In 12 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached a summit long occupied by Jawaharlal Nehru.
This is the message from the news media as PM Modi completed 4,399 continuous days in office and thereby overtook Nehru’s 4,398 days as prime minister.
On Wednesday evening, the PM made a grand speech to NDA colleagues and was the man of the moment on prime time television news.
Otherwise, although, the news media played and replayed the PM’s winning streak in office, it did it in a rather muted manner. No band baaja, just a victory tune. Few banner headlines, fewer government-sponsored advertisements, some television discussions and a few opinion pieces in newspapers.
This could be due to the pressure of other news. The I.N.D.I.A bloc meeting Monday on ‘shaky ground’ (India Today), TMC’s ‘tukde tukde’ (Times Now), Israel-Trump-Iran ‘WAR’ (TV9 Bharatvarsh), and how the death of at least 11 people in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir during a crackdown by the Pakistan Army “bathed PoK in red” (News Nation). By Wednesday, Rajya Sabha elections came into focus.
Indira Gandhi makes an entry
The number 4,399 is a singular achievement by itself. However, newspapers and television news channels stressed the point that by serving as prime minister for so long, Modi had overtaken Nehru.
“NDA turns 12 today, meets to mark Modi crossing Nehru stint,” wrote The Indian Express in a front-page report (10 June).
“Modi surpasses Nehru record,” said CNN News 18.
And if pictures speak better than words, visuals across TV news channels displayed Nehru and Modi in stories on the latter becoming ‘PM No.1’ (News 18 India).
For good measure, former PM Indira Gandhi flashed across the screens too. This was to emphasise how Modi had outlasted the Nehru family. While Gandhi was prime minister for 14 years, she “had a fractured tenure,” wrote The Hindu.
Also read: For TV news channels, BJP won because of ‘Modi magic’, ‘Modi wave’, ‘Modi ka Kamaal’
Channels list ‘achievements’
Once the Nehru family comparison had been made and Modi’s paramountcy established, the government’s report card on television news channels dwelt on Modi’s many achievements. From India Today to Times Now to CNN News 18, channel after channel took us through a list of accomplishments since 2014 when Modi first became PM. He was feted everywhere.
“NaMo NaMo 4,399 days, 12 unbroken years, historic leader” (India Today)
NDTV 24X7 chose to highlight infrastructure: “The Modi years have also been marked by a series of high-profile infrastructure and nation-building projects, including the new Parliament building, Central Vista redevelopment, Kartavya Path, Vande Bharat trains, the Statue of Unity, INS Vikrant, the Kashmir rail link, Noida International Airport, Namo Bharat RRTS and the Ganga Expressway.
India Today spoke about social welfare and “tangible gains hard to ignore”: Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Jan Arogya Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, GST, direct digital payments, etcetera.
CNN News 18 measured Modi’s success by the number of international awards he had received during the last 12 years and Times Now carried a detailed profile — from ‘chaiwala’ to PM, the country’s ‘Pradhan Sewak’.
Newspapers such as Hindustan Times were equally laudatory in spelling out Modi’s successes: In its Wednesday Page 1 lead story headlined ‘Modi completes 12 years, BJP hails transformation’, HT wrote: “Over the course of the past 12 years, the government has managed to eradicate the once dreaded left-wing terrorism, revolutionise welfare delivery, build the JAM trinity and UPI, boosted rail, road and airport infrastructure, reshaped India’s defence and nuclear doctrine, and avenge Pakistani terrorism. The government has also steered the country through a pandemic and three devastating global wars.”
The daily also carried a full page of reports on the PM’s rise and rise.
Editorials on ‘Modi 12.0’ were few. The Indian Express had one of them. In ‘Milestone in history, long road to future,’ it listed the good and the “challenge”. It said Modi’s slogan of ‘sabka vishwas’ “is also a reminder of an unfinished journey, a challenge yet to be fully met.” “A politics of polarisation is rising, and the new elite nurse a permanent sense of grievance…” the paper wrote in its editorial.
The 12 years of Modi’s NDA government were celebrated by interviews with its cabinet ministers on TV and opinion pieces in newspapers by NDA partners such as TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu and JDU’s Nitish Kumar.
There was Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on NDTV 24×7, Minister of State Jitendra Singh on CNN News 18, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on DD National, and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on several channels.
Advertorials rather than ads
Television advertorials on Modi were plenty. All channels carried a video special that tracked his record in office, ticking all the positive boxes.
Newspaper advertisements are a common way of commemorating special occasions. However, on this occasion, there were few. On Wednesday, 10 June, day 4,399 for Modi as PM, leading English newspapers such as The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express and The Hindu did not carry any central government advertisements on the 12 years, barring the promo for Rs 6,000 in farmers’ accounts. There was one advertisement by the Chhattisgarh government in HT and TOI.
Industry was also largely unobtrusive. There were Larsen & Toubro advertisements (The Times of India) and ASSOCHAM advertisements (The Indian Express).
And then there was a full page on ‘12 years of Statesmanship’ in The Times of India by the ‘Reader Engagement Initiative’.
The news media did enough to note the PM’s remarkable achievement; except for Wednesday evening, it avoided too much fanfare, which, in these times of hardship, is just as well.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)