By Fayyaz Sheheryar, Director General
In an 1895 article "Brunch: A
Plea" in Hunter's Weekly, British author Guy Beringer defines
‘Sunday brunch’ as "cheerful, sociable and talk-compelling. It puts you in
a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, and
it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week."
For
49 months now, All India Radio has been setting the table one Sunday a month for
elevenses, a special brunch so to speak, featuring a special man at the head of
the table.
We
had watched the man speak in a high-octane election campaign for months in
2014. We also saw how he pulled crowds from across geographical entities of
India which was ample indication for us at All India Radio (AIR) that here was
a broadcaster worth his salt.
On
20 May 2014, as he bowed and touched his forehead on the steps of the entrance
to Parliament House as the BJP’s Prime Minister-designate,
we saw a person risen from the ranks and attaining
heights in a big and complex democracy proudly calling himself a ‘sevak’ rather than a ‘ruler’. It
occurred to us that he could (what in broadcasting parlance is called) “make
good radio” as broadcasters like us, primarily for public service broadcasting,
search for nothing but a captive audience.
Thus we
approached a stern-faced, matter of fact Prime Minister, carrying in our arms
the strength of All India Radio, and requested him to create an apolitical
bridge between the elector and the elected.
Dynamic
changes have taken place at a dizzy pace on the audio-visual landscape. While
these changes are by and large technology-driven and global in their sweep, one
revolutionary change occurred nearer home in India when the Prime Minister, for
the first time in the history of Indian broadcasting, gave the nod to the
nation’s public service broadcaster, for Mann Ki Baat, his informal, intimate
exchange of ideas and thoughts with his fellow countrymen.
Today as the 50th
episode of Mann Ki Baat is aired, it is time to look back at the unique monthly
radio address which started in October 2014 and has had a memorable run. It
began as a curious communication phenomenon where a leading, tech-savvy
politician indulges, ironically, in a strictly apolitical conversation on a
seemingly obsolete medium. It has now become a part of India’s cultural
zeitgeist and entered popular lexicon. When you say ‘Mann Ki Baat’ there’s
hardly anyone who won’t get what you are talking about, such has been its
impact. Its popularity is not without reason – it has had some significant
moments.
It has also had its moments of
trepidation for me, particularly in those early days as
I had attempted to bring into the fold of AIR a staunch critic of political
rivals and chances were the broadcast might attract and wean away my audiences
in equal measure. But that was not to be.
It
is tempting to ask “In today’s world, why did the Prime Minister choose
radio?” The reasons are not far to
seek. Radio is an intimate,
story-telling medium. There cannot be a more potent instrument than radio for
such a candid, /warm/intimate uninhibited exchange of ideas between the
country’s Prime Minister and his people.
And AIR’s reach is stupendous, with about 600 channels carrying the
programme.
As
broadcast followed broadcast, attracting applause not only at home but abroad,
we saw BBC and NPR chasing me to permit dissemination in those parts of the world
where most other modes of broadcasting are second to radio.
It
transformed my Prime Minister into a school-teacher, a sports guide, a philanthropist,
counsellor, ambassador of peace and brotherhood, a concerned head of the
government that was intermittently and intensely bothered by the effect of
climate change & global warming, his concerns about people and their surroundings
being visibly untidy, a democrat who wished justice and equality merely on the
basis of being citizen of India.
Many
world leaders have realised the power of radio – Winston Churchill, Franklin
Roosevelt (with his popular radio addresses called Fireside Chats) and
successive Presidents of the United States of America. The erstwhile US President
Barack Obama was more than happy to partner our Prime Minister in this special
broadcast when he touched down in India for Republic Day 2015.
This
special edition in which the Indian Prime Minister and the US President talk
about their humble beginnings and their concern for people especially the youth
had an indelible impact. Both emphasized
on youth power saying “Communists used to say earlier, 'workers of the world
unite.' I think today it should be youth -- unite the world”. This gave a new fillip to the country’s
youth, prompting them to come forward to partner the Government in the task of
nation-building. This was also America’s
tribute to the people’s Prime Minister in India.
Mann
Ki Baat, far above the terrestrial transmission, reached Indian and global
audiences alike through live streaming supported by AIR’s official mobile app –
‘All India Radio LIVE’; through megaphones in Panchayats as a narrowcast for a
clustered audience through Direct to Home (DTH) devices. And most recently, through
Amazon’s Echo Dot where Alexa takes command and you get the AIR service of your
choice.
Most
of all, Indians in different parts of India, speaking regional languages, and
those that form the Indian Diaspora and those too who are not Indians at all
but have deep interest in Indian affairs all get versions of Mann Ki Baat in
their language including English and Sanskrit.
That
has made Mann Ki Baat the most widely disseminated radio broadcast in the world,
making it an example of what is best in public service broadcasting.
Every
time I travelled abroad in the last four years, many professionals in the Asia Pacific
region and European Broadcasting Union echoed my view that radio in a democracy
needs to cement different segments of audiences which can hardly be done unless
the Chief Executive of the country knocks at their doors every last Sunday of
the month at 11 am. And wanting any and all among his audience to send in their
views, so that he replies and wherever possible, remedies.
The
idea of Mann Ki Baat attracted commercial radio and radio and television news
in private sector and it is broadcast not merely for its intrinsic news value but
also for it bringing a healing touch to those sections lacking access to counselling
and redressal.
Mann
Ki Baat is unique in many respects. First, it is an unexpurgated broadcast –
spontaneous, candid, uninhibited and straight from the heart – from the Prime
Minister. Secondly, it is digitally created spoken word disseminated through
terrestrial mode, DTH and internet platforms. Thirdly, the programme is
designed to invoke reciprocity, leading to a deluge of letters and feedback on the
MyGov portal from people sharing their trials, tribulations, concerns and
aspirations with their Prime Minister. Yet another feature is crowd sourcing to
elicit suggestions and inputs for subsequent episodes in a self-effacing
gesture by the Prime Minister.
A rewind to some of the
milestones: In December 2014, the Modi government had launched ‘Beti Bachao Beti
Padhao’, a programme aimed at bringing about a societal transformation in the
way the girl child is treated, with a special focus upon more than a 100
gender-sensitive districts which had a skewed sex ratio.
A few months later, a sarpanch
clicked a selfie with his daughter in a Haryana village. By itself, this would
have meant little more than a happy moment for the father-daughter duo. Little
did they know that they would end up creating a worldwide trend.
Taking a cue from the Haryana
village sarpanch, the Prime Minister spoke about BetiBachao and appealed to
people to put up a #SelfieWithDaughter on social media and tell everyone how
proud they were of their daughters. There was such tremendous positivity
generated by this worldwide trend that each picture of a daughter basking in
the love of her proud parents was a sight to behold.
Commoners, cricketers,
celebrities, international diplomats, politicians, media persons and even
people from other countries from all walks of life tweeted and posted their
#SelfieWithDaughter.
The atmosphere of love and
pride it created was lauded universally, not only by people from across the
world but also by at least one politician from the Congress.
In a single stroke, the
constant negativity around a sensitive but important matter had been turned
into a positive, ‘can do’ atmosphere that resonated with the message that
nothing is more precious than a daughter.
Mann Ki Baat and Swachh Bharat
are connected in more ways than one. For starters, while Swachh Bharat was
launched on October 2nd 2014, the first episode of Mann Ki Baat went
on air on October 3rd 2014, the very next day. The next connection
is that Mann Ki Baat, for the Prime Minister, has been one of the important
platforms in strengthening the cleanliness mission and making it a more
people-driven movement. Most episodes of the radio address, if not all, have
some element relating to ‘Swachhata’ in them.
In many editions of Mann Ki
Baat, the Prime Minister mentions interesting but inspiring anecdotes from the
lives of common people who want to see a cleaner India. From a retired teacher
donating a third of his life’s savings to the cleanliness mission to a girl in
a Karnataka village who resorted to Satyagraha to get a toilet built, a
widespread involvement of people in cleanliness mission can be seen.
One especially endearing phone
call that the Prime Minister received on a Mann Ki Baat episode will, however,
remain something to be marveled at. A young boy, a child in fact, called the
Prime Minister on the number dedicated for Mann Ki Baat inputs. He had a
one-line command for the Prime Minister of the country – ‘Ensure availability
of dustbins in every street’.
This was, at once, both a
vindication and an indication. It was a vindication of the Mann Ki Baat
platform that it gave a voice to a child who wanted to be heard on an important
issue as well as an indication of how much the message of a clean India has
percolated into the minds of the generation that will create the India of
tomorrow.
Youth, especially students, as
well as lifestyle issues of our competitive times have been a regular focus of
Mann Ki Baat. The Prime Minister had dedicated one complete episode in February
2016 to the topic of facing exams in a stress-free manner. People who faced
tremendous pressure themselves and excelled, such as Sachin Tendulkar,
Viswanathan Anand and Prof CNR Rao, too, featured in this episode giving
valuable, non-preachy, simple tips to students.
Later, driven by the
overwhelming positive feedback from the students, teachers, parents and the
education community on how impactful this episode was, the Prime Minister went
on to write the best-selling book ‘Exam Warriors’ on the same topic. What
started out as a topic on a radio address turned into a bestselling book of
students.
Speaking of exams and stress,
there was another related topic, one that society often brushes under the carpet
that the Prime Minister spoke of in one of the episodes of Mann Ki Baat. It was
about depression. It was a heartfelt and meaningful gesture when he spoke of
the vulnerability of the youth, especially students who lived in hostels to
depression. He charted the way out of depression in his own unique way when he
advocated for expression rather than suppression to help oneself come out of
depression.
He stressed on communication,
creation of a psychologically conducive environment, support of family and
friends, professional help and Yoga to win against lifestyle diseases like
depression that are often trivialized and stigmatized. An Indian political leader
reaching out to the vulnerable on such a sensitive matter, with deep
understanding and empathy, was unprecedented. This was universally hailed and,
to many, was a highpoint of Mann Ki Baat as this was truly Mann Ki Baat.
From the girl child to student
stress, from cleanliness to coming out of depression, the Prime Minister has
often utilized Mann Ki Baat as a platform to evocatively make society speak to
itself by speaking to him. Mann Ki Baat has become a conversation that millions
of Indians look forward to, with their cup of tea on a Sunday every month.
And All India Radio has the privilege
to host it.
