SANDEEP BHUSHAN - The Importance Of Not Being Earnest: What Arnab Goswami’s Modi Interview Revealed
On 27 June, the news
channel Times Now aired what was billed as the “interview of 2016”—an exclusive
conversation between the prime minister Narendra Modi and Arnab Goswami, the
channel’s editor-in-chief and the anchor of its primetime show, The
Newshour. Through the day, the channel fanned the buzz by releasing short
clips of the duo’s pre-taped interaction. The interview was the prime
minister’s first exclusive since he rose to power over two years ago—a fact
that Goswami was quick to point out.
But nearly 48 hours
later, almost no trace of it has remained in the news cycle. The reason for
this fleeting effect is clear. What should rightly have been a landmark
interview was a vapid conversation lacking any newsworthy content—save for the
prime minister’s comments supposedly ticking off the maverick MP Subramanian
Swamy. In utter contrast to his trademark combative style, Goswami composedly
asked the prime minister only questions that allowed him to reinforce the
ruling party’s public message, and to steer clear of all controversy—a telling
choice on the anchor’s part.
Though Modi didn’t
name Swamy, in response to the anchor’s questions about the MP’s recent
criticism of the RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and senior bureaucrats, Modi said,
“Whether it’s someone from my party or not, I think such things are
inappropriate. The nation won’t benefit from such publicity stunts.” “If
anybody considers himself above the system, it is wrong,” he added.
Even the next day’s
papers did not find much else worth writing about in the interview. “Modi raps
Swamy, says none above the system,” wrote The Hindu, while the Indian
Express ran with “PM snubs Swamy: It is inappropriate, a
stunt.” Only the Kolkata-based The Telegraph—which has, in the
past, forensically questioned Modi’s attempts at image management and blatant
media spins—called a spade a spade. The paper termed Modi’s remarks “mild—and implied—rap,” a
“gentle rebuke” made without even mentioning the offender’s name.
More galling than the
prime minister’s refusal to name Swamy was the certificate of patriotism he
issued to Rajan. He could have said a word or two about Rajan’s attempts to
clean up bad debts or contain inflation, and Goswami could have pushed him to
do so. Instead, Modi merely said Rajan was “someone who loves his country” and
“will continue to serve” it—comments uncannily similar to those of the RSS
ideologue S Gurumurthy. In an interview published in the Economic
Times just a day before Goswami’s, Gurumurthy said that “culturally,
Rajan is perhaps mentally more Indian than some of our liberals.” It appears
that the stamp of approval for the governor was originally issued by the Sangh
Parivar.
In keeping with the
tenor of the Modi government’s public relations, the interview focused on the
prime minister’s image and achievements. Consistent with everything Modi has
said over the past 25 months—in parliament, in speeches in the nation and
abroad—it spared no opportunity to criticise the political opposition, or to
enumerate the failures of previous governments. As it has been through these
myriad speeches, the narrative was tightly controlled and well-rehearsed:
before the Modi government came to power, India was both filled with untapped
potential and an international pariah. It is only with the election of Narendra
Modi that the country’s future has been illuminated… read more:
