Single brand retail is the NaMo way

When he was releasing the BJP’s manifesto in a hotel in Ahmedabad last week with TV cameras vying to get a vantage view of the event, Narendra Modi held aloft a manifesto copy in his left hand, at an angle, with his dark broad watchstrap showing to an advantage against the colour of his signature bandhgala kurta.

A TV journalist standing next to me quipped: “Look at the watch, look at the kurta, the angles, this is the kind of picture we are taught to capture for the TV screen!” Modi may not be a TV journo, but the Gujarat chief minister has over a decade learnt the grammar of television and how to use the medium to his advantage.

Many view Modi as a “marketing genius”. There have been reports that he hired one of the top PR companies in America to help him with his campaign; others say he has consultants to construct his image and create what has popularly come to be known as Brand Modi. Rahul Gandhi, however, feels he is a “marketeer” who resorts to “false propaganda”.

Brand Modi, marketing gurus tell you, is about the image that the chief minister wants to project of himself. It is a perception of him as a doer, a deliverer, a leader who is tough  and can command, one against whom there are no corruption charges, without a son to project, and one who can take quick decisions, with urban youth contrasting him with a “weak” Manmohan Singh.

Brand Modi is also about his message. In 2002, his language was of Hindutva and of “Mian Musharraf” after the post-Godhra riots. This started to change after the UPA came to power at the Centre in 2004. l Turn to p11

Then he started to talk about “Resurgent Gujarat”, “Vibrant Gujarat”, “Gujarati asmita” and the cause of “six crore Gujaratis”. A year later, he took to espouse the developmental agenda, knowing that Hindutva would not take him beyond a point.

At the same time, he started to become the darling of corporate India, having given large tracts of land to the Tatas for the production of the Nano, and to Ford and Maruti Suzuki in Sanand. There were the Adanis in Kutch and the Ambanis had anyway been there and they began to project him as a possible PM.

Just as the Congress has stayed clear of the 2002 riots to prevent a polarisation on religious lines which damaged its prospects in 2007, Modi has stayed off an aggressive Hindutva knowing its poll limitations. In fact, in 2011, he had tried to reach out to the Muslim community with his sadbhavana yatras.

Pictures of him on hoardings, arms crossed, are reminiscent of the famous picture of Swami Vivekananda. At his meeting in Sanand, you could see youth wearing T-shirts sporting Vivekananda on the front and Modi on the back. He is trying to project himself, in the words of a wag, as “a mascot of Vivekananda’s inclusive Hinduism”, in an attempt to reinvent his image.

Poll 2012, however, is only about “Narendra Modi” or “NaMo” as he is being referred to. He does not refer to the BJP in his speeches, only takes the name of the candidate at the end. Once he arrives on stage, no one else speaks. No one else is there on the hoardings, only him. It is as if it is he who is standing in every constituency.

“Every vote you cast will reach me,” he says. “When you work hard and want to take a holiday, remember you have one mazdoor in Gandhinagar who will continue to work for you.” His words represent a merger of three strands. There is Hindutva; he did not give a single ticket to a Muslim because he did not want to annoy his hardcore Hindu constituency. Development, though his is a growth-oriented model and the human indices remain poor, but he is catering to a growing  middle class in Gujarat and their aspirations. And pitting Gujaratis against the Centre, thereby playing on the Gujarati pride once again.

Sample these punchlines delivered at a meeting in Sanand, 40 km from Ahmedabad. Referring to the constant refrain of Congress leaders about the money the Centre gives the state, “Gujarat gives Rs60,000 crore to the Centre as taxes. Gujaratis are not bhikharis (applause). We work very hard. This is insulting to us.” And he appeals to the aspirational Gujarati when he tells them about the growing price of land in the area that is going to become an auto hub: “The world used to know Anand, now it recognises Sanand. Times are changing. Today you will have a Chevrolet drive to your door. A gentleman in a suit will get out of the car and come to you  and say that he wants to buy your land. You will look at him disdainfully and say, ‘I have no time now, come next Tuesday’.” (Applause).

Brand Modi is also about the tools to communicate his message. The tech-savvy CM — and this helps him project himself to the urban youth as a modern, futuristic leader -- is at home with the social media — Twitter, Facebook, blogs -- and uses it to great effect. His speeches are updated hourly on his website.

When Rahul Gandhi spoke of the abysmal number of days that the Gujarat assembly met for, Modi tweeted within hours, asking him about the number of hours he spent in Parliament as an MP!

The use of 3D Modi figures at meetings  is a novelty which has excited comment, both in rural and urban areas, with him giving his speeches but also drinking water and wiping the sweat off his brow to make it look realistic. Lakhs of Modi masks have hit the market, table top figures of Modi have reached households, and these will be taken all over the country. 

The idea to market Modi is clearly to make his presence so pervasive that it becomes difficult to ignore him.