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The Rediff Special/ Admiral J G Nadkarni (Retd)

The Video War

When England's Lord Nelson won his famous victory over the combined French and Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, southwest of Spain, in 1805, it took a fast frigate ten days to bring the news to his countrymen. Thanks to the invention of the camera and its cousin the movie camera, things had progressed considerably a hundred year later. Stark pictures of the muddy trenches of Flanders and the artillery duels at Verdun during the First World War brought the grim reality of war to both sides within a few days. Horrific pictures of the attack on Pearl Harbour were splashed across American screens time and again to shape public opinion. Even so, one had to go to the movie theatre to access war.

Television has changed all that. Today we have the instant video war in our living rooms each evening. For over ten long years Americans watched the agony of the Vietnam war. More than 65,000 lives were lost in that futile exercise and daily sight of body bags and carpet bombings was in no small way responsible for turning public opinion against the war. The Vietnam disaster has so much changed the American psyche that any involvement of "our boys" in missions abroad result in instant protests from the public.

A rather unfortunate aspect of the intervention of television in today’s conflicts is the arrival of television reporters on the front line. During both the Falklands and the Gulf wars the field commanders had to bare their daily plans to accompanying correspondents, to be dissected thereafter by armchair pundits far away from the place of conflict. The Gulf War even saw, possibly for the first time, CNN showing an incoming raid from the rooftops of Baghdad.

The Kargil conflict has brought the video war into India. Today the near-war is enacted thrice daily. First in the high reaches of Kargil, then in the briefing rooms of South Block and finally in millions of homes across the country. It is one thing to talk about the difficulties of terrain, quite another to see the snow-clad peaks and vertical slopes of Kargil.

The satellite television channels are vying with each other to outdo the sedate reporting of Aunty Doordarshan. Their ubiquitous reporters are everywhere. Clad in combat fatigues, with the high ridges or the guns of Kargil in the background, "our special correspondent on the line of control" is bent on bringing the latest to our viewers. Had the Battle of Panipat been fought today, one might quite possibly have seen Star TV's Barkha Dutt riding at full gallop alongside Sadashivrao Bahu and thrusting a mile under his nose to "say a few words for our viewers" as he made his last charge.

Indians are also being exposed, again for the first time, to our equivalent of the body bags. The seriousness of the situation is brought home by the daily sight of coffins bearing the bodies of jawans and officers killed on the frozen reaches of Kargil.

Sadly, the video war has its unintentional and undesirable side effects. To start with, everyone wants to get into the act. After all how often do people get a chance to be seen and heard by millions? Politicians, celebrities, servicemen, movie stars and even cricketers, present and past, see the conflict as a vast photo opportunity, to publicly display one's overwhelming patriotism. Even the three chiefs have been compelled to hold televised press conferences to state in public the shortcomings and restraints on their respective service.

Politicians are outdoing each other in jingoistic speeches, all out to teach Pakistan a fitting lesson or give a bloody nose. Blood donations by celebrities are major events with television cameras in attendance. Bigwigs visit jawans in hospitals to make solicitous enquiries about the wounded. Having sold refrigerators, washing machines and coals, India's cricketers are now lending their support to our jawans. What next?

One can imagine a fertile executive drumming up an ad of Sachin and Shah Rukh, dressed up as jawans, bayoneting some enemy soldiers and then celebrating with a refreshing cola! You can trust television to reduce a serious war to the level of a Bollywood potboiler.

Having nothing much to show, the television channels are reduced to airing the same dosage each day. There is the usual shot of the Bofors gun firing at high elevation, the jawans in long files trudging along mountain slopes, the usual interviews with some field commanders and finally the shot of the reporter all dressed up in combat gear summing up the daily activities. This is followed by monotonous scenes of the daily briefing in South Block. Shown once or twice it is drama and evokes a sense of patriotism. Shown twenty times without change, results in apathy and a quick change to the sports channel.

The same, more or less, goes for the scenes honouring the casualties in their towns and villages. Even the mourning is now public. The voice of the announcer turns solemn, followed by a scene of the coffin borne on the shoulders of jawans. The bugles play the last post. Shots of the grieving widow or the brother for some remarks about the gallant man. Seen for the first time, only a person with a heart of stone can remain untouched by the sorrowful scenes. Seen umpteen times, the whole thing can turn to bathos. Television is now close to vulgarising the Kargil conflict.

Unfortunately, an excellent opportunity to educate the people and mould public opinion is being lost. Admittedly there are the usual talk shows where experts discuss the conflict and its background. But a panel discussion airs many opinions and more often than not leave the audience confused. What is required are half hour programmes on Kargil, giving the background, the history of the Line of Control, details about the present conflict and what we are doing about it.

Kargil is obviously not a short-term skirmish. It will go on for months. The television channels have a responsibility to ensure that public interest which is all fired up at present does not wane. Overexposure can lead to boredom and apathy. The hype will soon evaporate. The next cricket match will see everyone at his or her favourite pastime. Intelligent and restrained exposure today will ensure that Kargil remains on the public’s conscience in the future.

Admiral J G Nadkarni (retired), former chief of the naval staff, is a frequent contributor to these pages.

The Kargil Crisis

Admiral J G Nadkarni

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