Narendra Modi’s approach during the recently concluded elections evolved to include a mix of hate-speech narratives spun out in public rallies, combined with long interviews with big media, sometimes going up to an hour and a half.
The rise in viewership of those interviews does not seem to have coincided with electoral dividends.
If the prime minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party were expecting to see sharpening communal rhetoric leading to very high electoral benefits as the phases progressed, the results on June 4 revealed that no such spike took place. In fact, in the last phase on June 1, in the Varanasi region in Uttar Pradesh, where Modi was himself a candidate, the BJP lost nine out of 12 seats.
Data from Modi’s YouTube channel showcases a surge in views during key phases of the campaign, particularly when controversial statements were made. The ‘interviews’ with friendly journalists do not seem to have helped with electoral success even though they improved visibility. There were no questions asked on important, difficult issues like electoral bonds or the PM missing from Manipur, etc.
The most viewed interview was with India Today’s Anjana Om Kashyap, Sudhir Chaudhry, Rahul Kanwal and Shweta Singh, which has so far been received 16 lakh views, followed by the one with Rubika Liyaqat of News 18 India which has got 4.3 lakh views, where Modi made the “non-biological” statement.
Interactive graph: Please click on dots for hyperlinks
YouTube viewership data suggests that the prime minister got more traction in the last couple of weeks of the campaign.
Despite generating buzz with controversial statements during crucial poll junctures, his statements mocking the INDIA leaders as courtesans performing a dance for their ‘vote bank’ do not seem to have attracted any additional followers, or g0t any visible traction.
It got the least number of views compared to all his other hate speeches in this election.
Interactive graph: Please click on dots for hyperlinks to election speeches on Narendra Modi’s channel
