J&K BDC elections a wake up call from India to Washington & London

Media hypocrisy is not required to be real – that’s why it’s thus called. Reporting the truth, however, enjoys no such waiver and reporters have real responsibilities as bringers of news and tellers of stories. My litmus test came a week after my first story saw print with a helpful colleague telling me if my piece made sense to me a day after it went up, I should be happy.

Internet has changed speed, but it cannot glaze over deontology. For the past 24 hours, I have searched the otherwise talkative and generally irresponsible western Anglo Saxon media looking for a thoughtful piece on elections in Jammu, Kashmir, Leh and Ladakh and what they mean or do not for the country. There is radio silence. A few weeks ago, the world could not get enough of atrocities and human rights violations in the region with the Line of Control (LOC) metaphorically hanging between the United Nations (UN) in New York and Geneva. 

READ: Stories From Kashmir

I should be pleased to write that there’s not a single piece of any value that reports about the Block Development polls in Jammu, Kashmir, Leh and Ladakh on Thursday. “It would make India’s Parliament proud that due to their historic decision in August this year, the people of J&K have been able to exercise their democratic right with exceptional enthusiasm, as seen in the historic turnout of 98 percent that too without violence or disturbance,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted today and congratulated the young and dynamic people across party lines to make the exercise a success.

I am not jumping with joy because obviously not everything is right is Kashmir, but such has been the history of the state for decades with every government in New Delhi bearing responsibility for the decay and deterioration. I have worked in war zones and with international aid agencies to know what a lockdown or curfew means and how good journalists always find ways to get a copy out. Is it good, bad, ugly or simply indifference that now leads the givers of lessons and keepers of morals to stay quiet
because they have Turkey and Brexit blowing up on their faces? Should we care?

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There are several ways to Modi’s tweet, but two bear mention. Since journalists like bad news, let us begin with it. Let us tell ourselves this is propaganda that is touted by the Modi government eager to impress the converted. In other words, there are no “real” reporters on the ground, what we get to hear and read is rehashed by the Indian government to maintain the official line. This would fit the “lockdown” and human rights story like a tee. The second line is that free and fair elections did actually take place and Indian troops did not march people to polling booths at gunpoint. Had that been the case, trust me, it would have made banner headlines in Washington and London with usual suspects baying for blood. That didn’t happen either.

Let’s ask ourselves why? Were they not reported because the government’s propaganda machinery is perfect, that troubled western journalists lost interest as soon as their editors did or that? My view is simple. It doesn’t matter what the world thinks. Never a fan of external applause, I have faith in my democracy with all its warts and open wounds. I recognise them, I hear them and some I even own with others in my country.

READ: Therefore

Kashmir is India’s internal issue. The months following the abrogation of Article 370 have not been easy for those who engage in public discussions. Between cutting through propaganda and genuine concern, fear and fiction every day have profiled new tensions without much respite. Having only secondary sources and appreciating the difficulties on all sides, I believe I was one among millions of Indians who wondered who to believe, where are the sources that can verify the information and what must be set aside. The Internet did not make that task easy. Until now discussions on the matter abroad, regardless of the forum, have relied on hearsay and attempts to set narratives, but this is the first time that democracy has been well and truly heard.

I have another option. That is to keep a watch on what happens in Kashmir but more importantly when and why the famous five of the Anglo Saxons will focus on Kashmir next. I can’t claim that Indian media is any better or worse than our cousins abroad. But it seems to me that we are better aware of our hypocrisy. At the time of writing – a full day after results emerged – there’s not even a limping recognition anywhere about the significance of the ballot in Jammu, Kashmir, Leh, and Ladakh. India as a democracy playing its own game must truly be an eyesore.

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