Witness the manner in which the free press has covered the political developments. If politicians have been making the most convoluted twists and turns, the journalists have been no better in taking positions that conform to the political contortions. Newspapers might grandly proclaim "Let Truth Prevail" on their mastheads but many of them have behaved as if they believe that whatever prevails is the truth. Thus, if one day, Sharad Yadav, of the felicitous "parkati" phrase fame, visits The RSS headquarters at Keshav Kunj and quietly becomes a member of the Cabinet which, inter alia, proposes to reserve parliamentary seats for women, the media go along with him in a willing suspension of disbelief. If George Fernandes, that doughty slayer of many a multinational monster, meekly stands in the line to welcome foreign insurance firms, the press does not deem it necessary to ask questions. If L. K. Advani himself claims that he "abhors communalism" even as his colleague Murli Manohar Joshi packs textbooks with communal propaganda, the dichotomy is treated as simple duality. Indeed, some of the most respected commentators have appeared to take the philosophical position that what is real must also be rational.

Notice the manner in which such journalists have related to the fresh wave of reservations bestowed on the new backward castes in northern Indian states. The same champions of merit who proclaimed ten years ago when Mandal was announced that civilisation itself had been subverted have humbly endorsed the expansion of the lists of backward beneficiaries.

Also, note the manner in which such journalists have changed their approach to their former bete noire, V.P. Singh, that destroyer of merit. A few years ago, he was for them the vilest politician ... a person steeped in cynical and shortsighted casteism who had destroyed the very foundations of the meritocracy that had sustained India for centuries and led it to its glorious position in the world ...However, this time round their approach to V.P. Singh has changed. The man remains the same but he has acquired a sudden sagacity and respectability as far as such media commentators are concerned. Not only was he given enormous exposure on the post-election telecasts but he was shown deference due to a statesman ...

The response of such commentators to Atal Behari Vajpayee is in a way similar in its simple-mindedness. They have been taken in by the affability of the avuncular poet-politician and swayed by his oratory. So much so that they refused to see that the colossus that they have been admiring not only has feet of clay but also that there are serious and disturbing flaws in the politics that he represents. For instance, they have failed to ask why the party failed to get even one more seat in the 13th Lok Sabha than it had in the 12th Lok Sabha. They did not question the reasons why days after the BJP claimed victory on the basis of the electoral performance of parties like the Telugu Desam, which are not even members of the NDA. The party lost three parliament seats in Bihar where it had sitting candidates ...

The fact is that just as politics in India has been reduced to mere realpolitik shorn of all pretences about policies and principles, journalism too has become, by and large, shameless worship of the powerful. Criticality has been replaced by naivete at best and even complicity and many journalists have become mere publicists ... But then in these times when liberalisation only means libertinism, there is a different interpretation of what is the truth. And, like the jesting Pontius Pilate, we do not wait for the answer. (Source: The Indian, Express, 15 November, 1999)