Narendra Modi must reclaim the narrative, reconnect with the voters, and hard sell his brand all over again.
Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi going to end up with just one term at the Centre? Or, will he prove all his detractors, particularly the admirers-turned-critics like Meghnad Desai, wrong? They predicted only last week that voters are disappointed with Modi’s false promises and will not vote him back with a clear majority in 2019 elections.
But Modi must urgently reclaim the narrative, reconnect with the voters, and hard sell his brand all over again.
The last few elections have taught us that the voter is smarter than the so-called experts sitting in both the drawing rooms and the newsrooms. While Modi’s own appeal and connect with voters may have dropped by a notch or two, but it is far from being flattened. And the less-than-spectacular performance of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana offer more proof of this.
Also read: Why BJP is staring at a loss of nearly 100 seats from 2014 tally
Modi is a politician who is nimble, has an immense ability to bounce back, reinvent himself and learn from his mistakes. To write him off, as many are doing just four months ahead of the national elections, would be foolish. Nobody should assume that Modi would simply roll over and play dead. He knows how to get back into the game and get his way.
Here are six things that Narendra Modi should do immediately to prove the naysayers wrong.
Get a better team of bureaucrats and advisers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been let down by his top officers and advisers. Modi’s PMO is no better. In fact, some would say it is worse than that of his predecessor Manmohan Singh. Talk to any senior officer and s/he will tell you how files sent to the PMO often remain stuck for weeks. Just look at the number of senior-level posts that are vacant because the PMO is yet to decide on the appointments.
It is also true that Modi, assisted by a clutch of officers who were too happy being HMVs (his master’s voice) rather than being fearless advisers, could never establish himself as an able administrator in Lutyens’ Delhi.
He needs a new team, particularly officers, who can stand up to him and tell him the truth about where he is going wrong.
Make India secure
Narendra Modi’s passage to Delhi from Gandhinagar was made comfortable on the back of tall promises about making India more secure. Remember 56-inches?
But the inept handling of India’s internal security situation by his officers, not to mention the larger-than-life but mostly-at-sea NSA Ajit Doval, has put Narendra Modi on the back foot.
Kashmir is almost back to where it was in the early 1990s. Naxals are regrouping. Despite the surgical strikes, the number of security personnel getting killed in Jammu and Kashmir remains high.
Also read: Do Amritsar & Kashmir violence signal internal security crisis like ‘90s under Ajit Doval?
This isn’t what the people voted him for. He was supposed to be bearer of the Sudarshan Chakra that would slay all our internal and external enemies.
Bring back farmers and traders
Narendra Modi may be secure in the knowledge that even as his approval ratings have slipped, the same haven’t been automatically transferred to Rahul Gandhi, the opponent he and the BJP actually helped grow.
But, the farmers and traders are clearly unhappy. Demonetisation and the after-effects of the poor implementation of the GST regime have turned the BJP’s strongest supporters away from the party.
The Inspector Raj is back, and income tax and other agencies are on the prowl, often looking for weak targets. This is hurting Modi’s image and vote base.
Farmers are unhappy and are buying into Rahul Gandhi’s stories about how Modi is feeding his industrialist friends at their cost. This may be a myth but it is costing the BJP votes.
Also read: Here’s how Rahul Gandhi managed to make Rafale a big issue
It doesn’t help that there are many Modi supporters, mostly urban middle-class netizens, who are questioning the competitive populism of both the Congress and the BJP to announce farm loan waivers.
With general election so near, is this the narrative that the BJP wants to sell?
Make allies happy
To become Prime Minister again, Narendra Modi needs at least 230 seats. If he gets any less, even leaders within his own party will oppose him, and not just the allies who are uncomfortable with the idea of a second term for him.
It is no secret that almost all the existing allies of the BJP are not pleased with the manner in which the BJP under Modi and Amit Shah have treated them since the party’s spectacular victory in 2014. If Modi needs their support in 2019, he will find the going very difficult, and the price may be too high. The allies may even want somebody more acceptable like Nitin Gadkari or Rajnath Singh.
A sharp fall in the numbers may even alienate the RSS.
Also read: Nitin Gadkari says Modi-led BJP overpromised: Cracks in party or 2019 course-correction?
Give the youth what they want, not statues and temples
Modi cannot afford to take the youth for granted. The Pakoranomics – remember his interview where he said even selling pakoras was employment – has found no takers and even he knows that.
The young are restless and need the man in whom they reposed faith deliver on jobs. They don’t want speeches but jobs.
Also read: Pakoras, polarisation and popularity of Modi: Key takeaways from state election results
Get new speech writers
Last, and not the least, Modi needs new speech writers. People are getting visibly tired of his continued tirade against the Nehru-Gandhi family and the obsessive focus on the failures of the previous governments.
He needs to tell people about what he has delivered – even if it isn’t much. He needs to reconnect with the masses – one-way speeches are simply not cutting it.
Also, he needs to get the motormouths, including some ministers, in his party to stop making irresponsible remarks.
“People are getting visibly tired of his continued tirade against the Nehru-Gandhi family and the obsessive focus on the failures of the previous governments.”This indeed is a very justified observation, having regard to the rise of Rahul Gandhi in the recent state elections. Common Indians, especially in the Hindi belt, are still enamoured of the Nehru-Indira charisma being carried forward–with full support of the entire Left which has all along been stooges of the Congress.
One aspect that the current disposition and the PM appear to be ignoring is the menace of all pervasive corruption in all areas of people’s interaction with the govt. Despite the claims made by the BJP, the rate and incidence of bribes have all sky-rocketed Just have a look to t5he3 three MCDs..
Prof PK Sharma,Freelance Journalist,Barnala(Punjab )
Maneesh Chhibber Sahib, a very simple question to you ! Are you a Narendra Modi well- wisher or his detractor ?
Ironically, you seem to be paying just – PEN SYMPATHIES – with NaMo now when it is too early I should say or
too late ?
I do not see eye to eye with you at all when you remarked,” Modi is a politician who is nimble…… and learn from his
mistakes ! ” I fail to understand what is the basis of this observation of yours ? In this article, you have not in any
manner either supported or substantiated your observation by pointing out any mistake from which NaMo may have
learnt during more than four and a half years of his stint in highest office of Prime Minister of India, leave aside his
earlier political career !
In a daily Punjabi newspaper(December, 26 edition) on the front page, I saw a full fledged photograph of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi roaming all alone on the longest Rail-Road Bridge at Bogibeel near Dibrugarh in Assam on Christmas
Day after he inaugurated it !
Seeing this snap, I could not help thinking that NaMo is rehearsing in advance how to live in “alienation” following the
2019 Lok Sabha Polls ?
Is it the example of learning from the mistakes ? On the Christmas Day, the Prime Minister should have been surrounded
by all the sections of society exchanging and accepting greetings ! Is he not the Prime Minister of all the citizens of India ?
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest,Barnala (Punjab)
Till the state Assembly results came in, the consensus was about 175. Today it looks more like 150. Neither the South nor the East offers much comfort. Many scholarly analyses will be written why the cookie crumbled. Nothing worthwhile got done sounds cruel, but is not far wrong.
Mr. Gupta now no more neutral … since started flattering and suggesting do’s & don’ts as if the person is himself very innocent !
Fill Indians with hope and aspiration, bring positivity and civility back, integrate India more deeply with the rest of the world, let history be confined to library shelves, religion to puja / ibaadat spaces in each family’s home.
“Compulsive” journalists would fit in any part of the world; a poor country like India needs “conscientious” journalists. Just a matter of personal likes and dislikes, but I find this article in totally bad taste. The writer is trying to guide Mr Modi, a leader who has proved thoroughly lacking in compassion for the destitute — why? So he can pile more misery upon them for more years to come?
Personally, I would wish Mr Modi a future career of inspirational writer and speech giver, both activities he will prove good at, or even Presidentship of Russia or USA — anything that will make him leave the poor but self respecting citizens of India alone.