Why this sudden surge in the personal publicity and image promotion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi? The present mobilisation is unprecedented in its scale and reach. Advertisements pledging support to the Prime Minister have been issued by public sector units and corporate houses, Modi’s colleagues are vying with each other to eulogise the boss for simplifying the goods and services tax (GST), and the Prime Minister himself has described the reduction of GST slabs to two as the ‘biggest reform in independent India’.
Gone are the days when the leader felt shy of ugly exaltations and worship as a deity at specially built Modi ‘temples’. When the first temple was built in Rajkot during his early years as Prime Minister, Modi had promptly got it demolished (also remember the forced, cringeworthy birthday wishes put out in the media by the movers and shakers of India). Now such ‘Modi temples’ have sprung up in several states. Modi and his minions are enforcing the glorification of his legacy for no reason. This example of toxic hagiography is seen nowhere else in the world. God save India.
