Modi’s Rise: Thanks to Anti-Modi Propaganda

Almost all recent opinion polls in India suggest that Narendra Modi, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, is the top contender for the office. Nationally and internationally media describes him as a rightwing hardliner – a poster boy of Hindutva (i.e., religious rightwing politics). This raises several questions: A) Has Indian society lost religious tolerance that it considers electing a Hindutva hardliner who has been allegedly linked to communal riots in Gujarat as a Prime Minister? B) Why is India’s socialists and secularists unable to stop this political shift? and C) Who can stop Modi in the present scenario?

The short answer: For more than a decade Anti-Modi campaign from the left of the political spectrum has fueled Modi’s rise, and his fall is in the hands of his Hindutva followers. Sounds baffling? Let me explain:

Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the 2002 communal riots in which two thirds of the victims were Muslims. Obviously, violent episode of such kind would elicit critical response from any civilized society. Genuine critical opinions may vary from negligence and in-action to mishandling at various administrative-levels and failure in maintaining the law and order during riots. However, the opposition led by the Congress party, Delhi-based national media, and innumerous minority-rights advocate NGOs presumed Modi’s culpability in rioting within days. Extreme rightwing groups (e.g., Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajarang Dal) whose many members were later convicted in rioting were off the radar and Modi was made the sole target in media trials. Hyper criticism was widely prevalent across mainstream media houses as Modi was frequently labeled as “Anti-Muslim”, “Hindu Fascist” and “Hitler”. Since 2002, almost every media story on Modi government had a line suggesting his riot links. International media imitated the same ritual. This trend continues till date in sections of media, though to a lesser extent.

Nonstop bashing in national media without any proven charges in the court of law opened up doors for Modi’s rise – first in Gujarat and then beyond. Within religiously polarized Gujarat, Modi succeeded in establishing conditioning in his Hindu voters that his criticism is a propaganda by those with vested interests. Gujarati Congress leaders grasped this voter conditioning after their loss in 2002 state elections. Though Modi has primarily won all successive elections on the developmental agenda, his political opponents in Gujarat have been extra cautious and have restrained from hyper personal criticism, especially on communal issues. In fact, when Tehalka magazine released tapes of Gujarat riot sting operation just few days before the 2007 state elections, many of the Congress party leaders accused it of having conducted the sting at Modi’s behest. However, the Congress leaders in Delhi did not understand the social context. Then Congress chief, Sonia Gandhi’s famous remark of calling Modi a “merchant of death” resulted in further polarization of votes on the religious lines and eventually Congress lost miserably.

Outside of Gujarat, sustained one dimensional depiction of Modi as a Hindu fascist in national and international media had almost convinced most people. However, this strategy backfired and Modi’s stature rose in mainly three phases.

Phase I – Story of Good Governance

Stories of Modi government’s efficient governance started resurfacing within a year and he was named the second best chief minister in India Today magazine’s national survey in 2003. Sporadically their proactive measures in power and infrastructure sectors, global investor summits, and initiatives to create business friendly environment grabbed headlines. By 2011 he was named the best chief minister for seven times in India Today polls. This counter narrative made people more curious to explore who is the real Narendra Modi – a symbol of communal hatred or an efficient administrator.

Phase II – Emergence of Social Media

With the spread of internet and social networking, Modi found a medium to connect directly and to satiate people’s curiosity bypassing mainstream media. Modi has enormous presence on the internet. Unlike his opponents, he has the oratory-skills to connect with the intellectuals as well as the masses and shares all of his speeches on his youtube-channel. A fairly significant section of people, especially the youth, consists of those who do not identify with the camp of religious hardliners and who cannot tolerate misgovernance, inefficiency and rampant corruption. Modi had grasped this voter dilemma long back. For past several years, he has been trying hard to reach out. He talks about governance, economy, technology, environment and developmental issues. It is possible that many of those who had presumed Modi to be a demon saw his human side and bought-in his development centric politics, which is very rare in India. Modi is yet to find a political opponent who presents counter narrative of the developmental vision for India.

Phase III – Acquitted by the Court of Law

In 2013, Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate gave a clean chit to Modi based on the report submitted by the independent inquiry supervised by the Supreme Court. The inquiry has not found prosecutable evidence against him. This development may not have affected opinion of Modi-supporters or his critics. However, a large number of potentially neutral voters now had no concrete rationale for blaming riots on Modi.  

Today pro-Modi camp is massively big. It covers not only Hindu hardliners, but also liberals who buy-in Modi’s claims of administrative acumen. Modi has a huge following among the youth, possibly across religious lines. So far, he has maintained a fine balance in keeping his right-wing followers and liberal young fans under the same umbrella. However, this balancing-act may get more difficult if the hardliners push their agenda publicly. Educated youth may find it difficult to sit in the same camp with religious hardliners, who tend to impose their world-view on others. Nonetheless, it is difficult to say if the hardliners are destroying Modi’s potential vote bank of liberal youth across religious lines. In total, the fault lines within the pro-Modi camp is the only big threat which can shatter Modi’s plan. 

Now that there is a real possibility that Modi will be the next prime minister of India, most of the anti-Modi liberals and leftists are crying foul. One wonders what they were doing when their colleagues were presenting anti-Modi propaganda, and not complete factual picture, on the mainstream media for more than a decade. Did they not anticipate what the consequences would be if their story did not stand the test of time? Anti-Modi camp is shrinking and there is no justification provided for the presentation of unidimensional one-sided picture with selective facts for so long. Religious bigotry and rioting is a social malice across India. Why has there been a sustained campaign against only one politician? Unfortunately, some of the media houses and senior reporters have shamelessly changed sides to orient themselves with the winds of change.

In all this, genuine critics of Modi’s politics and governance have emerged as the biggest losers. Any criticism of Modi or his administration is labeled as a Congressi-propaganda by rapidly expanding pro-Modi camp. The political discourse breaks down right away as there is a predetermined position and no openness to consider the counter narrative.

Perhaps the complete truth of Godhra incident and the following riots will never come out. But, we can hope that the liberals and leftists in India will learn a lesson of sticking to the facts. They should not forget their own contribution to Modi’s rise. 

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