What's the Narrative?

Control the narrative! That is what political parties try to do all the time. The narrative is inspired by the deep-rooted ideologies politicians and political parties have.

The ruling party in India has cashed in very well on the nationalistic and religious sentiments of the masses. Maintaining the narrative is crucial for it to keep the election victory machine running. But, I sincerely hoped that it acted smarter. See building a narrative gives legitimacy to any act that people do good or bad (often bad) that fits within the narrative. One can’t come out openly and denounce a lousy act because that would be like losing one's political edge. And so the ones in power unscrupulously have to remain silent. In my opinion moral judgment should be above political gains. However, being realistic, the fact remains that if a large section of society has sentiments of hate and anger towards some groups, political parties are going to encash on those sentiments. How can political parties be wrong if the public itself is wrong? Political parties can’t create a narrative out of thin air. The public will not believe. It has to be based on some preexisting bias or belief which just needs to be projected up and brought into the limelight. But here comes the tricky part. Political parties have no incentive to stick to the narrative after they have won the election. They can always pretend to do so but actually do nothing. Winning an election means one encashed on the majority of people, however, there are always people who have opposite views. They could be all in for peace and harmony and freedom. Yeah! they were in minority so this view can’t be a part of the current narrative. But remember you need these kinds of people in the society for it to function well. The other majority can sure vote but not all of them can get the work done with honesty. And what if these people just starting leaving? Would the large vote bank that is unscientific, biased, and hateful make the society more liveable and grow? Here the political parties could act more strategically. Keep doing good things for the minority on the inside — like more freedom, less name-changing more actual spending on edu-health, and at the same time trying to mold the majority into slowly shedding their past narrative into a new one. They can still maintain their political edge by doing so. I can see no loss in following this strategy. Remember in a divided society everyone is a loser! And it's a globalized world, if you lag in the race, there are many waiting to take your place and move ahead.