‘Vikas’ is a rather sanskritised term but surprisingly itwas a common refrain even among the most illiterate people from the mostfar-flung villages of Gujarat when they discussed elections.
Many contested theclaims, many questioned the distribution of its benefits; but at least thediscourse was around development and not about caste or some other kind ofidentity “ of the sort that fractured Gujarat politics in the 1980s, forexample.
Modi, for a variety of reasons, has happened to choosedevelopment as his politics. And it has resonated with people at large. Takethe ambulance service called 108, making emergency healthcare available inremote areas. It is a hit across the State. It is run in association with anNGO. It does not take great leadership or vision or planning or money to offera service like that. Even if Modi’s heady popularity started with somethingelse, namely hardcore Hindutva, he had the long-term strategy of refashioninghimself, rebranding himself.
Brand Modi:
In Manek Chowk, the hub of the market district of Ahmedabad,they’d tell you why you pay more for this plastic tumbler than that one.“Because this is branded.” It does not matter that the brand is not famous atall, but the very fact that it is branded means it has some identity. Beyondurban pockets, in villages, people were not able to tell me two things aboutKeshubhai Patel and Shankarsinh Vaghela “ and even one about Arjun Modhvadiaand Shaktisinh Gohil beyond their party affiliation.
Modi is a known brand. People can talk about him at length “for or against. Brand Modi means development, whichever conception of it. Itmeans decisive leadership (incidentally, the term used for LK Advani in the2009 Lok Sabha campaign) “ a no-nonsense administrator. Also, aggressive, prideof Gujarat and so on. On the opposite side is an undifferentiated blank space.
Modi harped on this point at every rally, asking voters notto hand over “the key of Gujarat” to somebody they don’t even know. He wasessentially referring to the unbranded maal.
Calling branding or PR or perception management if youprefer business jargon; Modi has done that aggressively over the years. Afterall, politics is not about reality but perceptions. Thus, by 2007 he had provedand now he has proved it again that the local candidate does not matter, peopleare voting for the leader (think of Indira Gandhi at the height of herpopularity).
This of course reduces the role of a legislator and in theprocess a whole array of people have been elected who cannot hope to win withoutModi’s backing “ not a good sign for the party in the long run. But this sortof direct democracy works well for Modi. And an important element of it iscommunication.
Talking to people:
Modi is probably the best orator among politicians of thepost-Vajpayee phase. There’s never a dull moment in his speeches thoughselective one-line spins and outright lies are of course are a norm, as is thecase of most political speechmaking.
He actually holds dialogue with people, asking questions andthe crowd shouts back. (In a rally in a tribal pocket, the people took thewrong cue and shouted YES when NO was needed, but it does not matter, they werefull of enthusiasm). At another rally, again in a tribal pocket, a group ofyoungsters came out and said, “had fun!”
Congress as opposition:
Talking to independent activists over the years, it hasseemed that the Congress’s diffidence is even more than Modi’s confidence. Modimust have done punya in the previous lives to have earned an opposition likethe Congress. More surprisingly is the factionalism inside it: what exactlycould the three losers be fighting over?
Luck:
In selecting a commandant, Napoleon used to ask hisgenerals, "But does he have luck?" Modi has it, in good measure. Fromthe post-riot demands of his resignation even from within the party to therebellion during his first full term, he has survived and emerged stronger. Atevery election, there was a whole range of factors going against him, and bythe counting day analysts had to work out new explanations. Even in 2012, onecan list out a dozen factors which could have ensured his defeat. They didn't.
