic relations with each other,” he said, evoking laughter in the audience.
Then on a more serious note he continued, “Having said that, it’s interesting that you asked me to come here and speak about the budget. Everyone is saying ‘acche din aane wale hain’. The question is not whether it’s a good budget or a bad budget. Frankly, it is a budget; I would call it a “Man-Modi” budget because it is very much like a Manmohan Singh budget.” Indian politics has been divided for many years now and, going by the election campaign, it was easy for the new government to trash the previous government. “But the government to my delight, and it’s something all of us should appreciate, avoided that temptation. Instead, there was a very sincere acceptance of the fact that India is facing a fiscal crisis, current account deficit, is short of resources and is not generating jobs. The new government has signaled new energies. Continuity and consistency is as important in a democracy as is change, nuance and departure from the past. Who knows, two years from now, people will be nostalgic about the times of UPA,” Shekhar said.
What was special about Shekhar’s speech was that he did not stick to the budget alone; his views encompassed Indian politics too. He compared the current state of our country to the time when Rajiv Gandhi came to power with 415 seats and BJP back then had only two seats. “When he (Gandhi) came to power, he could say anything and it would bring tears to our eyes. But soon we saw the spiral of mistakes that he made — the Shah Bano judgment, mishandling the Punjab situation, etc. Things can change very fast in India. So a wise politician doesn’t over promise in India once he comes to power and, instead, tempers expectations. Modi has done that smartly,” he said. Coming back to the budget, Shekhar said that while it was not spectacular, it was sturdy in its calculations. “Outcomes are not in the hands of the Central Government or the Finance Ministry. Outcomes lie in the hands of operating teams in various ministries and the chief ministers. India has now gone much closer to the true federal spirit of its constitution. States are very powerful; they have more power than they had during Indira Gandhi’s times. The Central Budget will have to take that reality into account,” he said. “If we are businessmen, we should have fewer dealings with inspectors, regulators, etc. If you assess the budget on those parameters, I think you see many indications that the government is tilting in that direction. For once, there is no announcement of another mega scheme. There is a departure from that old psychology of answering problems of governance by passing new laws.”
The journalist also felt that the government does not want to continue with the Planning Commission in the manner in which it was set up. It is less inclined towards centralised planning models that Congress was following. “I see very encouraging signs if they don’t go ahead with the Planning Commission. The Commission should be disbanded; a mobile, outgoing consultative mechanism should be set up for the Central Government to talk to the states,” he opined.
Shekhar believes that our country is “work in progress”. India, with its different states, cultures and needs, is too diverse to be re-imagined. He said, “In fact, our founding fathers made a mistake by giving us the slogan ‘unity in diversity’. They should have just said ‘celebrate diversity’. In our country you not only have to live with the diversity but also make use of it and negotiate with it.” He added that he is watching Modi carefully to see if he has the ability to negotiate. “I think Modi is a smart man. He has understood this mandate better than most of his supporters. He has to reach out to everybody including his opposition, various institutions and other countries. Even Pakistan. That is going to be the test. Look at the Kargil war, the Kandahar hijack, the attack on the Indian Parliament and 26/11 — what did the various governments do? They maintained strategic restraint. A war with Pakistan will deeply impact the stock market, economy and investors. It will take years to recover.”
Shekhar is happy to note that Modi is using every opportunity to reach out to world leaders and maintain diplomatic ties. “I think these are good signs and he’s setting himself up for a long innings. Of course, five years from now, we’ll take a call on him. Public emotions are fickle; people can get greedy and impatient. The toughest taskmaster in the history of mankind is people in a democracy. Modi is conscious of it and he is moving cautiously. Before elections, he said ‘less government, more governance’. He’s not saying it anymore. But then if any government was perfect, life for us journalists would be very boring,” he concluded with a smile.
Excerpts from the Q&A session
Q: What do you think the government is doing for infrastructure? We are in dire need of better roads, freight corridors in railways and airports.
A : For this, we’ll have to, as they say, watch this space. But so far I would say the statements in the Railway Budget were good. Dedicated freight corridors, as you know, are work in progress. What we have to watch carefully is the process of negotiations that has started
on restructuring the land acquisition law.
Q: What are your views on the attack on media by capitalism? So many groups have seen infusion of funds from capitalists. How does it impact independence of journalism?
A: In India, media has always been owned by capitalists; owners of Times of India, Indian Express, NDTV and Hindustan Times are all capitalists. I think what you are referring to are the big capitalists for whom media may be a very tiny business. They spend most of their lives in a transparent domain. It’s a good thing that they invest and provide media houses with financial stability. My worry is small-time mining barons, real estate sharks, liquor barons or politicians with business interests in media. When those people realise that media is a very small business, they will misuse it. My favourite example here is former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda’s case. He was in jail for almost a year for allegedly abetting the suicide of an airhostess. He defied Delhi police to arrest him and said that he will surrender if he feels like. Delhi police made it a prestige issue, put checkpoints all over but could not catch him. He later drove into the police station and surrendered. He came in the OB van of a news channel that he owns; nobody would check an OB van. When these kind of people indulge in shady practices, it brings down the prestige and respect of all journalists.
Q: Do you think Indian television is myopic in its approach to news?
A: I agree with you. We should have covered Ukraine better. We should be covering the Middle East better. Because if Ukraine goes down under then all of our three armed forces will come to a standstill; the core of their equipment is Soviet origin and many of those factories are in Ukraine. In India, we approach politics like it’s entertainment. The audience looks forward to drama instead of news.
Q: `200 crore has been set aside to build a statue for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel but only `100 crore has been allocated for the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ yojana. What are your thoughts?
A: I think these two things are not related. Firstly, there can be a statue for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel but does it have to be two and a half times the size of the Statue of Liberty? Gigantism is not a good idea today.
Secondly, women’s safety is not bought with money. Law and order is the responsibility of the states, there’s nothing the Government of India can do about women’s safety. There are enough yojanas in our country for beti bachao, beti padhao. I’ll say both these things are examples of tokenism — one of them is an example of tokenism as well as gigantism.
Q: What are your views on sensationalism versus truth? Sensationalism these days results in commercial success but truth gets lost.
A: Media and public discourse has hit a low; it gets frustrating. Several extra zeroes have been added to scandals and now they are nowhere in the news. The problem with media, especially television, over the past three years is that they have gone away from facts to noise. But I think that phase will end soon.