For the past couple of days I have been watching the American Elections. When Pennsylvania and Georgia started to swing Biden way, Trump gave a speech at the White House. As usual he ranted that he had won the election and what was happening in those states was a fraud. As he ranted, NBC anchor cut in and said that the President is peddling lies.
And as I listened, I wondered if it was possible in India. Nehru used to laugh at the cartoons poking fun of him. But he was a rare one. When Emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi in 25th June 1975, The Times of India carried an obituary. It was 22 words long and read:
"O'Cracy, D.E.M beloved husband of T. Ruth, Loving father of L.I. Bertie, brother of Faith, Hope and Justicia expired on June 26th."
In today's India it is impossible to imagine any of this happening. No TV channel or anchor will have the courage to do what the NBC anchor did. The freedom of press along with other freedom (even the ones guaranteed to us by the Constitution of India) and institutions are either dying or are dead.
P.S. Appa said that he did not know why it took so long to declare the winner. The Tamil Newspapers and Thulasendrapuram declared Kamala (Harris has been conveniently dropped) the winner right after the elections were over. Of course, Trump did not have Chittis backing him or breaking 108 coconuts in the temples.
