Free speech during election cuts both ways

The uninterrupted cascade of words, wielded as weapons of destruction is usual during elections. The 2024 Lok Sabha election is exceptional in two ways: First, in the number of days over which the non-stop bombardment of words has continued. Second, in the role of an army of low-cost and homemade reels, videos, and memes that have matched the capabilities of the heavy artillery of the mainstream television channels in relaying messages through the 820 million Internet users and 1.15 billion smartphone connections in India.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview, explained that he believed himself to be divinely blessed and that “God had sent me”, social media and websites went into overdrive. One part of it was obviously generated by his faithful followers, while the other part was created by his critics. In West Bengal, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee seized on this and declared that Modi should seek refuge in a temple where she would arrange for his worship; her counter was telecast live, and then relayed through social media networks. The vernacular social media channels turned this tweak in the Modi campaign into a cartoon.

To keep the momentum going, all competitors in this ferocious fight have been compelled to find new ways of saying the same thing. Excesses have been committed. Calling the Opposition Indian National Inclusive Developmental Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.)’s campaign a “mujra”, that can at best be politely described as a form of exotic dance, is just one more instance of the colour and content of the war of words.

Unexpected ways

The amplification of the Opposition’s message through local networks on social media with all the local nuances designed to address the issues and concerns of local voters makes the ongoing election campaign very different from the 2019 edition, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s media cell and army of operatives outperformed the Congress and overwhelmed the tiny efforts of the puny regional and smaller parties. Digital India is reaching out to voters in unexpected ways.

It is marvellous that India’s 968.8 million voters seem to have an insatiable appetite for messages, delivered as clips of speeches by the principal competitors, including Modi and his master strategist Amit Shah, as well as the Congress’ star campaigner Rahul Gandhi. The surprise is the capacity of voters to consume video clips, cartoons, reels, and memes of not only the star campaigners of the Congress and the BJP, but also of the galaxy of leaders from the regional and smaller parties that are part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

The BJP’s previous advantage and control over messaging is now matched by the swarms of messages emanating from a multitude of sources. Consequently, every word Modi says and its meaning produces various interpretations that challenge the dominance of the BJP in this campaign.

Explosion of creative interpretations

The ruling regime’s obsession with control over words, which is another way of controlling the way people think, was all too evident in the tiny arena of combat, India’s Parliament where the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha used the chair to expunge the substance from the Opposition’s speeches on a variety of subjects, included the Pegasus spyware debate and the discussion over the alleged manipulation of the stock market. The 2022 booklet disapproved for use in Parliament reveals a ruling side that is very sensitive to even a hint of criticism.

The explosion of creative interpretations in this campaign is entirely new. The no-holds-barred demonisation of the Opposition and the equally spirited counter has shaped the political narrative in elections hereon. The fault for the excesses committed lies with the political leadership and the pressure of expectations from a public that has been pampered by a steady stream of what can be arguably described as invective.

The dictionary of Indian politics has been expanded by new usages of words like ‘anti-national’, ‘Pro-Pakistani’, ‘topiwallah’, ‘Mullah’, ‘Madrassa’, ‘anti-Hindu’, additions like ‘Urban Naxals’, ‘Tukde-Tukde gang’ referring to sinister conspirators intent on dividing the country, and even something that can be only understood by the elite, ‘Khan Market gang’. The 2024 campaign season has transformed the sacred mangalsutra into a missile, just as identity has been weaponsied by transforming the Muslims in India as potential enemies of the State, defined by their status as a religious minority, for the clothes they wear and the food they consume.

Beyond hate speech

The Opposition has been threatened with arrests and imprisonment. Like the Muslim minority, accused of being infiltrators and anti-nationals, suspected of being in cahoots with terrorist networks, the Opposition too has been warned that politics is offensive.

The violence transmitted through words has gone beyond ‘hate speech’. The violence that is promised as part of the campaign is an assault on the basic structure of India’s democracy that divides the political space into two categories, the ruling majority, and the opposition minority. The words and their intent once released into the public sphere, like the word ‘guarantee’ that is now part of common usage, have a life of their own. Usage makes them current; disuse sends them into oblivion.

However weaponised words have become, there is no chair willing to gag speakers and interfere in the debate. The Election Commission of India seems to have decided to leave the Opposition and the incumbent free to hurl whatever verbal missiles they choose from their respective arsenals. The unimpeded freedom of speech this election season cuts both ways; it is freedom, it is violence.

(Shikha Mukerjee Is a Kolkata-based senior journalist.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.