6 things Narendra Modi should do to get his mojo back in 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi | Kamal Singh

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.

The answer lies somewhere in between. The BJP, unless there’s complete polarisation on religious grounds, won’t reach anywhere close to its 282 tally of 2014. But, it also won’t stop at 150 that its critics desperately hope.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.