Punjabi Antenna
Debates must help form opinion
Randeep Wadehra

Last fortnight, Tirchchi Nazar held discussions on governance in, and future of, Punjab in the conventional manner – assessing the past and the present scenarios. Naxalism does not exist in Punjab, pronounced one panellist. The other concurred. But corruption exists, said the other, and the first one concurred. Anchor Balli sagely averred that the Akali-BJP regime was ushering in reforms in state governance – both the invited panellists concurred. But, pray, whither reforms? What’s the roadmap to the resolution of the myriad social, economic and administrative problems confronting Punjab? Usual homilies and platitudes were offered in response. One suggested e-governance, the other suggested evaluating the ACRs’ effectiveness in improving bureaucracy’s performance, and both suggested "bringing down the level of corruption". But, how? Development would resolve this problem – was the answer! The anchor failed to point out that corruption subverts development.

Giving a regional perspective to the Naxalite problem, Khabarsaar’s SP Singh asked whether Naxalism was spreading in Punjab. The debate turned cynical. "Oh, the police would brand any organized protest against injustice as Maoist or Naxalite" contended one panellist. "The state is wiping out democratic space`85 it has become intolerant of even legitimate remonstrations" griped another. They were absolutely sure that only the state was playing dirty on legitimate protesters, without pausing to ponder over the possibility of anti-national forces trying to destabilise the polity by using ordinary citizens as gun-fodder. It would be foolish to ignore or even underestimate the menace of Naxalism. Are there any viable solutions? If so, what? True, Naxalism has its roots in economic inequities and social injustices; but how do we right the wrongs and prevent their recurrence? Such matters were not discussed. New ideas were absent; whither intellectual rigour, pray?

Khabarsaar’s subsequent episode dealt with interstate water disputes. The expert Kumedaan’s informed opinion got drowned in the Akali-Congress acrimony.

Masle was to discuss Bhopal gas tragedy but the issue was obfuscated at the outset when Ritesh Lakhi announced that "Badal Sahib" had compared the Bhopal tragedy with the 1984 anti-Sikh violence as far as government apathy was concerned. This set the agenda for obscuring real issues through Orwellian doublespeak. With Congress, BJP and Akali politicians on the panel – Justice Verma being the lone non-politician – the debate turned into finger pointing contest. The question of corporate accountability was countered with the Gujarat riots issue which was counter-countered with the 1984 anti-Sikh violence. Reeking with hot odious gas the Masle debate drifted away from the Bhopal tragedy.

"Beat around the bush, blur the focus" has been a set-piece formula for pretty long time now. There has not been a single debate so far wherein panellists have seriously discussed the ways and means to resolve a given problem, or ameliorate the effects of a tragedy. They will prevaricate, pass the buck, vociferously deny their own culpability and shout at each other while keeping count of the brownie points being scored. After all, none of these politicians would like to get a dressing down from their respective high commands for under-performance. A quarter century after the two 1984 tragedies our politicians are still singing "ringa ringa roses" with their pockets full of more than posies while holding each others’ hands and skipping along in circles, little realising that the rhyme ends with the words, all fall down!"

It is time our TV channels realised that debates are meant for generating informed public opinion.