Minhaz Merchant is a biographer, editor, columnist and publisher. He has founded over a dozen magazines since 1980 and has written columns for several newspapers. He has authored many books and is a regular panelist on TV debates on Indian news channels. MyIndMakers caught up with Minhaz for a brief interview about how the media works in India and this debate over ‘rising intolerance’

There is lot of noise about what is being called as ‘rising intolerance’ in the Country. Do you think there is some truth to this or is it politically and/or ideologically motivated?
Most of the narrative around rising intolerance is bogus. The fact that people are freely condemning the government underscores the fact that dissent is alive and well in India’s seething democracy.

Communal riots sadly aren’t new to India, we have seen multiple horrendous riots since 1947. Why do you think are the intellectuals outraging now more than they have before?
Largely because, as I’ve written, the old elite has been disenfranchised. It has lost its social and economic power base. The only way it can recapture political power and the privilege and pelf that go with it is to demonize the “other”, delegitimize the government and hope that has an impact on future elections.

The Congress presided over far more riots than the BJP has – from Bhagalpur and the 1984 Sikh pogrom to the forced exile of Kashmiri Pandits. Influential sections of the Indian media, however, are indebted to the old, defeated power elite. They too have created an atmosphere of intolerance when actually the greatest intolerance to a majority government has been exhibited by those who have lost electoral power after decades. In Indian hypocrisy acquires a life of its own.

Do you think the media coverage about these ‘protests’ has been fair or has the media blown it out of proportion?
Media coverage has been shoddy and overblown. It has exposed professional fault lines in the print and electronic media. Some journalists are used to receiving two pay cheques – one from their employer, and another from a political party or business house. Under Prime Minister Modi, they receive neither money nor access. They pine for a return to a more comfortable and lucrative world.

There is a lot of anger towards the media, irrespective of one’s ideology many people think that the Indian media is motivated. How and why did they cede this high moral ground?
The media has been thoroughly discredited. What I wrote in a recent piece encapsulates why the media has slipped so badly in public esteem:

“Sensing the Modi government's self-inflicted vulnerability, the cabal has struck back. Journalists have been financed to set up news websites to portray the government in the poorest light possible. The series of reports earlier this year alleging politically motivated attacks on churches (later debunked) has been followed by loaded and often inaccurate reportage on communal violence across the country. This reflects the general tone of mainstream Indian media which has a visceral dislike of Modi bordering on the very intolerance it accuses his government of fomenting. The foreign media, never enamored of Modi, laps it up without doing much original research to verify these claims.”
 
You have been writing and commenting on issues since a long time when different governments have been in power. What do you think of this government’s relationship with the media?
I believe it’s a hands-off relationship. Access to the top is very limited. I have advocated a more open and structured engagement with the media: daily briefings by ministers and senior bureaucrats, by rotation, on key issues. As I’ve often said, real-time information is the only antidote to misinformation. This is a weakness the Modi government must urgently address and remedy.

The amount of hostility that we see from the entire ‘left-liberal’ cabal – is it because this is a first (what is perceived as) right-wing government with a simple majority in the Lok Sabha?
The hostility of the Lutyens’ cabal is palpable. Its causes can best be described by quoting from my recent article in DailyO, the India Today online site, titled The Lutyens’ cabal strikes back:

“Lutyens' dispossessed political cabal is led by the Congress which is fighting for its electoral life. The cabal is aided and abetted by Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD, Nitish Kumar's JD(U), Mamata Banerjee's TMC and the Left. Large sections of the media are an integral part of this cabal. Mainstream media (MSM) has been so discredited over its biased reportage since Modi took office that it no longer fears more debasement. This has given it new insouciance. The weapons deployed are as old as journalism and as corrupt: planted articles, slanted op-eds, false stories, loaded headlines, biased TV anchors and entire websites financed specifically to undermine the government at every step.”

How would you rate this government’s performance so far?
The three crucial areas for any government are: 1. Policy; 2. Implementation; and 3. Perception.

1.    On policy, the Modi government has done fairly well except in the area of economic and tax reform where policy has been anemic, the vision foggy.

2.    On implementation, the government has again done reasonably well though having inherited a broken economy and decrepit infrastructure its efforts will take time to show. On roads, highways and power it has done well but on telecom, legal reform and agriculture, it needs to move much faster.

3.    On perception, the government fares poorest. Its messaging is inadequate. Its spokesmen are inarticulate and either too aggressive or too timid. Its ministers are mostly invisible with few exceptions.  Perception is half the battle and that battle is being lost.

Fortunately, this is an area that can be turned around quickly in the next three-and-a-half years. Irrespective of the result of the Bihar assembly election, the Modi government must present a professional, compelling and articulate narrative on all issues on all platforms – print, electronic, online and social media.

You don’t have to court the media, but you must use the media to your best advantage with openness and firmness. Ignoring the media is not an option. The Congress has already co-opted most of it. The Modi government must therefore deploy it with great finesse.