Precise Pace : Tête-à-tête with the Press

H

e's not in noiseless mode. At last he busts his ‘maun vrat ’. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh outwardly sought to transmit this message by interacting with media persons. Although it's a poignant annotations on our democratic system; the prime minister chatting to the media becomes the leading story' of the day and the media can't be held responsible.

This was an extraordinary instance when Manmohan Singh chooses that the electorate of India should know what the prime minister was thinking/doing about flaming issues facing the nation. It was barely a two-hour "communication" with the print media, not even a live press conference and hitherto I was watching news channels for each word that was coming out of that meeting. 

It is said that in ancient India a good emperor should fuse with his 'praja' so that he might be acquainted with the issues ailing the populaces. While no one expects Manmohan Singh to start jogging on the Delhi roads, he can do fine by hearing what the media has to story on the tribulations of the commoners, the same electorate that elected Congress to power. The PM's media consultants have done a disfavor to the nation by wounding him off from the mainstream. It's time that he should take matters into his own hands and speak for himself.

Subsequent to the meeting a famed journalist tweeted his take on twitter one comment on that reaction was – “Manmohan Singh doesn’t perform anything he is only the face of the government, run by Sonia Gandhi”. How can somebody comment like that he is a clandestine being who interacts with unspoken P.M or what?  It's the bequest of Manmohan Singh that is at wager here and he certainly wouldn't like to go down as India's "best finance minister", but it’s "most silent and inactive prime minister". The time to push the wrapping, show active authority and slot in masses is now. Dr Singh would be astonished to find that the media will meet him more than halfway. All he has to do is posing.

The main opposition party BJP and the so called civil society have snatched the splendid populace bond that the media has. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure, the media had it’s detach inclusion within 7RCR, the employees providing journos with water and fans. If the media had prepared the India Shining slogan in 2004, it was largely because of the BJP's exceptional media management. The Congress, by being on the other farthest, had not only debilitated its illustration but also the practice of PMO coverage. It was under the UPA that journalists were thrown out of 7RCR and forced to report from the other side of the road, opposite the prime minister's residence. Today the government blames the media for giving excessive coverage to the Anna Hazare campaign even as it shies away from taking on the anti-corruption activist or his men in a public debate. I wholly concur with that accusation. It galvanizes an opinion that the government has something to hide, while Anna with his frequent appearances is fighting for a totally valid and logical cause. If Anna is condemning government and there is no body to defend populace start believing that government ought to be erroneous that is why they have nothing to articulate.

There is also a case made that the prime minister was media introvert and consequently this towering echelon of malingering from the fourth estate. That squabble is mythical on two foundations. Those who have tracked the PM from his days as finance minister make out { articulating from the reactions of the senior journalists on twitter }that Singh can handle the media more than passably and secondly even when he has vocal to the media as a prime minister, he has been shrewd, pointed and occasionally dull to a slipup. Whatever or whoever is stopping the prime minister from speaking out, it's not his inbuilt restrained temperament.

For starters, he held he wasn't a "lame-duck prime minister". Whilst he welcomed Rahul Gandhi his succeeding him, he suggested change of sentinel wasn't forthcoming. If that sets to respite trendy qualms, is the Congress itself convinced? To tie suspicions about prime ministerial authority with opposition "misinformation" won't do; Singh's own party men haven't ceased from stimulating speculation on this score by their statements.

The prime minister might have used the occasion better to disperse agnates about the economy. Concerning inflation, why the functioning on farm sector modification? Nor was he too impending on the predictable cabinet reshuffle. Given the UPA's troubles, must be more than a merry-go-round for seat-holders. Only by infusing young blood and keeping out consistent freeloaders can the UPA give itself the spanking new thrust it so poorly needs.

Prateek Pathak

Student
B.A in Media Studies

University of Allahabad