In a bid to arrest a growing chasm between him and some of the mainstream media, Chief Minister Parrikar sought to shake off a bit of the dust that had gathered due to the seeming distance between him and sections of the fourth estate.
Over a lovely spread of cuisine which the Chief Minister merrily trucked into, a bit of the ice formation melted. One vernacular publication, which has taken a very strong anti-Parrikar line, was apparently not called and the paper reacted sharply on its front page on Saturday morning.
As for the rest, bread was broken along with the ice formation and it is hoped that this spell of camaraderie lasts, without taking anything away from the media’s right to be the government’s and the Chief Minister’s most bitter critic. And if we introspect with fairness, the media too is perhaps over obsessive with Parrikar and yet for good reason. If his style of Governance is to hold the key to all decision making and handle every lever of governance, then he will get the combined attention of all PI’s to DGP’s and clerks to Chief Secretaries and all ministers combined. If the Chief Minister makes himself the go to guy for the issues which concern 12 ministers and over a 100 officers from across the spectrum, he will be under direct scrutiny. And while it is extremely romantic to advise that the press should examine governance and not people who govern, such lofty utopian thoughts should be kept on the wayside when Mr Parrikar is in power.
He expects the media to understand the complexities of governance and yet feels that he is only one who can explain those complexities. He himself is deeply skeptical of mid-level journalists comprehending his words and decisions and repeatedly asks if the reporter understands Konkani if he has made any announcement in Konkani.
In over two decades of watching various Chief Ministers handling the media, perhaps the old school Congress style was the best. A very good team of bureaucrats at various levels to deal with a variety of journalists and editors on governance and policy issues with the Chief Minister restricting himself to very broad policy and politics. Admittedly it’s difficult for Mr Parrikar to segregate his functioning in this precise manner because he needs to trust a team of officers to speak exactly in his voice. One recalls the legendry N.D Tiwari, former Chief Minister of UP (and Uttarakhand) , Union Minister and Governor. The very charming and well spoken panditji never had a harsh word for any journalist. He used to react to negative press by calling the journalist for breakfast and discuss everything except the story that concerned him. After breakfast was over the CM used to escort his guest to his two wheeler (cars were rare those days) and say “Don’t make me call you for breakfast too soon again. I have to call others”, and laugh.
Everything was said without anything being actually said. While criticism did find its way to the papers, there was nothing harsh said about Mr Tiwari, personally.
Mr Parrikar’s governance is too personalized. There’s is only a pretence of collective government functioning and there are signs of deep inefficiency, as AG Nadkarni’s letter to the CM on the poor functioning of the administration on the Mhadei issue proves. That is why it becomes all the more imperative for the CM to reach out to the press to get them to understand him and also take genuine feedback on where he is going wrong.
His dinner diplomacy therefore was a good initiative and while the media shouldn’t expect too many of those, what it can expect is a slightly better information dispensing system in government departments and empowering senior officers to speak and explain government schemes and projects. He can no longer be that maverick genius chef whose kitchen is out of bounds for plebeians.
The press needs to be watchdog and whether the Chief Minister likes it or not, will find ways to watch. It is upto the Government to put its best face forward because the press, in case you missed this, doesn’t fight elections. Politicians do.
