Why Bhakts Love To Hate NDTV

Last night’s top Twitter trend, #ShameonArunJaitley, could be an illuminating case study on the concept of sycophancy. Certain people on Twitter pushing the trend contested that it was wrong to call them bhakts  (the popular term for Narendra Modi sycophants) since they were, in fact, challenging one of their leaders. However, there is a very subtle, but crucial, flaw in the argument – the bit about “one of the leaders”. The argument, in fact, highlights the very characteristic of a sycophant, whose sense of legitimacy of anything is contingent on the stamp of approval of that one person. In this case, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The idea of an interview with NDTV is obscene for Modi’s Twitter army for precisely that reason. Modi, ever since his meteoric rise, has never given an interview to NDTV. It is naïve to assume that it is only because of NDTV’s coverage of the 2002 riots, for he has given interviews to publications and channels, which were equally critical of him during the period. It is a statement of sorts. Prasanna Viswanathan, Chief Executive Officer of Swarajya, puts it eloquently: “The adversarial equation with NDTV stems from the fact that the channel is seen as an extension of the Lutyens’ Delhi brand of politics and Modi’s victory was a mandate against exactly that.”

The interview itself validates the sycophancy hypothesis as Jaitley, never once, really embarrassed the government. On the contrary, he pointedly asked interviewer Barkha Dutt if the media would now tell the truth that the church attacks have proven to be not communal. Jaitley even went to the extent of saying that it was irresponsible reporting on the media’s part that has led to insecurity among Christians.

He said all of this on prime time to a journalist part of NDTV –  the channel which Right-wingers claim was the most belligerent in giving a communal twist to the church attacks. Now, imagine Modi doing that.  The same set of people who thought Jaitley should be shamed would have showered compliments on Modi for destroying/ripping apart/teaching a lesson to Dutt and NDTV.

When I asked Viswanathan if he thought the disdain of Right-wingers on Twitter for NDTV stemmed from the fact that Modi also shared it, he did concede that it was partly true as Modi did cancel an interview with NDTV in the run-up to the elections. That is not entirely true, though, since it wasn’t an interview with NDTV. But that’s another story. Viswanathan, however, claims that it is also because NDTV is often identified as being close to the Congress.

Rati Parker, a vocal supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Twitter, was more than upset by Jaitley’s interview.

Parker, when asked what her main concerns were with Jaitley giving an interview to NDTV, said it was because NDTV lacked credibility, was a channel that “fans communal divide without ascertaining facts” and was “involved in a financial scam”.  If you are even remotely familiar with social media discourse on the Indian media, you’d know that the Right wing has similar grievances with almost 90 per cent of the Indian media. But then, the relish in sloganeering against the channel with which Modi presumably has a personal issue seems to be way more fun.

Priti Gandhi, one of the first to mobilise support on Twitter for Modi’s Lok Sabha campaign, though had a much less radical opinion. Gandhi told me that she was personally against the hashtag, but could understand where it came from. In a telephonic conversation she said the people who identified themselves as Right-wingers always had a problem with NDTV since it is perceived to be sympathetic to the Congress.

“I think the Radia tapes really cemented that image,” she told me. Gandhi made an important point about Jaitley, the Finance Minister of the country, giving an interview to NDTV. “I think as the Finance Minister, you have to engage with all sections of the media,” she said. Viswanathan also agreed, saying leaders would have to engage with the media. “You have to understand that people on Twitter are much more invested into the ideology. The leadership doesn’t see the world in such stark terms as the Twitter support base,” he remarked.

It is a telling comment. The world of Twitter is binary. You either love or hate. Just the kind of nuance-free environment that sycophancy thrives in.