Modi cult gains spotlight amid missing noise of 2019 poll
Image credit X @BJP4Ind
‘Brand Modi’ in spotlight as Lok Sabha poll tests BJP’s management skills
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, May 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is belting out television and print interviews with feverish speed amid the approaching sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. His latest interview shared a detailed note to argue against the “scripted” format of the question-and-answer sessions.
“Modi generally shuns press conferences and give interviews only under strict conditions, with his office typically demanding questions in advance and allowing quotations only from a written script afterwards,” wrote John Reed, the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Financial Times, in an article headlined – Is the cult of Modi starting to lose its lustre?
The London-based financial daily also ran an opinion piece this week which announced that the “Modi wave is missing in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections”. The author of the article is Ruchir Sharma.
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Sharma has built an image of someone who widely travels during elections to gauge the mood of the people. “The only wave is the heat wave,” wrote Sharma.
Psephologists have also begun loudly saying that the slogan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of ‘abki baar, 400 paar’ has no endorsements from the people on the grounds. The BJP, however, has a willing companion, Prashant Kishor. He maintains that the BJP is unstoppable.
The anti-incumbency against the sitting MPs of the BJP, as well as the alliance partners of the party, has been a common refrain from the ground reports. They all sought cover under the ‘Brand Modi’ to beat the anti-incumbency.
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Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is in the fray from the Sambalpur parliamentary constituency in Odisha. He is facing the poll heat after Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik accused the BJP leaders of being “uncultured, and using foul languages”.
Pradhan nudged his Cabinet colleague Giriraj Singh to lend him some electioneering weight. Despite media management, Pradhan is sweating out against the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Political observers concur that the noise of the 2019 in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections is clearly missing. The BJP leaders are laboriously planting headlines around Pakistan, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), and others.
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The ‘Brand Modi’ evidently seems to be losing the lustre. This is also endorsed by the BJP leaders, after halfway into the elections, realising that they have problem within, that the party workers themselves are not exultant.
Modi is seeking a record third-term at the Centre. He had succeeded Manmohan Singh, who had also been at the helm for two-term.
The Congress leaders are fancying 2004 déjà vu. The Congress communication department chief, Jairam Ramesh, has claimed that the 2004 encore is on the anvil.
While ‘Brand Modi’ may appear losing lustre, the BJP is still the most organised political outfit. The BJP claims that it has a membership base of 18 crore. But the data has not been verified, at least in the public domain.
The BJP may hope that the scale of difference with rivals will ensure a third-term for Modi. The closest rival, the Congress, is contesting lowest number of the Lok Sabha seats in its electoral history, just about 337.
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