The Hindi press was impressed with three years of Modi Sarkar

As the Narendra Modi government completed three years in office at the Centre, the fortnight was marked by anniversary journalism of stocktaking. With accounts of hits-and-misses of the government making their way to national dailies, Hindi press wasn’t untouched either.

With varying degree of interest in the annual ritual, major Hindi newspapers also engaged their edit and opinion pages with assessing the performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre.

The country’ most read newspaper Dainik Jagran was clear in its editorial verdict on the Modi government’s three years in office. The paper’s editor-in-chief, Sanjay Gupt, who also belongs to the family that owns the daily, used his column to give an unambiguously favourable report card on the government (Sudhaar aur badlau ke teen saal, 3 years of reform and change, May 21).

Being a newspaper perceived to be inclined towards a right-of-centre editorial position, it wasn’t surprising that Gupta credited the government with restoring and rejuvenating the role of Prime Minister after the duality of power centres during the United Progressive Alliance regime. The editor’s column praises the Modi government for ensuring transparency and decisiveness in governance, effective foreign policy and inclusive nature of its reformative policies.

Gupta argues that the government is on its way to fulfilling its mandate of 2014 under PM’s popular leadership, while the Opposition is drifting with its negative campaigns. He writes, “As Modi government completes three years in office, only a few will disagree that there is probably no government which has done so much for reform and change as this government has.” He concludes with these words, “Only a Prime Minister with charismatic personality and having the faith of people can inspire the people. On the contrary, the Opposition hasn’t fulfilled people’s expectations. It’s clear that the Opposition is devoid of issues, as evident in its desperate recourse to EVM issue.”

Another piece in the same paper (Abhi barkarar hain kayee chunautiyaa, Many challenges still persist, May 27) however, chose to highlight the challenges that the government must address in the next two years of its current tenure, while broadly agreeing with the idea that the Modi government has shown political willingness to do so.

The list of challenges that political analyst S K Verma wants Modi government to address is quite long — implementation of the various declared policies and schemes, generation of new employment opportunities, continuing the drive against corruption and black money, augmenting rate of economic growth rate, combating Naxalism, recalibrating Kashmir policy and so on.

The country’s second most read daily, Dainik Bhaskar, with its trimmed opinion page, didn’t show much eagerness to assess the government’s three years in office. Editorial take on the occasion was conspicuous by its absence. The lone stocktaking piece was limited to former diplomat G Parthasarathy’s analysis of Modi’s foreign policy (Videsh niti par vyaktigat chhaap chhodi, A personal imprint on foreign policy, May 26). Taking note of Prime Minister’s personal stamp on energising foreign policy initiatives, Parthasarathy is of the view that Prime Minister is now formulating the policies of dealing with China and Pakistan individually as well as addressing the threat of their alliance.

Unlike its flagship English counterpart The Hindustan Times preferring a survey to an editorial take on the triennial event, Hindustan had its editor-in-chief Shashi Shekhar’s column to mark the occasion (Pradhan sevak ke teen saal, Three years of the prime server, May 23).

While conceding that there could be different views about how the Modi government has performed in the last three years, Shekhar argued that convincing electoral victories suggest that the PM enjoys unchallenged appeal among people.

This, he says, is unprecedented even for strong Prime Ministers in India. “Opposition was hoping that once the government is two years old, unfulfilled promises would erode its appeal. Despite having formidable majority, even Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi governments had lost considerable popular support midway. But, such hopes of the opposition have been shattered by the electoral results of recent assembly elections.” Shekhar suggests that the government has benefitted from being untainted by any serious allegation of corruption and Prime Minister’s image of a committed doer. He goes on to argue that such position of strength entails that opposition needs to put its act together soon if it intends to challenge BJP in 2019.

The differences among siblings, however, is more marked in Navbharat Times which unlike its English counterpart Times of India’s edit, gives a positive report card beyond foreign policy achievements. In an editorial comment, the paper credited the government for a slew of policy measures ranging from demonetisation to Digital India initiative.

Making a far more basic assertion, the paper opined that the government has been successful in ushering in a good culture of governance. “Modi government can be credited with assailing the stagnant nature of the system by infusing in it the energy of new policy measures and also forcing our static thought about governance out of slumber,” the paper remarked. Having said that, it has also cautioned the government against the perception gaining traction that voices of discontent coming from minorities and marginalised groups are being unheard.

Apart from this, the fortnight also had under its fold Hindi Journalism Day on May 30. Surprisingly, Hindi dailies were not keen on using it for reflecting on the state of Hindi journalism in the country. However, in a piece occasioned by the day, Hindustan’s editor-in-chief reflected on the thankless job of investigative journalism done by Hindi journalists, especially amid dangers which are far less recognised. “English media is luckier than their language press counterparts. English remains language of metropolis India while regional press journalists have to fend for themselves when they seek truth while discharging their professional duties…What do they get from the society?”. The recent cases of assault on journalists of regional press adds immediate context to Shekhar’s arguments.

Returning to where we began, one can safely infer that the editorial space of major Hindi dailies are broadly in sync while assessing Mod government’s three years in office. The verdict is positive, though of different shades. However, they have qualified the report card with different riders of caution. The BJP–led government at the Centre may do well to pay attention to the latter. That’s not to take away from the fact that the party would be elated by notes of appreciation from the press catering to the Hindi heartland — a region which is key to its electoral fortunes.

Through the Hindi Lens is a fortnightly look into the world of Hindi news.

The author can be contacted on Twitter @anandvardhan26