In this world, there are three things that can be said to be certain – death, taxes and Narendra Modi’s visage in your morning newspaper. The first two have been with us for a long time – the third is relatively recent but no less ubiquitous.
Not a day passes without a strip ad above the masthead offering ‘Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee’, assuring the reader of everything from food, education and jobs. As if this was not enough, full page advertisements from state governments (and private sector companies) inform us that everything they do and hope to achieve is because of the munificence and blessing of their Supreme Leader – his face prominently displayed on top ensures that we get the message.
Here is a typical day – on March 13, the Bombay edition of the Times of India had a full page ad by the Tata group welcoming Modi to lay the ‘virtual stone laying’ of India’s first Semiconductor Fab in Dholera, Gujarat.
Turn the pages and we are informed that the Chhattisgarh government is delivering on ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ for a ‘Visit to Chhattisgarh’ – his photo looms over the ad which tells us of the state government’s ‘vision’ for development of the state.
Further on two full pages by the UP government – again with Modi standing next too (but taller than) chief minister Adityanath hailing the ‘magnificent’ infrastructure development and ‘cultural, spiritual and religious renaissance’. If you don’t get what this means, the ad spells it out in great detail.
Then comes another Modi guarantee of World Class Dedicated Freight Corridors – its an ad by Indian Railways.
Multiply this by the hundreds of newspapers in the country and also television channels, and one can imagine the sheer expense involved. The ads are paid for not by the BJP but by the respective governments and private sector companies and they generate revenue for the publications. One can understand why newspapers are reluctant to ask tough questions of the respective governments.
The wall to wall coverage of Modi imagery and propaganda is not unusual – all these years (i.e. from 2014 onwards), his photos could be seen on hoardings, on fertiliser bags and even on COVID-19 vaccination certificates. Books on him and even by him, such as Exam Warriors, published in 13 languages, have been released. He has published a book of poems in Gujarati which have been translated into Sanskrit. All this has fed into his cult, and created a larger than life image of a man who not only sold tea and brought a baby crocodile with him, to someone who is thoughtful and wise to one who hobnobs with world leaders as an equal.
What’s different this time round is the concentrated focus on the performance and promises of the Modi sarkar, without any reference to the disasters of these past 10 years – demonetisation, the takeover of Indian land by China. That is what parties do when elections are coming, but not in such a concentrated manner and not by using public funds. Fully aware that the situation on the ground may not be as rosy as Narendra Modi and his ministers talk about, the campaign is full of grand claims and assurances. A word to the copy writer though – A headline like ‘Vanchiton ki Varivata’ is wasted in an English newspaper, and perhaps even in a Hindi one, but that is how the Sangh thinks and speaks.
Modi is taking no chances – it has broken up with old allies and aligned with those it called corrupt – Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh, Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra. It has worked to break the INDIA alliance – in Bihar, for instance. It has let loose the enforcement agencies in different parts of the country.
But fully aware that it now needs seats from beyond the states that usually support it – UP, Gujarat and the Hindi-speaking belt – it is doing everything to ensure that it remains on the top of the voters’ mind on a daily basis. Modi is the biggest draw that the BJP has, so it’s natural that he is projected the most by way of these daily ads, even if it means our tax money has to pay for them.
Modi sarkar is a conceited way of suggesting that it is ‘his’ government – the concept of the collective just does not exist in the BJP as of today, once proud of being a collegial party, where no one person was above the other. Now it is Modi, Modi and more Modi, but only up to a point – all successes are his, all failures are because of someone else.
If at all the party and its allies do not get the 400 seats, 370 for the BJP, that it is aiming for – apparently to change the constitution, as an MP from Karnataka has helpfully informed us – who will get the blame? This is not just pre-election rhetoric, Modi genuinely wants to break previous records. But it’s an ambitious target to reach; in fact 303, the number of seats it won the last time, also looks difficult.
The big promises – removing Article 370, a temple at Ayodhya, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act Rules – have all been fulfilled. But he knows that ultimately the voters want to know how the government will change their life for the better – hence the ads are not about those ‘achievements’, but about jobs, education, houses. The macro figures about India’s impressive growth have not made much difference to their life. Will the daily promises of Modi Sarkar ki Guarantees impress the voter?
