If you harboured any doubts about why Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to soar above all comers on the popularity charts, despite misgivings over his management of the economy, the farmers’ protests, the coronavirus pandemic, his government’s record on civil rights, freedom of expression and communal politics — leave them outside the gates of Parliament.
Those of us who watched his speeches in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, on three successive occasions — Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday — witnessed his consummate artistry as a politician. Within the space of 48 hours, we encountered Modi the strong and decisive leader, Modi the gracious and sensitive statesman moved to tears by compassion and camaraderie, and Modi the fiery politician who attacked the opposition with histrionic fury.
The first speech — his reply to the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha — had television news applaud in admiration his “scathing attack” on the opposition and “andolan jeevis” (India Today). The second had them go all gooey over his “emotional” goodbye to Ghulam Nabi Azad. “Modi shows the way,” said Republic TV, “I have never seen this kind of gesture, sentiment…” added anchor Arnab Goswami. And the third in the Lok Sabha, Wednesday, was heralded in awe: “PM rains fire on Oppn/ PM dismantles Oppn stand” (CNN News18).
Some uncharitable people may say that Modi’s “farewell, so long…” to the Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad was “all drama”. But they miss the point: politics is all about drama — and melodrama. It’s about elocution, delivery, and projecting a convincing image. Think of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s flair for the theatrical in his speeches.
At the moment, Modi is the prince of political drama.
Also read: Goodbye Ghulam Nabi Azad — why Congress stayed silent when Modi cried, opponents praised him
A teary, and well documented, goodbye
PM Modi was at his disarming best on Tuesday: he looked across at Azad, spoke generous words of praise, then paused, and let the silence fill the chamber before reaching for a glass of water, swallowing a sip, wiping his eyes, and continuing with his speech in a voice choking back the tears. And then he fetched Azad a salute. In those moments, he held the Rajya Sabha — and his TV audience — in the palm of his hand. Like him or not, you were compelled to watch him.
Whether he was being genuine and personal or simply political doesn’t matter — what matters is that it worked, perhaps beyond his wildest expectations. Not only did Azad thank him profusely, but all Tuesday, news channels replayed the tearful scenes in the Rajya Sabha with headlines such as “PM gets emotional over Azad” (CNN News18) — in fact, without the PM’s salute and tears, Azad would have probably faded into the sunset without much fanfare — at least on the news.
Instead, in the evening, prime time debates actually devoted themselves to Modi-Azad and to topics such as “What do PM’s tears tell us?’’ (News 24). On Wednesday, ABP News and India Ahead interviewed Azad.
Also read: Farm protests ‘sacred’ but andolan jeevis have defiled movement, says Modi in Parliament
How to be a great orator
The Monday and Wednesday speeches in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha showed us a Modi we are accustomed to seeing and hearing in his frequent TV/online appearances: a strong, authoritative leader.
This has been leavened, somewhat, by the image he presented: dressed in all white, with a fine shawl draped across his left shoulder, the white hair now combed into obedient curls at the nape of the neck and the neatly trimmed beard — all give him a faintly other-worldly air, that of an elder statesman. And yes, reminded you of Rabindranath Tagore, as was perhaps the intention.
What skills does he bring to the performance? Like any great orator, he raises and drops his voice, thumps the table, repeats phrases — all to ram home the point.
The speeches were sprinkled with alliterations — “…(we will not) divert, dilute or change direction…”, “(our) content-intent…”; acronyms — FDI for `Foreign Destructive Ideology’, poems, and frequent references to his pet projects — currently, it is “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
There is also the reiteration of the past. Slogans like “sabka saath, sabka vikas” featured in the Rajya Sabha address just as the recurring themes of development, the poor, and of course the farmer, who dominated his speeches. Not to mention, all the schemes beginning with ‘PM’ that he has launched in the last six years.
Another favourite technique of the PM’s is to quote from historical figures belonging to poll-bound states — nowadays everything is about West Bengal, and so Subhas Chandra Bose and Swami Vivekananda were quoted in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha speeches, respectively.
Above all, PM Modi makes sure to project a positive vision — he speaks of self-confidence and with self-confidence, of ‘garv’ in the country “Yeh Hindustan hai”, its values, its inner strength, a youthful India that is a leader in the comity of nations — so on and so forth.
And then, he slips in the attacks on the opposition, often using the Congress against the Congress — Dr Manmohan Singh’s words on farm reforms were quoted in the Rajya Sabha, National Congress Party Sharad Pawar’s in the Lok Sabha.
Modi also uses self-deprecation and humour — in the Rajya Sabha, he ended his speech by mocking the opposition’s ‘hamla’ on him — enjoy yourself, he exhorted them, at my expense — “Modi hai, mauka lijiye’’ (Modi is there, take a chance).
Compare the PM with the only other leader who is projected on news channels: Rahul Gandhi of the Congress. Doesn’t he strike you as a neophyte, still wet behind the ears, compared to Modi?
If the Congress or opposition is to challenge the BJP, it needs to find its Vajpayee or Modi or else someone who can stand up and deliver – deliver speeches and the audience, the way the PM can.
Are you listening, Mamata Banerjee?
Views are personal.