In striking contrast, we have two reports on consecutive days on the same subject from Deccan Herald correspondents, Devika Sequeira in Panaji and R. Akhileshwari in Hyderabad. Appropriately quoting from the BJP National Executive resolution, Devika brings out the force of the party's reaction to the widespread demand for the removal of Narendra Modi as the "beleaguered" Gujarat Chief Minister. Citing a part of the party resolution that the National Executive was confident that Modi would "meet every challenge to counter every canard", the report mentioned the sequence of events with precision. Announcing to the press the National Executive's rejection of Modi's resignation offer, the party President rushed to the venue of the Prime Minister's public meeting to tell the gathering of Modi's offer and its rejection. Vajpayee had not got there by then. Such little details knitted the story into an informative and readable news source. .
The Hindustan Times version also was compre-hensive. It did full justice to L.K. Advani's explanation of the factors behind the BJP's decision. More than that, it enables one to understand the dynamics of the situation. According to the report, Advani attributed the recent electoral setback to the party not being able "to measure up to (its) own high ideals". Differentiating the party's failure from what he claimed as satisfactory government performance, he listed measures to remedy the situation. They included toning up the party by drafting 'competent' Ministers for party work, speeding up policies and programmes and energise the bureaucracy "to deliver what had been promised to the people" and better projection of the Government's overall performance.
Taken in isolation the party decision to retain Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and also go in for a snap election to the State Assembly, it was ominous. It amounted to, as the Telugu Desam Party aptly put it, cynically trying to exploit human misery for electoral advantage.
But looking at it in the larger perspective of retrieving the party position in the country, it seemed not such a desperate move after all.
The Prime Minister's emotionally surcharged public address, in conjunction with the National Executive resolution, sounded like a throwback to the dangerous days of Hindutva. By not clubbing them, the Hindustan Times and Deccan Herald reports have conveyed a correct picture of the situation. Devika Sequeira in the Herald reinforces the account by quoting from the party President's remarks at the press briefing: Jana Krishnamurthy said the party had been "forced to this situation" by the Congress and others in the Opposition who had bayed for Modi's blood. "This was the only way out," he claimed.
In this context, the premature and hysterical campaign by some newspapers and commercial television channels contributed to the crisis instead of letting it happen and tackle it. Some of them did so at the time of the Taliban hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in 1998. It is what Leon Trotsky once said in a different context, mistaking the ninth month for the third month!
Now for the reaction of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its President, Chandrababu Naidu, to the BJP resolution. Akhileshwari builds up the story, move by move, to give a graphic account of it. In the process, it exposes the fanciful stories in many other newspapers, notably The Indian Express. First of all, the TDP Polit-Bureau postponed and not skipped a decision on breaking away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Her report reads: A long-drawn meeting of the.... Polit-Bureau reviewed the developments of the day and also considered the Prime Minister's appeal to the TDP not to withdraw support late in the day after a meeting of the NDA in New Delhi.
It decided to postpone the decision till tomorrow if not for a couple of days during which it would 'study' public opinion, the mood of the MPs and of the country before taking a decision. It will most likely raise the issue in Parliament... The polit-bureau reportedly discussed the issue of withdrawing support to the NDA Government, its repercussions and their impact on the TDP's fortunes should a midterm election become inevitable. Although initially the TDP gave the impression that it was ready for the consequences of a parting of ways with the NDA, especially after the harsh rejection of its demand for the removal of Modi as the Gujarat Chief Minister, it apparently was mollified by the softening of the tone and tenor of the Prime Minister in his appeal to the TDP. . According to party sources, the placatory tone of the appeal and the suggestion that an NDA team visit Gujarat to study the relief and rehabilitation measures being taken up there prompted it to soften its stand.
The report stresses that bitterness had crept into the relationship between the two in the last two days with both sides using strong language to convey their feelings. While the TDP stopped short of charging the BJP with responsibility for the Gujarat carnage, the BJP in turn indirectly told the TDP that Gujarat was none of its business.
Against this background, a Times of India editorial faults Chandrababu Naidu with transforming politics into a morality play and charges him with "colossal loss of face". The newspaper's reports from Hyderabad were being patterned to back the editorial or were wishful. The only nugget in it is that the media fell for appearance rather than reality.
