Masterfully mixing his vision for
India with right mix of satire, Modi engaged the audience in the close-door
interactive session with Indian Diaspora titled “Bharat ki Baat Sabke Saath” held
at West Minister Hall, London. Anchored by Prasoon Joshi, who brightened
spirits of Diaspora with his eclectic Hindi recitations the question and answer
session covered a wide range of issues from governance, administration, Prime
Minister pet initiatives, women’s security, and foreign affairs. Coming just a
year before elections, the program served as an excellent platform for Modi to
reach out to Indians across the globe, who were anxiously grading Modi’s
performance. It gave an opportunity for Indian electorate to make right choices
for the upcoming elections.
Opening the session by humbly
submitting that the honor accorded to him at Royal Palace belongs to the 1.25
billion Indians Modi extolled the power of a democracy where a poor person can
rise to highest echelons of power. Ruminating on his early stages of childhood
which started on a railway platform, he stated that having lived in poverty, he
doesn’t need to read books on poverty. He apprised the audience of his
conviction to reach to the last man or “Antodaya” the bedrock of BJP’s
ideology. Modi spoke about Jandhan yojana, rural electrification, Ujjwala
yojana and Open Defecation Free Projects. Justifying high level of expectations
of the middle class from his government, he drew an analogy to a family where
parents have high expectations from a hardworking child. They pin their hopes
on him. Similarly, people have faith in our government and hence the
increasingly aspirational middle class is becoming impatient and expects us to
implement new projects.
In his two and half hour long
interactive session, Modi patiently responded to all criticisms and masterfully
turned every question to effectively communicate with audience. Cognizant of
people’s restlessness and the growing frustration of the middle class who felt
targeted by the economic reforms, Modi used this event to assure them that his
government is committed to build a better India. He said, “Democracy is not any contract or agreement, it is about participative
governance” and urged the middle class to be partners in nation-building. Aside, stressing on the participatory
democracy, he impressed upon the audience just as Mahatma Gandhi motivated
people to make freedom movement a mass struggle, he is keen on involving people
in the long-drawn exercise of working towards development of country. He
appreciated the spirit of Indians, who gave up LPG subsidies and railway
concessions as their contribution towards betterment of nation.
Modi’s unpretentious submission of,
“I am like any common citizen. And I also
have drawbacks like normal people do” will go a long way in bursting the
myth of Megalomaniac kind of portrayal of the Prime Minister by media. Further,
Modi’s authoritative response to a question posed by a Kannadiga on Bhagwan
Basaveshwar and his efforts in uniting the society can be a hit with Karnataka
electorate who are exasperated by Rahul’s gaffes and inability to even
pronounce his name.
In a reply to a question in
surgical strikes, Modi commended the Indian Army for executing the mission with
100% precision and said “through surgical
strike, our jawans gave befitting reply to those who export terror”.
Mincing no words, he added “We believe in
peace. But we will not tolerate those who like to export terror. We will give
back strong answers and, in the language, they understand. Terrorism will not
be accepted”. Reiterating India’s commitment to adhere to righteousness,
even towards enemy, Modi clarified that before releasing the news of surgical
strikes to India
n press, Indian Army felt morally obligated to inform Pakistan of
strikes. Modi’s uncompromising attitude towards national security and tough
messaging to Pakistan will go down well with Indian electorate. Incidentally,
in the past four years, but for the fake stories planted by media of communal
disharmony and discrimination, by and large, there were no major terror
incidents or communal clashes. Even the instances of red terror and the
insurgency in North East region are largely under control. Modi government can
thus take complete credit for upholding national security.
Throughout his interaction, Modi
consciously refrained from making any rhetorical references to previous
regimes. Cognizant of the fact that four years of his tenure have passed, and
people are at the critical juncture of exercising electoral choices, Modi made
attempt to win people’s trust. At a time when pressitudes are trying to relaunch Rahul Gandhi before every
assembly election as a potential rival, in glorified avatar, Modi through his itemized
and subliminal messaging tramped dynast efforts. Modi’s eloquence effectively
bulldozed opposition’s incoherence and incompetence. Besides, Modi’s
synergistic communication ranging from references to Indian philosophy and
unabashed foreign policy approach of being unapologetic about his Israeli visit
and fortifying relations with rivals like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Palestine simultaneously
captivated audience. Referring to India’s pragmatic policy of diplomatic
outreach he said “Neither do we look at
countries with raised eyes nor with lowered eyes” and enlightened audience
of various foreign policy initiatives too. Pressing home the point that his
government is making rapid strides along various fronts, Modi earnestly
unveiled campaigning.
To sum up, Modi’s oratory
rejuvenated staunch BJP supporters, drew interest of fence-sitters and earned
contempt of chronic haters. Increasingly, it is becoming clear that Modi, the master
communicator can turn the tide…
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