Narendra Modi is the undisputed focal point of the current political discourse. He is hailed as a Hero by many and tagged as Hitler by others. The real question is who would outnumber whom in 2014.
But the situation was very different in 2002, after the post-Godhra riots, a significant electoral majority across the country was upset that he wasn’t made to resign for having the riots escalate under his watch. When political pundits dissect the shocking loss of the NDA whom every exit poll predicted to sweep the 2003 parliamentary elections, they also point the blame on the Modi’s handling of Gujarat riots for disillusioning the ‘secular’ voter about BJP’s ability/willingness to protect the minority community.
While Modi scored an emphatic win in the subsequent polls, most political analysts rejected it as a victory of communal polarization and even went to the extent of branding the whole of Gujarat as a ‘communal state’. But today, after a decade has gone past, Narendra Modi commands a much higher degree of popularity across the nation than he ever did, which is remarkable considering that we live in an age where disdain for politicians is very much part of our popular culture. This change took a combination of factors at play along with a sustained effort and there are some key lessons to be learnt from what is perhaps the biggest Image Makeover in recent times. Here’re a few of them:
Good product + great pitch = SALE
The foremost reason for Modi’s rise is that his claims aren’t completely hollow and are backed with substantial matter on the ground. Even the harshest critics of Modi acknowledge that he has been able to provide good governance; he exercised his political authority, micromanaged when required, worked harder, removed obstacles and minimized corruption at every level.
But beyond this, Modi also ensured that each of his accomplishments are spoken about. A number of his projects are prefixed with India’s first, world’s biggest, asia’s largest etc. Clearly there has been an attempt to not just have great ambitions but also have ambitions that are newsworthy and gain attention from all corners.
Interestingly, in recent times, Gujarat hasn’t been the fastest growing state, it was Bihar in the previous quarter and this time it was Madhya Pradesh, yet Gujarat has acclaimed a status of being some kind of a wonderland in the Indian mind.
It is not about PR Vs Advertising, it is about playing smart
Modi’s critics repeatedly claim that he has spent crores on his PR machinery, anyone who has even an iota of exposure to Public Relations, knows that irrespective of how aggressive your PR campaign is, it doesn’t cost crores.
Ironically, Modi’s political opponents who make such allegations are the same people who splurge hundreds of crores every year in advertising on birth anniversaries, death anniversaries, inauguration of projects – ribbon cutting, foundation stone, you just name an occasion and you would find king size print ads in any newspaper worth its salt with a shameless display of sycophancy at its nadir.
Modi stayed away from conventional ‘Sarkari’ advertising. On the other hand, he decided to take the ‘Surrogate’ route by promoting Gujarat as a tourist destination and we saw some of the most well made tourism TVCs with professional print and innovative OOH adaptations featuring arguably India’s most effective brand ambassador – Amitabh Bacchan. Gujarat remained top of the mind for most Indians but not in a way that would give Modi’s critics a chance to assault him.
In the 2012 assembly elections, Congress splurged crores on National TV advertising, while Modi advertised at the regional level and chose to create national news with his 3D avatar.
Modi’s PR strategy largely focused on winning international acclaim rather than trying to engage with the Lutyen’s Delhi media (reasons in the next point). TIME, Economist, NYT, WSJ, almost every leading American publication covered him and lauded his governance in Gujarat. (Although each of the stories carried on Modi till date also has a mention to 2002 without fail). This automatically forced national publications and media groups to put the spotlight on Modi, afterall Indians deeply suffer from the colonial mindset and any acknowledgement at a global stage makes every Indian swell with pride.
Choose your Media wisely…
Till 2001, before taking the oath of Gujarat’s Chief Minister, Modi spent most of his life as a ‘Pracharak’ – effectively handling the PR & Communication role of the RSS and BJP. In his early days, Modi used to individually respond to all the media and public queries that used to come to the Gujarat wing of RSS. Till 2002, Modi was also known to share very close relations with media-persons and even when the first time he got a call from Vajpayee to take upon the responsibility of CMship, he was attending the funeral ceremony of a Media photographer who had lost his life in a deadly plane crash along with Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia. But post-2002 riots, Modi was at the receiving end of almost every newspaper and TV channel which led him to distance himself from the media completely. It was only after his second electoral win in 2007, that he decided to selectively engage with Mainstream Media through his 5 member PR team. However, he used to make it clear that he would not appreciate any drilling on the Riots issue citing that the matter is sub-judice in the courts. On Oct 2007, because of the same reason, he walked out of an interview with Karan Thapar in ‘Devil’s advocate’.
In 2012, after getting a clean chit from Supreme Court on his alleged role in 2002 riots, Modi made an interesting choice. He decided to give an open interview to Shahid Siddiqui’s ‘Nayi Duniya’ – One of the most popular Urdu weekly. This time around Modi decided to answer all hard questions regarding 2002, the intention being clear – to reach out to the community which is perhaps the only roadblock in his journey from Gandhinagar to Race Course road.
….better still, CREATE IT!
Modi’s media strategy is significantly dependent upon Social Media & Youtube. Every minor/major development of his government or himself is broadcasted on FB/Twitter and realizing the popularity of these messages, the Lutyen’s Delhi media which snubbed him for years also began to pick up these pegs however regional they may be. Youtube is full of videos of his impromptu speeches on various platforms ranging from Political rallies, Industry events, Management Workshops, University Sessions, Inauguration ceremonies and many other political/non political platforms. Modi is a fiery orator and his knack of citing statistics on-demand is extremely rare if not super-natural. For the last few months, we have seen the mainstream media covering each of his speeches made at a national forum LIVE. He is also the first Indian politician to make an address on Google Hangout hereby setting a trend which is now being followed by his adversaries at the center.
His Social Media following tremendously helped in amplifying the coverage achieved by his PR team and hence the impact was unprecedented. No other State Chief Minister has gained so much popularity in the last few decades of Indian Democracy.
Right Brand Values at the right time
VICTOR HUGO once remarked: “You can resist an invading army; you cannot resist an idea whose time has come.” Today Modi appears to be such an idea.
Some would say that India wouldn’t have ever considered Modi if it had a leader like Atal Behari Vajpayee or Indira Gandhi today. But does India really need a Vajpayee today? Modi repeatedly keeps citing a stat that 60% of the population of India comprises of youth and he makes sure that he is reaching out to this constituency. Look around you and see what qualities do the young look for in their leader?
Decisive, Progressive, Headstrong, Tech savvy, Aggressive, Humorous, strong Communication skills.
Compare this with what their previous generation looked for:
Acceptable, Honest, Patient, Judicious, team builder, someone who could deliver stability in an unstable environment.
The current generation is one that has seen the character of the Indian Cricket team transition from being a punching bag in the 90s to raw aggression in 2013.
Remember the word ‘Sledging’? Today there is no team in the world that could afford to use sledging as a strategy against India for even an inning, let alone a series. Indians all over have discovered a newfound confidence and assertiveness and it reflects in the choices they make, be it MTV Roadies or Arnab Goswami’s Newshour, subtle intellectual innuendos don’t cut it anymore with Gen Y!
The India of today doesn’t want a magnanimous leader or a leader who would keep a diplomatic face around the year , India today aspires for a strong leader who will talk to them and make some tough choices on burning issues like Corruption, Terrorism, Women Safety, Crime, International politics and the Economy. Many of his detractors also criticize Modi for his self praise and somewhat shamelessness in claiming credit – a characteristic that has been traditionally detested in the Indian value system.
But present day India is a different one which sees through such hypocritical masks, Indians today are more upfront, more blunt and more forthright than any of their previous generations have been. They don’t mind a leader who wants power, as long as they get good governance in return.
Considering these assumptions are true, the values of Brand Modi as well in sync with the expectations of his market.
And a competition is nowhere to be seen, not at least at this point of time.
Image source: www.narendramodi.in
Aman Raj
Thank you Sir 🙂