Modi wants to occupy all mind-space, and ‘Waah Modiji Waah’ t-shirts help that cause.
We have come a long way from the Right-wing’s domination of social media. Today, there are many Left-liberals who create shareable political content. One example of this is Ramit Verma, who runs the Facebook page ‘Official PeeingHuman’, which specialises in making sharp videos by mixing clips from YouTube.
Verma often collaborates with his friend Kunal Kamra, a well-known stand-up comic. Kamra also hosts an online interview show, called Shut Up Ya Kunal, in which he mostly interviews Left-liberal personalities.
Kamra and Verma are also examples of how Left-liberals continue to fall into the Right-wing trap. The Right sets the agenda, and the Left-liberals are happy to follow that agenda by obsessing over it.
Agenda-setting battles
To set the agenda is to decide a nation’s priorities and to determine what people will talk and think about. You want people to think about the strengths of the team you are batting for, and the weaknesses of the team you are batting against.
Every day we see many battles to set the agenda. Liberals and Modi advocates both fight about what the media is ignoring. They want everyone to focus on what’s politically beneficial to their ideology.
Also read: The holier-than-cow Indian liberal elite is actually Modi’s best friend and ally
Take a recent example, the Modi government celebrated the second anniversary of a military raid across the Line of Control, known as the ‘surgical strikes’. The anniversary celebrations, branded Parakram Parv, were louder than commemorations of any of the wars India has won against Pakistan. This was an attempt to set the ‘surgical strikes’ as the main national agenda, since it is a strong point of the Modi government.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi managed to make the Rafale deal controversy top national agenda after trying to do so for two years.
It is for this reason that the hyper-communicative Modi chooses to remain silent on things inconvenient to him, be it Hindutva violence or the Rafale deal controversy. He knows that the moment he defends himself on such issues, he will only give them greater attention and legitimacy. When you adopt the talking points of your opponent, the political centre shifts to the opponent’s talking points.
Modi’s personality cult
People like him because they like him. Travelling for elections in various states, this writer has met people who say things like, “I feel good when I hear Modi’s speeches,” and, “Modi has been slow with progress but I like his style”. This is the result of Modi capturing people’s mind-space all the time.
Researcher Vivan Marwaha interviewed hundreds of young Indians for a forthcoming book on millennials, and found that Modi was popular for reasons other than governance. Marwaha writes, “Most millennials I interviewed could not tell me about any specific Modi policy or proposal that they supported or cheered. It was almost like his policies did not matter… To millennials, personality matters more than policy. Modi is more of a father-like figure…”
This is a consequence of the all-pervasive Modi propaganda machine. The war cry of the Modi project is “Modi! Modi! Modi!” The slogan is “Har har Modi, ghar ghar Modi”. You can’t escape Modi’s face or his voice for a single day. Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore Modi.
Also read: Here’s why the BJP is obsessed with Rahul Gandhi, even though he poses no threat to Modi
The Prime Minister often refers to himself in the third person. He does it consciously because he wants his name to occupy your mind. In one speech, the Prime Minister used the words “Waah Modiji Waah” which PeeingHuman excerpted and used in its viral video against demonetisation.
Making a video ridiculing demonetisation hurts the Modi project. After all, demonetisation has been the Modi government’s biggest failure. The Modi government does not even utter the word demonetisation anymore because if you give anything attention, it becomes the agenda. And the Modi government wouldn’t want demonetisation to be the agenda since it failed.
Yet the obsessive and repetitive use of “Waah Modiji Waah” helps Modi because it is about Modi and nothing else. It reminds you of Modi’s greatest asset: Modi.
The political content of both Kunal Kamra and PeeingHuman is almost entirely about Modi. The epitome of this self-goal is a t-shirt that they are selling online with the phrase “Waah Modiji Waah” on it. The phrase reminds you of Modi’s voice, his powerful oratory, his personality cult, his ability to focus all attention on himself to the exclusion of everyone else.
Issues over personality
Modi’s monopoly over the political conversation is partly why there appears to be no alternative to him. His ratings will fall dramatically if and when another leader occupies national attention. It is not Kunal Kamra or Ramit Verma’s fault that nobody’s willing to wear a t-shirt that says “Waah Rahul Waah”. (Attacking Rahul also helps him occupy mind-space. The BJP’s obsessive targeting of Rahul Gandhi has indeed raised his profile. It’s up to Rahul how he exploits this attention.)
Modi critics should not give attention currency to Modi just because they can’t find a promising horse to back. They could instead give attention currency to issues that are Modi’s weak points.
It hurts Modi when the focus is more on issues (demonetisation, Nirav Modi, Rafale deal, Dalits, farmers, the falling rupee, rising fuel prices, dirty Ganga and so on) and less on the personality of Modi. Even as Modi’s term comes to an end, many Left-liberals are yet to understand this obvious trick. One media initiative that understands this well is Mirror Now: It focuses on policy, not politics, so it’s one media outlet with very little Modi on it.
Also read: The NaMo App is selling not just Modi’s vision but also Modi himself
Obsessing over deaths of sewage workers or the winter pollution of north India would hurt Modi without even naming him. When such issues become the foremost national agenda, they make people wonder what the government is doing. They come in the way of the government’s efforts to create a feel-good public mood in its favour.
‘Waah Gobhi Waah’
Since Modi wants everything to be about Modi, his critics could also disrupt that objective by saying “BJP” instead of Modi. Or just “the government”. Or use a nickname. Just as calling Rahul “Pappu” does not benefit him. Perhaps it is with this realisation that Twitter user @ROFLGandhi_ calls Modi ‘Gobhi’ (cauliflower) for no reason except to avoid using the word Modi.
He said Kamra interviews only Left Liberals, I’ll tell you why.. Bcoz Right wing wale interview hi nai dete! Abhi Tejaswi Surya ne diya interview toh kya haal hua sabko pata h.
Uske aage maine padha hi nai bcoz pta h mujhe kya likha hoga… Yeah, defame those who oppose your govt bcoz dubati naiya ka yehi sahara h ab toh.. kyunki padhe likhe toh hain nahi tumhare politicians sab dange karke hi aaye hain. ?
Hi author,
Has anything changed in the recent wake of the CAA laws & NRC protests?
Nice observation Shivam. Well written n I agree with most of the things u hv stated. As far as #PeeingHuman n Kunal are concerned, they are just useless n lousy entertainment sources.
Who says Modi has failed in creating jobs? He has given job to so many journalist like this writer who are fixated against him – and of course there are who are fixated for him ! I am sure that after the next elections also, which these writers want Modi to lose, they will be busy in their job: reverberating the same Congress line after 2014 loss ‘Modi marketed himself better than we could’.
On serious side, it amazes me that journalists like Mr. Viz find nothing good Modi has done in last 4 plus years. I can narrate 20 good things his government has done – and many bad things too – but his type of journalists will never ask the common people about it ! It is a pity that this journalism has ceased to become a neutral and objective reflection of people’s view, they all are busy in manufacturing the minds and setting the agenda. They must remember their own cardinal principle of their noble profession ‘opinions are free but facts are sacred’. Please give us facts.
What helps Modified is also the fact that Mirror Now which does shows on various civic issues avoids doing shows on rapes and sexual harassment cases of xtian padres. This gives the game away .Credibikity is lost.
If you focus on issues, focus on all, irrespective of religion, left or right and sometimes take up issues where the Govt State or Central have done something good also. Neutrality can be established. Demonetisation was a failure but IBC is a success NPA s origin is several years before they surface.
DeMo has the sole objective of disarming Mayawati and Mulayam in UP election. The rest of the premise was cover up.
The current government has many good initiatives, policies, and projects which will change India dramatically in the next ten years if BJP remains in power. RagA may become PM after 10-15 years, people want the change after some time as even from very successful parties and leaders as their expectations and needs change over time.
Sir truly said strait on the face and we hope your party hears and recalls the ethos than being in power ignores this! As tbis will press us all and precipitate sooner than later!
Jai hind.
Is the the term left liberal a complete oxymoron? A liberal is a person whose mind is always open to the fact that he/ she does not have a monopoly either ideas or truth. A leftist believes in only his/ her ideas and is completely closed to anything else. I suspect that Leftist are aware of this and therefore have got their fellow travelers, like the author of this article, to burnish their credentials by adding the the untruthful, “liberal” after Left.
Rephrase. Your definitions aren’t clear.
Because you need an education first. Not the one your mulla propogated.
Great article Mr.Shivam.
One thing I very much agree with the author is what he said about the TV channel MIRROR NOW. The channel alongwith its premier anchor Faye D’Souza discuss policies, their effects on common man and how to better them. Thus, it is a true debate. Even the information presented is genuine from both sides although its own research has a left socialist bent. Ultimately, the focus is on getting out the truth and the truth the channel represents is not dogmatic. Faye D’Souza does seem to understand that the solutions depend on the circumstances and keep changing with time and circumstances and she discusses what is relevant to all levels of society. Pollution, health, education, law & order affects the poor and rich equally who vote equally. Hence, you cannot blame such a channel of bias.
” although its own research has a left socialist bent. ”
It doesn’t have left socialist bent but the whole thing is Left Socialist. How long did it took for this unbiased media to talk about Kerela Nun Rape case compared to other rape cases? Why no media outlets talk about rampant Love Jihad in Bijnor UP where girls from all part of the country are brought after being kidnapped to convert to Islam by first forcing marriage and then rape to get them pregnant? Target age is 14 – 30. Why such silent of English newschannel on this issue?