The Man And The Message

The Man And The Message

The 1.3 million Indians, then loyal subjects of Maharani Victoria, who sailed overseas to fight in the ironically billed “ War to end all Wars”, aka WWI, will be remembered by an Indian Government, at last, on Independence Day 2014. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will recall the brave-hearts who  went to war one hundred years ago.  Modi will honour these men in all those centenary photographs, from the ramparts of Red Fort on August 15^th, 2014.

This upcoming mention from a staunchly nationalist prime minister in his first Independence Day  Speech, is indeed a fitting salute. And to top it all,  it comes from an administration that is deeply committed to national security,  the Defence Forces, its equipment, its logistical supports, manning, training, procurement, dignity; the entire Defence Sector in general, and the start of a much-needed Indian defence industry, in particular.

There is also a new War Memorial budgeted for by Finance Minister Jaitley, not just to remember the brave martyrs of WWI,  mostly accounted for at India Gate by the British; but the many new shaheeds, lost to us in peace and war, since Independence.

And Prime Minister Modi will deliver the remembrance, not from the mock-up Red Fort on which he practiced being PM as CM of Gujarat, but the real McCoy, in Delhi, with the solid redstone ramparts- attended by his cabinet, parliamentarians, diplomats, children, assembled guests, the sarkari  AIR, DD, and the global fed-gaze of satellite television.

PM Modi is likely to talk about many other things, perhaps arising out of his recent directives to all the ministries, his over-arching and transformative 17 point programme, as exciting as it is ambitious. Everything about the Modi Sarkar, with so many initiatives, is now down to the implementation, but there is absolutely no fear of falling short on the part of the man.

However, there is a marked difference in how NaMo goes about his messaging. He is not interested in aggravating speculation, or even debate, as he goes about his business. The private media must be satisfied at the controlled feed he provides it, and even within the Government, Modi is known to play his cards close to his chest.

To tell what he wants to tell, he has been using only the Government agencies of the DD and PTI, and of course, Twitter and Facebook. This messaging is clearly limited, controlled, and one-way, and interactive only at once-removed. Send in your questions and comments, he seems to say, and they will be attended to.

This echoes Modi’s essential media strategy during the election campaign, when every TV channel covered his speeches, but he gave no interviews till just before the end. And no press conferences at all.  This was done, let us be clear, in tandem and harness with some very expert PR advisers from home and abroad, and to resounding success.

The private media, print, internet and satellite TV, mostly populated, as of now, by dyed-in-the-wool Congress acolytes, is being kept away. This is the case from day one, May 16^th, right from the  SAARC attended inauguration, the first bilateral visit to Bhutan, and that to the BRICS Summit in Brazil, before and after the budgets, when we saw the FM and PIB men explaining things to newsfolk, and onwards.

The bulk of this private media, over 80%, has, after all, tried its best to spread disinformation, on the Godhra Riots 2002, the fuss about Modi’s apology or lack thereof, the pinning of blame flying in the face of the Supreme Court’s clean chit, the distortion of his “puppy-dog” remark, the stone-walling of counter-charges on the Sikh Riots of 1984.

There was also the drama and mockery about Modi being chosen as the BJP’s PM candidate, the supposed rift between the Modi camp and that of Advani, the constant playing up of bizarre fringe elements.

Then there were the purported “fake encounters”, vicious charges of crony-capitalism, name-calling-Fascist, Hitler, Feku, aspersions on Modi’s class and character, links with venal Godmen, Snoopgate, the BJP’s alleged majoritarianism, Modi’s marriage; and daily, offensive and intemperate talking-heads given free reign.

All this, relentlessly, in order to spread rank prejudice against the BJP in general, and Modi/Amit Shah in particular. It hoped, no, expected, to thwart Modi’s rise to power.

Today, all these people in the Congress-loving Media are deeply embarrassed at the extent of their failure to influence. But they are full of resentment still, and try to justify their toxic hate-mongering in the name of “press freedom”.

Modi, on his part, surely cannot be expected to forget the unfair treatment for over a decade when he was Gujarat CM, and right up to date.  Fortunately, the people, to whom Modi spoke so eloquently, over the heads of this prejudiced media, have been most generous.  

But the majority media slant remains both pernicious and persistent. The recent Israel –Gaza conflict ongoing, or the Shia-Sunni battling in Iraq is sought to be cast in “communal” hues, presumably  to polarise minority sentiment in this country.

But the NDA Government to its clear credit, is largely incommunicado on this, unwilling to fan the flames of such negative passions, and loathe to take sides.

Meanwhile, it is the economy, gaining traction and recovering its mojo, that will do the real talking and burnish the Government’s image. The NDA Government, in harness for about two months, is fortunate to see the green-shoots of a recovery on all fronts already. So much so, that the stock market is getting ready to forge ahead much higher than the 22% it has already risen in 2014.

Meanwhile, the foreigners are also keen to get in on the lucrative FDI projects on offer. These range from those in the Indian Railways, development and modernisation of its infrastructure and the bullet trains, to the Defence Production Sector, catalysed by the placement of 56 aircraft to replace the Avro transports in the private/FDI domain already.

Then there are the higher caps in Insurance, lower entry bars in construction and infrastructure, raised limits for the Debt Securities Market, mining, power, alternate energy, nuclear energy, roads and ports.

There is a rethink going on about multi-brand retail, and a clearing of the 30% local input barrier for single brand. There is China led SEZs revival, manufacturing incentivisation across the board via Japan, South Korea and others. 

In Modi’s 17 point vision and those budgets, there are many other goodies-  huge container ports, many more metro rail projects, country-wide telecommunications at the price of a local call, fast travel, going from anywhere to anywhere in the country in 24 hours etc.

So what else is there to talk about?

 (1,106 words)

July 22^nd, 2014

Gautam Mukherjee