WHILE SEEKING to lay bare reality beneath the image of N. Chandrababu Naidu, emerging from a generous media, P. Sainath (The Hindu, July 5) has cited examples from the foreign media and also charged that "In Indian media, awe and wonder was over the top" and that despite evidence of poor performance of the State, "Naidu worship in the media only grew, with not an iota of scepticism."
Close observers of the Andhra Pradesh scene would consider this somewhat unfair. The Indian media was no doubt liberal in devoting space to Naidu, but it cannot be accused of uncritical worship as even casual search would reveal several instances in which the media carried adverse reports as also critical reviews by objective scholars.
To cite a few, C. P. Chandrasekhar and Jayathi Ghosh ("Economic Performances of the States in the 1990s," The Hindu Business Line, May 15, 2001) presented data of relative growth of States citing Andhra Pradesh as a case of misleading applause. Earlier, veteran economist P. R. Brahmananda ("Analysis of reforms and growth in the States," The Hindu Business Line, June 17, June 24 and July 1, 2000) put Andhra Pradesh at the ninth place among 16 major States and at the bottom of the list of `middle performers.'
The Hindu (August 19, 1999) had carried my article, "Poll panel and A.P. schemes" which pointed out the budgetary position of Andhra Pradesh and the impropriety involved in some populist schemes. In December 2000, The Hindu gave me space to point out the prevarications indulged in by the World Bank President, James Wolfensohn and Chandrababu Naidu himself during a highly publicised visit to Andhra Pradesh in November that year. The Hindu also reported some critical observations made by me in the discussions on Annual Fiscal Framework arranged by the government of Andhra Pradesh and presided over by the Chief Minister.
The Hyderabad edition of The New Indian Express prominently featured in the opinion column not only my frequent criticism of the fiscal and budgetary policies but also several contributions by K. G. Kannabiran on the civil liberties situation. Pointing out the gap between "Promise and performance" I had said that "Continuous deficits year after year have pushed the A.P. Government on an unsustainable path of high cost borrowing with outstanding debt touching Rs. 37,713 crores in 2000-2001. Interest payment in 2000-2001 was as much as 32.3 per cent of State's own revenues. This is the grim reality; which few, if any, of the political leaders, including Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, appear to be conscious while making promises in public and later pulling up government servants for not `performing.' Regrettably, the State's development expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure has come down from 72 in 1991-92 to 66 in 1999-2000, with the fall being sharper since 1994-95 when the percentage was 71.16. While the State government has acquired a high profile with its promises, its officials need to ponder on many techno-economies aspects of the schemes and their financial viability. Examples such as the incomplete flyover in front of the Secretariat are not complimentary to the present engineers and administrators in the State." (The New Indian Express, June 25, 2001)
More recently, the criticism of Chandrababu Naidu's claims by U.K. based consultants of the Department for International Development (DFID), in a review had received space in the Hyderabad editions of newspapers.
The Indian media appears to have been carried away by the style and the show of Chandrababu Naidu as they were markedly different from those of the dhoti clad politicians and seemed somewhat novel. But all this was not uncritical `Naidu worship.' The media has also lionised S. M. Krishna and Digvijay Singh, who had also, like Chandrababu Naidu, received a drubbing at the polls. Media went for novelty and must have, in the bargain, learnt a lesson.
V.K. SRINIVASAN
http://www.hindu.com/op/2004/07/13/stories/2004071300471500.htm
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