Source:
E-mail dated 3 September 2014
Strategy
behind Rebranding of Modi
Dr.Saikat Gochhait
Faculty
Khalikote Auto
College, Berhampur
and
Miss.Sonu Priya
1st
Year of MFC
Khalikote Auto College, Berhampur
“Narendra Modi a great orator, an
astute politician & the living
embodiment of rags to riches”
This
year India was seized by its tremendous amalgamate passion –elections. For the
very first time in India, American- style face off was held. Two prime
ministerial candidates were in the limelight: Narendra Modi (from NDA) and
Rahul Gandhi (from UPA).This battle was the more dazzling than the previous
prime ministerial elections.
Apart
from this, another highlighting thing which were in the talks was about
negative voting as an optional feature made its debut i.e., None Of The Above
(NOTA) but it is as yet unlikely to have a major impact on the results.
Leaving
all this behind lets scroll on to our major crux, that is, what are the
strategies behind rebranding of MODI as a prime minster of India? Well, while
featuring the answers of this question, I would like to hangout with a major
acronym “4C” i.e., Communicative, Constructive, Concretive, Customization.
Communicative
The
most prominent quality of Narendra Modi
is the speaking caliber, the impact of his speeches, his communicative power,
thatswhy, people consider him one of the best orator nowadays…
He
is an excellent orator, speaker and he is having the power of manipulating minds
of the people with his words or magical speeches. Highlighting slowing economic
growth, high inflation, and lack of jobs issues in his speeches, rallies were
able to resolve with young and urban voters. It can be identified through his
promotional campaigns.
After
the elections were announced his marketing team bombarded voters with print, TV
and radio ads, reached voters through text messages,
recorded voice seeking votes for him.
The
most amazing thing in this election was the Narendra Modi’s jingle. As Atal Bihari Vajpayee-Prime ministerial candidate in the past,
coined the slogan-Ab Ki Baari , Atal
Bihari in 1996 and Indira Gandhi’s – India
is Indira, India is India…or …Indira
Lao Desh Bachao(1970),Somehow Modi
also followed their maxim. He has revived the rules of the Indian politics, with the
help of advertising agencies Solo sq. part of the WPP Group through TV, Radio
and Print campaign and spread the catchy slogan “ Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar “ and
song featured common people, titled as Ache Din Aane Wale Hai..Hum Modi ji Ko Lane Wale Hain…
Apart
from these, Modi began visiting the southern states of
Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in 2003-2005. Full page ads were placed in the
main southern news dailies and his speeches translated into the local
languages.
Recognizing
the role of urban youth who seemed to support him in large numbers in Gujarat, Modi
crafted a social media strategy to reach different segments of the young
population. Modi began using twitter quite early. Numerous information centric
tools within the CMO were created to publicize his speeches ,visits, and ideas
through Twitter, Facebook , YouTube videos ,CDs etc. various websites have been
launched to augment Modi’s message or seek funds(eg. India
272)
Monitored
by the RSS group leaders and 6 lakhs swayamsevaks spread across the country, BJP
cadre, a team of technically equipped workers(associated with CAG) called as “BLUE BRIGADE” worked full time to ensure
the BJP’s victory.
Being
a chai-wallah’s son and tea stall seller or from
lower middle class family affirmed the aspirations of the millions, he involved
this tactics in his promotional tools by naming this as NaMo Chai (Chai pe charcha), a conversation over
‘tea’ either in physical locations or internet chats, Modi’s 3D rallies
(featuring holographic technology). And also for remote areas, they used
carriages termed as “NAMORATH”. All
these techniques, rallies, speeches or we can say that having a fantastic speaking
caliber (although mostly in Hindi languages) carried a massive burden of
aspirations. And, it really worked!
Constructive
From
state to national, Modi was able to tackle many challenges in spite of lots of
hindrance, getting regional brand to go national, connecting with the youth
etc. He has attended many top business schools and institutions and explored
his own thoughts to make a better India .Connected with urban, middle class
audience through all channels. Although he is not flawless in English which
people assume (comfortable in Hindi), still he was able to manage and conveyed
his thoughts and tried his level best with heavily accented English.
Biggest
challenge which brand Modi has faced was diverting public attention away from
the 2002 communal riots (anti-Muslim) in Gujarat that claimed the lives of more
than 1000 people mostly Muslims. Modi didn’t react much to it. Rather he and
his BJP team did not want to talk much on it, but to acknowledge it happened,
and then move on. They said, the more we talk, the more it will reveal and will
become worse…In contrast to that event,
it can be explained through examples like Cadbury that battled problems
relating to brand taint, controversy of worm. Same with that, PepsiCo and
Coco-Cola faced allegations of pesticides etc.
Narendra Modi has always weakened by circumstances. Barbs like maut ke saudagar, chai wala, née chi
rajneeti, party worker etc
boomeranged. But his intelligence; shrewd, cunning nature turned the adversity
into advantage. He tends to believe that anyone can aspire to middle class; a
middle class society is a good society, if one imbibes its values of thrift, ambition,
prudence no matter what the situation is. For him, personal loyalty is more
important than respect for his principles of the BJP to the RSS, where he
started his career. All This advices from parties, criticisms, actions has made
him constructive and hardened him like a stone.
Concretive
He
has a clear vision about what he wants to achieve, and always guide its team
towards it, which can be felt in his speeches. He has very high risk appetite, disciplined
work style, very focused and inexhaustible store of energy .He is dapper and
has its own fashion statement, very conscious and leaves very little scope to his
statement to be paraphrased. Always tempting to brand him as
a dictator.
Being
a concretive person, his decisions, actions were so fruitful for Gujarat state,
ignoring 2002 riots. Let’s have a look on modi’s ideaology, agenda’s and
developmental propaganda.
His
personal ideology is tailored to suit his national ambition. In 2002, Modi
needed an ideological anchor to launch his political career so he utilized the
majoritarian Hindu ideology for the Gujarat context. His 2002 electoral victory
encouraged him and silenced his critics within the party. The RSS has always focused
on “Modi”; they have accepted him because they trust his Hindutva credentials.
In
the mid 2000s, he woke up to the need for a new incarnation and hit on the
developmental plank. The developmental agenda has made him more acceptable to
both businessmen and poor deprived citizens of backward states such as UP and Bihar,
many of whom are migrants in
Gujarat
and would like to see a similar development happen in their home states. Also the one marking incident which made Modi as brand or industrial icon or champion of industries
and development was the shift of TATA Motors
factory in 2008 from west Bengal to Gujarat(from Singur
plant to Sadand plant ).He has provided the land and
incentives to the company almost overnight. Now, business leaders like Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani have always praised him for his business persona.
Modi has also raised
the issues of refugees, accusing the government of giving undue favour to
immigrants from Bangladesh while denying any facility to displaced persons from
Pakistan. “If anyone comes from Bangladesh then he is welcomed and all rules
are broken for him. But the same is not done for refugees from Pakistan coming
here” he said. Modi made a strong pitch for extending
citizenship rights to refugees from Pakistan.
On
the issue of black money stashed in foreign banks, he said people want it
brought back to the country “but those who have looted the money and packed it
in foreign banks are against this”.
Addressing
a rally in the tribal belt of Banswara Saladia area near Baneswar Dham, Modi slashed at Congress
and its leaders for not being sensitive towards tribals and asked people to
vote for BJP in order to teach them a lesson. It shows his connectivity to
tribal areas.
Another measure of Modi’s
main election plank – good governance. The 2013 EFSI report shows Gujarat
has been No.1 in economic freedom for the last three years, widening its lead
over others. On a scale from 0 to 1, its overall freedom score has improved
from 0.46 to 0.65. Tamil Nadu comes a distant second with 0.54.
Gujarat
has the best record with pendency of corruption cases and in the proportion of
non-violent crime. Its quality of government spending is high spending is focus
on infrastructure rather than staff. Modi’s repeated state
election victories showed that his approach produces high voter satisfaction.Gujrat
is not a classical free-market state. It has large expanding public sector companies,
and substantial taxes on capital and commodities. It has many subsidies;
business thrives in its business friendly climate.
Modi‘s Jyotigram schemes provide 24/7 electricity for rural household,
plus reliable power at fixed times for tube wells. This explains agricultural
growth (10% year for a decade).Indian agriculture is crippled by regulations
but Gujarat has the highest agricultural freedom among states. Good governance
includes communal peace so the 2002 Muslim killings reflect terribly on Modi. For
some, it puts him beyond the pale. But since 2002 the state has been peaceful.
In 2011-2012, Gujrat had the lowest Muslim rural poverty rate for Muslims
(11.9%) was far lower than for Hindus (17.6%). Other studies show that Gujarat
has good governance. It has social and communal flaws. But it is India’s top
state in economic and agricultural freedom. That’s not ballyhoo!
Amidst
all the lofty generalities of his campaign, the prognostications of growth, prosperity and good governance, Narendra Modi made one very striking pledge: to clean up the Ganges
and thereby, to begin the cleansing of India. Modi’s
asseverations that his successful clean up of Gujarat’s Sabarmati River shows
what he would accomplish with the Ganges also invites skepticism.
Modi’s thought process
always to be more imaginative in thinking about the nature on human dignity. That’s
why, he has always concerned over educating Indians about the link between
reforms, jobs, opportunities and prosperity.
Customisation
Narendra modi always customize himself
according to the need of the event and the place. He is one of the few Indian
politicians who have effortlessly managed to get people’s appreciation and
women’s attention by his sartorial elegance. Its quiet
unbelievable for many critics that how a person from lower middle class have
such a great dressing sense. With the proper combination of customs, traditions,
languages and attire of the local regions, Modi has
crafted his flow all over the India.
With
his crisp, half sleeved silk , khadi and line kurtas and churidar/pyajamas, coupled with finely tailored Nehru jackets ,often
in bright ,eye catchy colours-almost gone out to make a style statement. During
his local campaign of 2014 election, he wore normal cotton kurta
with pyajama for usual days .But in special
occasions, people found him wearing a turban in Punjab, Lungi
in southern states, tribal dresses in eastern states , pahadi
topi in himachal,
traditional hat from Rangia,Assam, kashmiri showl in Kashmir and
many more. And also seen in French style coat-pent with hat
in business events etc.
The
dressing style of Narendra Modi
gained a lot of popularity all over the world and appreciated by many critics, commented
as it is a good promotional tool .The way he wears the clothes, his
personality, his body language, attitude, the power he oozes, his rising aura, all
this makes him stand out in a crowd.
Many
people have said that, whatever he wears, he always seems like a LION. And he responded to it by saying
that it’s all GOD-GIFTED.
With
these “4C” we can identify that Modi’s performance
seemed to be a new potential national leader, irrespective of whether or not
one accepted his message .He was a strong public speaker and was standing his
ground. All-in all, the so-called Modi wave has been crafted all over the
world. Hope his sapience which acted as charioteer will soon drive the country into
meliorates INDIA.