What a difference five years make.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s televised interviews with ANI in 2024 and 2019, both before the general election, are like paneer and tofu—they are similar in look and texture but distinct in content.
First, the common elements: well, there’s the PM himself and ANI’s Smita Prakash who interviewed him each time. Then there’s the office backdrop (the PMO?) and Modi’s clothes. For both interactions, he chose white churidar, a long sleeve shirt with a dark, sleeveless (Nehru) jacket. Black shoes complete the picture of a man who means serious business.
This is noticeably different from the PM’s photograph on the cover of the latest Newsweek, where he is wearing a pale blue jacket—“It’s recycled plastic bottles,” he informs the magazine’s editors—while a benevolent smile plays on his face.
The conversation in the American weekly magazine and the accompanying commentary reflect this sunny picture: ‘Unstoppable/How Narendra Modi is changing India and the World’, reads the headline.
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Stark difference
In the two interactions with ANI, each more than 75 minutes long, the PM is composed and reasonable. The written versions look even longer.
In this week’s interview, he is at ease, replying at great length and in considerable detail — an answer can take up to almost 10 minutes. He comes well prepared — the questions must have been shared with him in advance — with facts and figures at his command. For instance, on the issue of electoral bonds and the BJP’s alleged control of institutions or investigative agencies, he rattles off numbers.
The Prime Minister is given ample time to expand on themes of governance, trust, his hopes and dreams, unity in diversity…
The difference between the sessions in 2019 and 2024 lies, essentially, in the questions and their tenor. In 2019, Smita Prakash asked more probing, even somewhat uncomfortable questions on many issues; in 2024, she’s mellow. The first question in each interview sets the tone:
2024: “My first question is that you have said in many speeches that 2024 is not your target, it is 2047. What is going to happen by 2047, and is this election just a formality?
2019: “2018 was not good year for BJP. In 5 elections, BJP saw defeat. Are you confident of winning in 2019? How many seats are expected?”
In 2019, Prakash asked questions on the assembly election defeat, probed Modi regarding the BJP loss in five states—“You are the Prime Minister of the party in power. Don’t you consider this a loss?” and “If your narrative is so successful, why are you losing elections? Shouldn’t the leadership take responsibility for these losses?” The PM deftly turns each one to his advantage in his answers but at least there was an effort then to really question him.
In 2024, there is not a single question on the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls besides the first one in the interview. Of course, the political situation is very different: in 2023, the BJP had won assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, so the widely accepted belief that the BJP and its allies will win this summer’s vote comfortably informs Prakash’s questions too. For instance, she asks, “The elections are still going on. There are no results yet. And you are making a 100-day plan?”
She doesn’t touch upon controversial topics either: nothing on the arrest of political leaders, Manipur, unemployment, the role of governors, etc.
It’s all about Modi’s “vision” for the future, his plans, his successes at the G20, in diplomacy, over Ukraine, his popular leadership, and ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ slogan. There are generalised questions on complaints related to federalism, democracy, and more specific ones on the “sinners” of the Ram Mandir Pratishtha or ‘sanatan’ politics in Tamil Nadu.
The one question that tackles a problematic issue is on electoral bonds: “Was the decision on electoral bonds wrong?”, Prakash asked. To which Modi gave his strongest reply: “Today, we have completely pushed the country towards black money. And that is why I say everyone will regret it.”
Five years ago, the ANI interview included questions on demonetisation, mob lynching by cow vigilantes, the Rafale deal, the implementation of GST, political violence, RBI, and even the ED, which Prakash said was called “Embarrassment Directorate”—“vendetta raids are being conducted”.
In 2024, the question on ED was mild: “Opposition says that ED, CBI, IT, all the institutions… BJP is in control of all the institutions and there is no level-playing field….”
As you can see, the questions in the two interviews differ, but the PM is calm and convincing in both. In 2019, the Q&A was to Modi, the politician; in 2024, it’s about Modi, the statesman.
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A Q&A without Q
In Newsweek, Modi is very definitely the Leader. In the essay that accompanies the interview, ‘Modi’s Moment’, author Danish Manzor Bhat lavishes praise and adjectives on him. He writes: “Perhaps uniquely among leaders of major powers, he wins praise from Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin…”, “In the past decade, Modi has transformed India’s infrastructure…” Bhat singles out his “masterful messaging”, “his positive energy” and hails him as a “magnetic orator” and a “relentless modernizer”.
The written Q&A interview has led to considerable criticism, including this remark from the Financial Times’ Edward Luce: “This isn’t an interview. It’s stenography.”
The issue with the interview lies not in its answers as with questions—there aren’t any. Each reply from the PM is prefaced by a subhead: ‘On the upcoming election’, ‘On democracy and a free press’, ‘On infrastructure and the environment’, ‘On religious minorities who complain of discrimination, or, ‘On the status of women’.
The lack of properly framed questions for an interview that has written answers undermines its purpose.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)
It wasn’t an interview. It was an infomercial.
Many charlatans masquerading as senior journalists have lost their power to control/set narrative and are in severe pain that Modi is setting the narrative.