Polls spotlight the argumentative Indian TV debate

is founder of August Media Holdings and also POP TV.

It’s election season again in India, and this time, the world seems to be watching. Or so it would seem on social media. In recent years, Indian politics has gotten attention from unexpected quarters. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova doesn’t hide her dislike for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pop star Rihanna threw her support behind Indian farmers, and so on. But celebrity musings aside, India’s growing influence in the world has ensured that international publications seeking ‘India interest’ eyeballs have been very active in their coverage. Strong opinions have been posted by legacy news publications Time, The New York Times, Economist and Financial Times. Almost all these opinions, critical of India’s current government, conform to their editorial positions and are mostly from Indian writers who are known for their slant.

My kids (both young adults now) tell me that for real opinions, one has to hear the voices of real voters on social media. But is that really real? The answer lies in recommendation engines—one of AI’s most basic applications. Each time you use online search, watch a video, read an article or make an online purchase, your activity is recorded. As patterns of your usage emerge, algorithms start to identify your likes and dislikes. With increased usage, these patterns become more robust and better able to predict your choices with reasonable accuracy. Applied to news and opinions, it can skew the user’s view of the world. This technology feeds our very human nature to seek out, comprehend and remember data in a manner that validates our pre-existing convictions and principles. Our natural bias manifests further as we start to cherry-pick data that aligns with our perspective, disregard opposing data, and rely more often on vague information that reaffirms our biases. Online engines fuel this to perfection.

In short, whenever we look for political news on social media, we invariably fall prey to our own patterns. That’s why we live in an era of polarized political positions. Funnily, those opinions are not just limited to politics in one’s own country. Be it in the US, Brazil, India or other countries, never has the world been more invested in elections.

Expressions of concern for the state of democracy in these democracies fly thick and fast. Ironically, opinions on what counts as ‘democracy’ in democratic countries are louder than concern for the plight of people living in actual autocracies—over 70% of humanity. If I had a dollar bill for every time I read something asking a democracy question of India, I’d have a mountain of money piled up to my chin (credit the expression to Annie Lennox and David Allan Stewart).

Thankfully, though, political opinions only rise to a crescendo during election season. What matters to the world is India’s standing in bilateral and multilateral settings. To most Western countries,

India is seen as an indispensable ally in the global balance of power, thanks to its substantial population, huge consumer base, military might and economic influence. The world views India as a valuable partner that operates under the rule of law and sees no need to confront it over its domestic policies. Calls to do so are mostly rhetorical and support for such rhetoric can be exaggerated by our digital confirmation biases. In general, the world understands that the level of democratic freedoms in India (or lack thereof) isn’t really much better or worse than in other democracies. India is a complex country with multiple levels of national, regional and local governments run by a wide spectrum of political parties with various cultures, ethnicities, languages and belief systems. Every few years, there is a churn that sees these levels of government getting voted out and replaced on the basis of prevailing issues.

Globally, nowhere else is there another example of such a complex web of democratic governments run by such a wide variety of people.

International news coverage be damned, what stands out in this

What stand out in the din are India’s TV debates. Foreign observers who question Indian democracy should acknowledge that the country’s electorate is more aware than it may seem. din of Indian elections is India’s very own brand of TV news debates. With ultra-high penetration of cable TV and broadband internet, large numbers in India are cued in on the last argument they watched on TV or online. I quite enjoy this theatre that boasts a cast of characters. It can easily put any magnum opus to shame. They include the hallowed, the shamed, insiders, fighters, gentlefolk, knowledgeable ones, ignorant ones, defenders, attackers, and, for good measure, even a pair of highly passionate estranged brothers from opposite teams. Night after night, this lineup loudly argues every idea, every speech and every word written or uttered by general election hopefuls. Done with the usual flair of Indian dramatics, these debates serve to do one thing very well. They make Indians aware of almost every little dynamic that is at play in elections. So popular is this TV format that it has now begun to extend into once-sedate conferences and stage events as well.

There is only one health warning from this for all international commentators: The Indian electorate is more aware than it may seem and it tends to collectively choose just what is right for the people. In that sense, democracy doesn’t get any bigger.