Coverage of India’s elections in the neighbourhood: Lessons for the future

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Nearly three months after the new government’s swearing-in, India is again finding itself in a troubled neighbourhood. On 4 June 2024, Narendra Modi became prime minister for a third consecutive time, the second PM to do so after Jawaharlal Nehru. This led newspapers across South Asia to come up with creative headlines based on their understanding of the Indian election results and their perception of India. This article looks into select neighbouring countries—Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh—to understand their media coverage of India’s 2024 general elections. Much of this coverage is based on two factors: India’s bilateral relationship with these countries, and domestic developments with them. 

Sri Lanka 

Two features were largely visible in Sri Lanka's coverage of elections: first, neutrality was at the core of their writing and positioning, and there was an excessive emphasis on facts. This trend was largely seen across newspapers affiliated with various parties (see Table 1), such as the United National Party (UNP) government and the main opposition party, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). Second, newspapers consistently highlighted that the BJP lacked a majority in the Parliament.

Table 1. Sri Lanka’s newspapers, headlines and affiliation

Source: Author’s own

One possible explanation for such coverage is the nature of India-Sri Lanka relations over the last decade. A BJP majority in the Parliament since 2014 had offered the Modi government a strong mandate to move India-Sri Lanka relations beyond the Tamil factor and cultivate a multi-faceted relationship with the Sri Lankan government. This helped Colombo with several connectivity projects and development initiatives. India invested in water supply projects, housing schemes, and the construction of hospitals, and assisted Sri Lanka with supporting the ambulance system, vaccines, and other health facilities required during COVID-19. On multiple occasions, India also demonstrated itself as a first responder to the country.

India’s willingness to offer assistance worth US$4 billion to Sri Lanka at the time of economic and political crisis, and following it up with connectivity efforts helped negate anti-Indian sentiments and weakened the anti-Indian lobbies in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, a strong mandate permitted the Indian government to have a strong posture against China and also push back against the same through Sri Lanka.

India invested in water supply projects, housing schemes, and the construction of hospitals, and assisted Sri Lanka with supporting the ambulance system, vaccines, and other health facilities required during COVID-19.

BJP’s majority in the Parliament over the last decade had its own advantages and disadvantages for Sri Lanka, thus, shaping the coverage, and making it more fact-oriented. In this regard, the coverage has continued to highlight that the BJP did not cross the halfway mark in the Parliament, anticipating that it would impact India’s policy with Sri Lanka, especially on issues related to China and the Tamil issue.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, the media coverage followed two large trends: first, most of the coverage was ideologically-oriented and echoed anti-Indian sentiments. Second, the media celebrated BJP not crossing the halfway mark in the Lok Sabha. Some papers, including the International News, highlighted that an imprisoned Kashmiri separatist was elected to the Parliament and expressed content that separatist voices are gaining space in India’s Parliament.

Table 2. Pakistan’s newspapers, headlines and affiliation 

Source: Author’s own

India-Pakistan relations have been complex and volatile since independence. However, the last decade has seen India move away from an accommodative to a more tough stance, which is proving to be detrimental to Pakistan. This government’s “terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand” policy, surgical strikes in 2016, Balakot airstrikes in 2018, and abrogation of Article 370 have compelled Pakistan to rethink its strategy of using terror groups as a bargaining chip against India. Besides, the Modi government’s increasing relations with the United States (US), managing ties with the Taliban, and push for regional connectivity with its Eastern and Southern neighbours, have made Pakistan inconsequential.

This muscular policy against Pakistan has motivated the media to criticise PM Modi and celebrate the BJP government’s inability to secure a majority in the Parliament. Furthermore, amidst ongoing economic crisis and looming political uncertainty in Pakistan, media reports have painted a negative image of India, under the pretext of democratic backsliding, unstable economy, and uncertain fate of minorities, distracting the population from the domestic issues and continue justifying the partition and reinforcing the image of India being a perennial threat to their state religion, and thereby to Pakistan. 

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, three major trends were seen in media coverage One the coverage was neutral across the publications. Two, news coverage highlighted the fact that the BJP does not have a majority in the Parliament. Three, the coverage credited the Opposition for a good and credible fight. Some publications also maintained that a strong Opposition is necessary to strengthen the country’s democracy.

Table 3. Bangladesh’s newspapers, headlines and affiliation 

Source: Author’s own

The Indian Opposition—Indian National Congress (INC)—enjoys certain popularity in Bangladesh because of its role in liberating the country in 1971. Furthermore, the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also maintained a relationship with India that cuts across party lines. She had even met Opposition leaders, especially from the Indian National Congress (INC) on multiple occasions in India. This explains why several Bangladeshi media outlets consistently praised the INC’s performance in the elections.

On the other hand, throughout the last decade, India-Bangladesh relations have seen a significant upswing in their bilateral ties. Both India and Bangladesh resolved their differences on border and maritime disputes and have begun cooperating on many infrastructure and connectivity By 2023, India had also offered over US$9 billion to Bangladesh to implement several of these connectivity projects, especially in the transport, trade, and energy sectors. Over the years, Bangladesh’s economic growth also enabled it to promote regional and sub-regional connectivity in tandem with India. These positive developments had thus contributed to a more neutral and positive coverage of the BJP’s victory, with the hopes that another five years of the Modi government would provide more continuity and economic growth to Bangladesh and the rest of the region.

Implications 

After the results of the Indian general elections were announced, newspapers across the region offered their interpretations. India’s relations with those countries for the last decade and domestic developments have shaped this media coverage. While some saw the continuity of the government as a positive development, others had mixed responses.

India’s relations with those countries for the last decade and domestic developments have shaped this media coverage.

However, three months down the line, India now finds itself in a difficult position as Sri Lanka heads to elections and a new regime emerges in Bangladesh. This has also impacted India’s positive coverage and image in the media. For instance, Sheikh Hasina’s ousting in Bangladesh earlier this month has invoked significant criticism against India. Similarly, Sri Lankan media houses have continued to criticise certain Indian projects. They also promoted disinformation that India was controlling Sri Lanka’s immigration after a video went viral where a Sri Lankan citizen alleged the same. This also shows that media houses in neighbouring countries take into account the bilateral relations and domestic developments when covering India. At times, when the popular public sentiment is against India, they do not hesitate to tap into that to promote anti-Indian sentiments to expand their audience base.

Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy is an Associate Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation

Shreya Fotedar is a Research Intern at the Observer Research Foundation

• Neighbourhood
• Domestic Politics and Governance
• India
• Neighbourhood
• Sri Lanka
• foreign media on indian election
• foreign media reaction to india election
• how foreign media covered indian elections
• international media on india election results
• lok sabha elections 2024
• lok sabha elections 2024 results

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