Bridging the gap

A prime minister has many constituencies, not just the geographical one from which he or she is elected to Parliament. There are sectional interests in every society which, though not electorally decisive, represent loose and disparate blocks of public opinion whom a chief executive cannot ignore.Such interests comprise business associations, labour unions and professional bodies. Or, they may be made up of the small but vocal community of the educated, conveniently and compendiously described as the intelligentsia.In India, prime ministers have developed their own special art of keeping in touch with these important groups of people. They avidly accept invitations to speak at ceremonial occasions of such organisations. Usually, of course, they end up reading platitudinous homilies which, far from helping to establish rapport, only further distance them from their audience.But after the speechifying, there is time for an informal dialogue which, if kept within the bounds of relevance, could help to bridge the ubiquitous communication gap between the decision-maker and those whom his decisions affect most intimately.Mrs Gandhi, as prime minister, never misses an opportunity to address such special and sectional interests. Sometimes, she prefers to meet their representatives in small groups informally at home or in the office. She did so recently when she invited a group of young industrialists to tea.The meeting, however, went off rather tamely, her guests being too inhibited to make a frank statement of their problems and difficulties. It seems one of her officials had briefed them not to waste the occasion by voicing their usual "grouses and grievances" but to use it instead to offer "constructive suggestions".The prime minister's advisers should have known better. Nothing-is so damaging to a politician's standing than this kind of unnecessary caution. It is all the more damaging in Mrs Gandhi's case because her relations with the Indian intelligentsia - surprisingly, as conformist a group as any-have been particularly strained since the Emergency.Despite her repeated statements after 1977 ("Democracy permits small explosions which can explode and settle down. If you put the lid on the small ones, you risk a major explosion"-as she put it most recently in Fiji) she has somehow failed to carry conviction with this important segment of public opinion,This is in sharp contrast to the situation in the mid-'60s when Mrs Gandhi had not yet become prime minister. Her brief tenure as minister of information and broadcasting in the Shastri government is remembered as a kind of "Czech spring" in the history of official media in this country-a phase when a liberal spirit was at large in the dank corridors of Broadcasting House and Television Centre.Never since Independence have radio and television broadcasting been as free, as enterprising, as lively as under her ministerial leadership. Her successful airdash, as a member of the Shastri cabinet, to Madras to douse the flames of the anti-Hindi agitation in the south deepened the niche she occupied in the affections of the intelligentsia.That Mrs Gandhi enjoys meetings with artists, academics, scientists and other professionals is no secret. On her foreign tours she makes it a point to reach out to the host country's avant-garde. The cares of high office and of keeping her feuding party factions on a short leash have in recent years left her with no leisure for such pleasant distractions within the country.Some efforts were made a year ago to break this impasse. Two senior journalists were encouraged to host separate tea parties at which she would be present. On each occasion, some half-a-dozen of her professional critics from various disciplines were invited. The prime minister participated in the discussions which were lively, but carefully skirted all controversy.The get-togethers were intended to achieve nothing more than a vague thaw. Their success was queered by the uncomfortable apprehension that, given the critics corrosively bitter feelings towards her, the meeting would degenerate into an ugly personal confrontation that nobody really wanted.But the prevailing chasm of misunderstanding between a nationally elected prime minister and such vast sections of informed public opinion is not conducive to the health of the democratic system. A more durable mechanism needs to be evolved to promote an outlook of mutual respect and esteem in place of the present suspicion and animosity.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 26, 2013 15:49 IST--- ENDS ---

Download App

Get 37% off on an annual Print +Digital subscription of India Today Magazine

Bridging the gap

A prime minister has many constituencies, not just the geographical one from which he or she is elected to Parliament. There are sectional interests in every society which, though not electorally decisive, represent loose and disparate blocks of public opinion whom a chief executive cannot ignore.

PUBLICATIONS

TELEVISION

EVENTS

RADIO

GAMING

USEFUL LINKS

PRINTING

WELFARE

DISTRIBUTION

SYNDICATIONS

WEBSITES

EDUCATION