The Prime Minister and his Government haven’t countered the bad Press that flies relentlessly and unfairly in the face of progress they have made. They must not underestimate how much damage this is causing.
GAUTAM MUKHERJEE Some people are raking up the intolerance issue to thwart our chances of getting permanent membership of UNSC.The Bihar Legislative Assembly rout for the NDA, coming on top of the Delhi Assembly debacle, has many reasons. In Bihar, the most important factor was a spectacular consolidation of the Opposition mahagathbandan vote. It is undeniable that the BJP was not able to read the mood of the electorate, and performed poorly as a consequence. But it is also losing the propaganda war to the Opposition in general, and without a proper fight. Apart from the daily media and Opposition-slamming that has become routine ever since May 2014, the Bihar election is a microcosm of all that has gone wrong on the electoral front. This, even though the Delhi election was no slouch in terms of mishandling, over-confidence, changing horses in mid-stream, infighting amongst the contenders etc. Tellingly, there has been no course correction between the two elections, despite a gap of several months. There were a number of unnecessary and provocative statements made by various people in the BJP, the NDA, the RSS and the Sangh parivar during the Bihar election. From outside, conflicts with the Government line in the Film and Television Institute of India and the censor board, its line on cow slaughter, a shrill ‘intolerance’ campaign, accompanied by a sudden award-wapsi protest, all surged and died as soon as the election was done with. While all of that had the makings of a ‘manufactured protest’, the Government was unable to counter it, till almost the end of the five-stage Bihar election. When the BJP-sponsored counter-blast finally surfaced, it was a case of too little too late. Then, what has since turned out to be a ‘personal enmity’ murder at Dadri of a Muslim father, and the beating up of his son, was blown up as a ‘beef’ issue, and projected as a communal lynching provoked by the BJP. The ruling party, of course, did itself no favours, with its Culture Minister rushing to Dadri, only to make a number of insensitive statements. Other stray murders were woven into the media narrative, while wilfully ignoring the killings of Hindus and even members of the Sangh parivar. The specifics naturally multiply when there is something at stake, but it is clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, who jointly spearheaded the Bihar campaign, are suffering from an ongoing and undefended image problem. The Midas touch of Mr Shah, who had delivered 71 out of 80 parliamentary seats from Uttar Pradesh, has apparently gone with the wind. Now, he seemingly reeks of arrogance and alleged high-handedness. But long before this latest setback, Mr Modi decided he did not need the highpowered professional image management and public relations support that he appointed and used during and prior to the general election. He must have thought so because of the strength of the win in May 2014. So, in an ill-advised move, Mr Modi jettisoned all of it overnight. He decided to rely on his personal charisma plus the efforts of the sarkari media apparatus, (Doordarshan, All India Radio and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting), to carry the day. He even allowed his brilliant election strategist to slip away to the Nitish Kumar camp without demur! To have expected the ‘Modi magic’ to sweep all in front of it, as it had done during the general election, was wrong. Mr Modi forgot how much professional effort had gone into building that ‘magic’. And also that he was regarded as an ‘untouchable’ for a very long time after 2002. At first, the naked stance seemed to be working, as a number of Assembly elections were won and/or Governments formed, most creditably in Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra. But, simultaneously, there was a mismatch between the stoking of expectations and delivery in governance. In day-to-day working, there has been a tinkering and unexpected timidity, even red-tape, rather than the efficient Modi touch. This, combined with a lack of big bang reforms, has been disappointing. Even the initiatives that have seen the light of day, do not seem convincing in terms of their implementation any time soon. Besides, who is there from within the BJP to tell Mr Modi where and when he and his newly appointed and largely inexperienced Cabinet, are slipping? Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani keeps going from gaffe to gaffe without remedy. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is seen to be overcautious, physically unwell, and ponderous. Home Minister Rajnath Singh is seen to be weak and not particularly effective. Even Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, brought in especially from Goa, seems to have disappeared into the maws of his ministry. Only the feisty and fast-talking Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Power Minister Piyush Goel seem to be getting somewhere. Mr Modi himself seems to be covering a lot of ground, but at the expense of governance and the fulfilment of promises. The Opposition and a hostile private sector media have gone to town criticising the Prime Minister, his Government and the party. Mr Modi doesn’t counter all this, ignoring it as so many sour grapes. The bad Press flies relentlessly and unfairly in the face of the actual progress being made, being far better than that of the UPA. But Mr Modi has no answer for people in his flock talking out of turn. Neither does he have a damage-control mechanism for all the skeletons that tumble out of ministerial and chief ministerial cupboards. Nor did he reckon with the professionalism of the Congress onslaught once Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi decided to launch himself in a new, improved version after his mysterious holiday. This was so effective that it completely put a stop to legislation in the parliamentary session past; and threatens to do so all over again. The BJP has no media houses of its own, nor is it doing anything significant to build its media muscle. It is as if it does not understand the importance of such a thing, or is deluded about its potential. While Mr Modi is indeed very popular on social media, with over 16 million followers on Twitter, he cannot afford to ignore the magnitude of hostile electronic, digital and print media bombarding him and his Government/party on a daily basis. Mr Modi’s image and aura is definitely suffering in the domestic sphere, though he is wildly popular with the diaspora wherever he goes. In fact, after the vicious propaganda he is subjected to at home, it must be a relief to lap up all the adulation he receives from the Indian community abroad. In sum, however, the Prime Minister and the ruling party cannot afford to be helpless in the face of all this. They need to deploy significant resources to fix and keep building their image, with a counter media narrative that is both effective and sophisticated.
