Opinion With Cynicism,One and All

Harish Salve,meanwhile,tried sarcasm: “If the people of India are to be consulted in the drafting of the law,how will it compromise parliamentary sovereignty? My little mind is unable to comprehend this.” Chandra,not having a little mind,managed to recognise the gaping flaw in this argument and for once a speaker was challenged: “How do you judge who speaks for the people of India?” Not a worry on this occasion,said Salve,“We have a case before us as open and shut as open and shut can be.” Proof that not every legal luminary is a natural for the Bench.

Meanwhile,the non-Civil Society corner was going rogue,just a little bit. Anna Hazare’s fast was nakli,declared Sandhya Jain,he left mysteriously every night. Chandra began to panic,wondering how he was going to keep the discussion from flying off to cuckoo-land,and intervened again: Anna is not here,it has been denied,do you have any substantive points to raise. At some point the camera stopped focusing on her at all,her mikes were turned down,and we only heard Chandra explaining away what she was saying. Understandable,but I’d rather see him continuing to engage.

Meanwhile,cynics,that detestable verminious breed,were being hunted across shows. On NDTV,Justice Hegde (again!) told Sonia Verma that asking that corporations and NGOs participate in the bill-drafting exercise was gross cynicism. (Hegde added,puzzlingly: “Being a judge,I know each one is entitled to their own opinion.”)

And on Times Now Arnab Goswami pointed out darkly that “there are a lot of people speaking on behalf of politicians… I find that interesting.” Goswami appeared to think that all the people being “cynical” were also proxies for politicians. Thinking which is not cynical at all,apparently.

When a panellist asked Arvind Kejriwal about Narendra Modi,Goswami intervened: “This is about corruption.” Except it was,according to the banner,about Cynics. (The banner read,in the gentle persuasive prose for which that channel is famed,End the Cynicism Please.) Goswami cut Kejriwal’s reply off to attack the Token Cynical Journalist instead: “Why not address the issue Anna Hazare has raised?” (Newshour,was,of course,addressing the issue Hazare raised,not spending prime time calling people who disagreed nasty names in large red letters.)

Goswami’s closing sermon was remarkable. “People are saying — not people! Cynics! Cynics! Cynics are saying this is a movement propped up by television… bill is poorly drafted… undermines democratic institutions… so many scams,nobody said a word! But it’s okay” — here Goswami was visibly moved — “to sit in drawing rooms and do exclusive interviews with Suresh Kalmadi.” (Did Times Now not get an exclusive? Poor dears.) “End it now. Bring in a change. Now is the time. End the cynicism. Times Now will not be cynical… Even before it has begun,trash it,question it,try and intellectualise it. That is really worrying.” That is true. Turn to Times Now. The Leader’s motto: Question Nothing. And Definitely No Intellectuals.