These five years have heralded many new things in Indian politics, virtually creating a fresh template for it. It is hard to call them refreshing though, given the apparent negatives. However, love them or hate them, they are not likely to go away any time soon. Here are four of them.
Leader As A Consumer Product
If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mega roadshows appear competently choreographed, planned to a T and executed to perfection, it is because they are. They are designed to impress audiences at the venue of his shows and those watching television in far-off living rooms as well. It is a shock-and-awe tactic with a minor tweak. Here the target is not an inimical force but impressionable people in general.
It syncs well with the current trend in India’s politics, where principles of marketing dominate. The leader is sold to voters as a product. Brand-building and event management blend seamlessly into the effort. Modi is being promoted as the biggest political brand and it is not surprising that considerable effort has gone into building his image.
The massive roadshows are a grand effort in that direction. The trend makes good old virtue of modesty in politicians so irrelevant and out of place. But whoever said Modi was a modest politician?
Victory Is Not Everything, It’s The Only Thing
Politics is about winning elections. Period. It has to be a ruthless pursuit. No matter if it calls for dividing people, telling blatant lies and throwing all decency in public conduct out of the window. Modi’s five years have been the story of dogged pursuit for re-election. From the beginning, his every move has been with an eye for a repeat of mandate.
Nothing wrong with this. It should be a lesson for politicians of all hues. The days of laidback politics are over. You can no more stir into action only during election season and relax the rest of the time, communicating little with people.
With his sense of urgency, it can be said that Modi has again made people relevant in a democracy. It has a flip side though. It can lead to constant manipulation of people. We have seen this happen often enough in the past five years.
Media: The Loyal Drumbeater And Trumpeter
Control the media and you control the minds. No other government would have found it this easy to achieve the first part as the current one.
In the last five years, the media’s capacity to be controlled and for servility has been a revelation. They crawled when they were asked to bend. They grovelled at the slightest hint of threat. And they had no shame in being trumpeters, cheerleaders and the lynch mob of the ruling dispensation. God, don’t they make look creepy crawlies of the gutters look so much better!
We are talking of the television media in particular and other media in general. Newbie social media is noisy and senseless most of the time, and open to manipulation. But it is still a democratic space, where many views can exist together.
Coming to the second part of the opening sentence, well, we know for sure that a good number of minds have been brainwashed. But it is possible that the ceaseless effort to divert minds have had the opposite reaction too. There are as many people supporting Modi as opposing him. The results may tell us the complete story.
Evolution Of The New Indian
In the past half a decade, we have witnessed a new Indian evolve. He is derisively referred to as bhakt and his personality traits include, total, unconditional submission before the object of worship. He is capable of suspending intelligence and power of logical thinking in all matters involving the latter. And he flaunts slavish loyalty to the supreme leader as a badge of honour. This is intriguing.
An ideal democracy means robust institutions. They provide checks and balances and serve as a brake on dictatorial traits of leaders, parties and governments. They protect the individual from the state and ensure that the ideas of liberty and justice are not trampled upon. Thus, people in a mature democracy will demand stronger institutions.
In India, we appear to have moved the opposite way. The bhakts obviously don’t bother much about the niceties of institutions and the higher principles of democracy. They only believe in the powers and infallibility of one individual. This is the kind of population that gives rise to dictators.
The tribe of this species is likely to grow in future. We should be worried. They give rise to dictators and megalomaniacs.
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