Modi and the Media

A lot has been said about the BJP's extravagant media propaganda, branding and advertising. This post is not about that. Rather, I focus on how Narendra Modi set the agenda for primetime news through his speeches and interviews.

When Modi was appointed the PM candidate for the BJP in September 2013, the media was skeptical about his capabilities. Most people strongly believed that this BJP's experiment would fail given the in-fighting within the BJP.
During the assembly elections, AAP hogged the limelight. It seemed as though the other states results were of no concern and political analysts speculated that since Delhi is a microcosm of India, whatever happens in Delhi will be replicated everywhere.

But around this time Modi was already busy setting up the groundwork for the Lok Sabha elections. Modi knew that the road to 7RCR went through Bihar and UP. He deftly appointed master strategist Amit Shah as the UP's state secretary. Along came the big rallies in Patna, Ranchi, Kanpur, Bhairaich etc. In all of these rallies he made Congress and specifically the Gandhi family the enemy no.1 depicting the bad policies and showcased the Gujrat model as a contrast. The party workers had begun door to door campaigns and the assets in the RSS were being tapped. Modi had set his agenda as 272+ and his campaign managers laid out groundwork for the campaign on social media, print and TV. Volunteers were assigned with specific tasks of attracting the youth, raising development as the main issue and showcasing Gujrat.

Meanwhile, Congress was ignoring all this activity thinking that it is too early and that Modi's campaign would lose steam in the coming months. The media tried to play this up as Rahul vs Modi campaign but since the Congress was not confrontational it diverted its attention to the AAP phenomenon. I remember on every national issue that was debated on primetime, there would be an AAP spokesperson. AAP becoming a national party was a foregone conclusion.

It was after the AAP resigned from Delhi that the media suddenly woke up to the political situation in the country. Modi was already holding mammoth rallies on a regular basis making strong speeches. Pre-poll surveys showing positive trend towards that BJP were debunked by raising up the credibility issue of such surveys.
Around March when parties started their campaigns, through their internal surveys they felt a significant shift in their vote banks . Everywhere they went for campaign , people already knew about Modi and the Gujrat Model. Congress was now fighting for 150 seats rather than a majority. Meanwhile, Modi would consistently give a 30 second controversial bite in his speeches only to be picked up by the media to played up in the primetime shows.

Congress was fooled into thinking that winning TV debates meant winning elections and leader after leader went around defaming Modi and his Gujrat model. Media became strongly polarized around Modi. The real issues of inflation, unemployment and poverty went on the back burner and the election became all about for or against Modi.

At this point Modi knew that he had won most of his battle. The next job was to make more people for than against. This gave rise to the plethora of interviews showcasing Modi's personality as a good administrator. Since Modi was popular and his interviews made for great television, media houses lined up to explore more about the enigmatic leader.

This was how Modi won the media. His description went from a mass-murderer to great orator to a statesman in no time.

Of course, Modi's campaign had a lot more to it like the involvement of RSS, use of technology etc. but  his media management was one of the finest ever in the history of elections in India.