India-Pak face off: Misinformation galore as govt’s communication strategy in this crisis is radio silence
War-mongering and misinformation galore as govt’s communication strategy in this crisis is radio silence.
The last time India and Pakistan played war games during Kargil when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was the BJP’s spokesperson. He would hold two briefings a day to appraise the media and through them, an anxious nation.
He himself would be apprised of the day’s developments either by Prime Minister Vajpayee himself or the Defence Minister George Fernandes because expectedly, in an emergent situation when events panned out by the day, statements had to be carefully crafted and nuanced, without second-guesses.
In these last two days as India and Pakistan face-off once again, the government has shown no communication strategy. On Day two as an Air Force chopper crashed in Kashmir and an Indian Air Force pilot was taken prisoner by the Pakistanis, we had a junior MEA spokesperson give out a brief, unsatisfactory statement leaving room for all kinds of speculation. By late afternoon, Pakistani PM Imran Khan was on TV seizing the narrative as he confirmed the IAF officer’s custody and asked for de-escalation.
While Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj is in China, her MoS VK Singh who could brief the media was not to be heard from, while other stakeholder like the defence minister and the home minister too maintained a studious silence.
The vacuum of information led to TV channels calling for ‘badla’, setting up war rooms in their studios and an anchor dressing up in war fatigues and flashing a toy gun.
Atypically, even the battery of loquacious BJP spokespersons, otherwise up and out during an important occurrence, went missing. Only late Wednesday evening, Union minister Prakash Javadekar showed up at the party headquarters to tell the media that the Opposition should not accuse the BJP and government of “politicising” the “sacrifice” by the CRPF soldiers at Pulwama and asked the Congress and its allies to reconsider the phraseology of a statement they issued after a meeting. It was a defensive response.
So what happened to the government’s high echelon? Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Nirmala Sitharam , Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nitin Gadkari were conspicuously missing from the main frame.
Home minister Rajnath Singh addressed the BJP workers in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur. BJP president Amit Shah was in Ghazipur in eastern UP to launch the ‘Kamal Jyoti Sankalp’ campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. Addressing a chaupal (street corner) meeting, Shah asked people who would ensure India’s security, the “gatbandhan” of SP and BSP or Modi?
The BJP’s twitter handle announced that on Thursday, Modi will address the “world’s biggest video conference” of BJP workers, volunteers and supporters. The handle urged tweeples to ask questions and proffer suggestions on a separate handle, “Mera Booth Sabse Mazbooth” (my booth strongest). Lest the offer sounds like an invite to seek clarifications on the goings-on in Kashmir, banish the temptation. It will mostly be about getting into the minutiae of election management. But who knows? It could be Modi’s long awaited address to the nation after Balakot.
source: Mumbai Mirror