When Modi goes on AIR, TV follows him

When did you last tune into All India radio? When did you last check whether your transistor works perfectly? I do recollect how radio disappeared from our collective consciousness. For those who were born in 70’s and 80’s, radio was their first love. TV and more so color television came into our lives much later. Internet came much later, in late 1990s.

Gone are days when radio used to be our only source of breaking news. Our romance started with AIR and famously bloomed with BBC Hindi service. Every household could afford couple of radio sets. Radio reigned supreme. 

 We used to expect newsbreaks during bulletins in the morning and then for whole day, it used to be all quite on all fronts till noon. In the evening, it was a collective radio listening session. 

Who cared if radio will ever make a comeback? Till Prime Minister Narendra Modi discovered the power of radio.

I was reading BBC’s news site when I saw a proper report on Modi’s unique way of reaching out to the millions of people, who have no access to the television, no access to electricity.

The address titled as Mann ki baat (a talk from the heart), ran on state run AIR, FM channels and community stations. No other government in the past thought about exploiting AIR’s huge reach. What Modi plans to do is not original, US president reaches out to countrymen on weekly basis or whenever they wish. But unlike India, there is no noise.

It is not a secret that Modi wants to use government media to reach out to the citizens and he is exactly doing that.

All India radio claimed that Modi reached to 1.2 billion of population and broadcast covered 99 per cent of Indian territories.  

Why it didn’t occur to other leaders? Who nobody could think about the huge potential of radio?

Modi has given indication that he will work for the betterment of DD and Air. One would be surprised to see all private channels, which used to charge heftily from government for airing even social messages, are doing it free of cost. Media watchers say this is all about selling your ideas.

Naysayers would cast gloom and allege that Modi’s new ways will not solve country’s problems but he has reached out to a segment, whose needs were never catered to. 

All out war in Maharashtra

BJP-SENA alliance collapses, NCP-Congress tie-up also breaks. It’s official. 25 years-old BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is over. “With a heavy heart, we have broken away from alliance,” says BJP. Parleys between both parties on seat sharing were on for long time but it did not work out. BJP says Sena was too greedy. BJP says sena had its eyes on chief minister’s chair and they did not care about smaller parties. 

It appears that relation between both the parties soured beyond redemption. This might affect the outcome in Maharashtra. This will throw some big surprises as well as opportunities in the pre and post poll scenario. 

If one ponders over the reasons for collapse of alliance, merely failure of seat sharing doesn’t look like the one big reason. To understand this, one ought to go little deeper. Let’s try to decipher some reasons which are apparent.

One, Shiv Sena won 18 seats but got just one ministerial berth at the Centre. This made Sena cadre little uneasy.

Two, Sena had made its view public when Modi’s name was not shortlisted for the post of Prime Minister. Samna made it preferences clear in its September 9, 2012 edition of Samna paper that they prefer Sushma over Modi. Uddhav, too, repeated this many times. Modi didn’t like this.

Third, after Gopinath Munde’s death Uddhav was trying to dominate the proceedings in Maharashtra, which BJP top brass did not like.

Fourth, Modi doesn’t like to be dictated when he has got such a great majority in the Lok Sabha polls. Rather he would like to dominate relationship.

In the dramatic turnaround, NCP has also decided to break away from Congress. NCP knows that congress was riddled with innumerable scams. Holding their hands and contest elections would not help them in polls.  Congress can hope against hope to do well in elections, but there is no reason to believe this. All four parties will go to polls alone. It’s all out war out there.

Modi,Muslim, Myth And Indian Media

Prime Minister with CNN's Fareed Zakaria

Modi has spoken the truth. Finally. But why he took years to tell the world about what he thinks about Indian Muslim? 

The image of Modi declining to wear Muslim skull cap appears on TV time and again, whenever there is mention of Muslim-vs-Modi debate. 

The big question is, does this image exist, or it has been crafted over the years by the media, who abhors every step Narendra Modi takes.

See precisely what Modi said in an interview with the CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. Modi in answer to CNN’s question, whether Indian Muslim’s will follow Al Queda’s appeal? Or will they join Queda forces against their own country?

Modi here makes strong statement by saying, “every Indian Muslim lives for India and they will die for India. Indian Muslim’s loyalty to the country can’t be questioned? This is one statement which I think answers all misgivings about what Modi thinks Muslims."

We all know Modi doesn’t believe in traditional definition of secularism, what Congress and other secular parties have been following.

Since the days of Gujarat pogrom, Modi has been hated by lot of people. Even his historic victory in LS-2014 was termed as the “end result of hate politics.” This is when SC absolved him all cases related to Gujarat riots.

On social media, his every move is being seen with pinch of hatred. Modi, on the other hand, has proved his detractors wrong. He silenced his opponents by doing what was never expected off him.

Let Modi do what he has spoken. Let Modi prove what he has said. That’s all about real politik.       

Sitting with Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza sitting with the Prime Minister. Long before she met Namo, they chatted on twitter. PM invited her to his office. 

In fact, I take you a week back when Modi congratulated her after winning US mix doubles. Top players meet the PM after winning major tournaments.
People would ask, what is so great about it. 

But I feel there is much more to it than what actually appears. If one remembers correctly, Sania Mirza was object of scorn after she was made brand ambassador of newly carved Telangana state. Those who were opposing this move vociferously were also from BJP and other right wing organisations.Do u think, Modi failed them after meeting Sania Mirza, who is married to a Pakistani cricketer. Modi didn’t criticise his them but he gave very subtle message that what they were doing was not fair. And this will not go on. This will not go a long way. I found Modi's action was a repeat of what Atal Behari Vajpayee used to do on regular intervals by sending stern and subtle messages time and again.

For ruling India, which is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country, one needs to understand the very fabric of India. Modi has a long way to go. Understanding India's Ganga-jamuni tahzeeb is always a tough business.

Why can't Modi-Rajnath live together?

Well, the time is up for Rajnath Singh one may say. Thakur face of BJP, home minister Rajnath Singh spoke about conspiracy theory that was being hatched to malign him. Bad words were spread about him not by opposition leaders but by party colleagues. This is what Rajnath said in his recent outburst.

What has been written and spoken about in last few days about internecine feud is only reflection of what ails the government setup.

Grapevine is that like Atal, Advani and MMJ trio,will we see Rajnath next going into oblivion. Well, off course not. Not so soon.

Rajnath has no love lost with the PM though this was the best pair which brought BJP to power. This camaraderie seems to be breaking. This relationship seems to have lost its sheen. 

BJP and RSS have taken this seriously as why Rajnath had to break his vow of silence. Was it sudden or premeditated outburst?

Rajnath, who is thakur face of BJP, knows for sure that PM Modi is on a roller coaster. He is in complete control of RSS, BJP and the government. Modi has silenced his opponents, now this is the time to turn to an imaginary enemy, who could be trouble maker for the future.

People are this question in the corridors of power, who could be the imaginary enemy? Any point for guessing?

Rajnath Singh is number two in the government, and, to say the least, attempts are afoot to corner him. That says a lot about the growing tussle within the government.

But this is how system runs. Modi might have become powerful but system doesn’t allow him to become absolutely powerful. There is always an internal resistance under which leader has to perform.

India saw Atal behari Vajpayee and LK Advani working in tandem for almost five decades. Modi and Rajnath can take leaf out the book, which both of them tacitly followed for the longest possible time.

MODI ON A CONSTANT MAKEOVER

Politics is an art of the impossible but in the era of flagging emotions and changing positions, politics has become an art of the possible. Those who had thought that Narendra Modi will be a silly customer in national politics, had no idea that why Modi was a different political creature.

Let’s not forget that he had given up on RSS agenda long back, when he put down his feet and refused to touch Ram mandir issue. Modi was perhaps a lone voice in the BJP, who did this. Modi’s insistence to go to the polls with development agenda had basically no takers within his party.  

Modi is a hugely changed person, who seems to be on a mission makeover. It started on the day when he entered the Parliament premises. Those who had raised doubts over his democratic credentials, had to rethink, repent.

Much before this during BJP parliamentary party meeting, a teary eyed Modi had publicly chided party patriarch L.K Advani for a different reason. 

Modi stole the limelight and the headlines thereafter. There is no comma or full stop after this. With this, Modi won all opposition within his party at least.

Modi’s relentless tirade to win opposition parties' heart continues. If congress thought that Modi will anyway show his high headedness. Perhaps, they were proven wrong. His first speech in the parliament did the trick. Even opposition leaders were seen thumping they desk after his speech. Some of them admitted that Modi’s speech was "awesome". His announcement that he will not move an inch without the opposition cut the ice.

The shrill tone used for Sonia Gandhi during the election campaign was completely missing. Modi was seen with folded hands before Sonia. Also his political bête noir Rahul found a warm handshake from Modi, which was not expected by the Congress. 

Modi did not allow victory rally to happen after the historic win, was testimony to the fact that Modi remains grounded. He wants to do away with traditional politics, in true sense of term. But how will he do it, when will he do it, remains to be seen.

    

In Parliament, English is not so cool…

Watching Uma Bharati, Sushma Swaraj, Harshvardhan and Sumitra Mahajan taking oath in Sanskrit might have surprised many. However, it was a great treat to watch when all other regional languages got its due, while MPs took oaths in their mother tongues. In a way, this opportunity was a great equalizer. We could not have imagined this in UPA regime. This is a great departure from the egalitarian tradition of Nehruvian era, where English was supposed to be the language of the elite. Nehru used to take pride, in the way he used to carry himself. Not surprising, Hindi and other regional languages were seen as uncool and not so modern. With Modi as Prime Minister, things will change. He takes pride in conversing in regional languages, which we have seen during Lok Sabha election campaign. Modi is just not good at English and he would do much harm if he talks to world leaders in English. Modi is not a Hindi chauvinist, but his love for Gujarati is also well known. We got the reflection of our linguistic diversity in Parliament today. Hope it further gets boost in months and years to come.