Mangoes, media and star power: Will propaganda decide the 2019 election?

New Delhi: At a time when a fierce electoral battle raged between “politics of polarisation” and “justice for all” there came a Bollywood twist. In an intense and tense political climate, the opening question to the Prime Minister of the nation in a hugely publicised televised interview was “Aap kya aam khate hain. Aur khate hain toh kaise khate? Kaat ke khate hain ya guthli ke saath khate hain? (Do you eat mangoes. If you do how do you eat it. Peel and slice it or eat it as a whole with the seed)?”

Politics might be the flavour of the season. But, thanks to Bollywood star, Akshay Kumar’s “apolitical” interview with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the nation now knows how he eats his mangoes.

Congress huffed and puffed, Modi baiters sniggered, some television anchors ridiculed the show, some found it frivolous. But, the BJP and the Prime Minister knew exactly what they were doing.

A few days before the interview, a biopic on the Prime Minister, PM Narendra Modi, aimed to consolidate his cult status among the electorates before the polls was stalled by the Election Commission. Though the saffronites missed another opportunity to showcase Modi’s “remarkable courage, wisdom, patience, dedication to his people” through the film, it struck back with Akshay Kumar’s “apolitical” talk show. The interview yet again subtly promoted and projected Mr Modi as a blend between a “soldier and a saint”. “It seems to me that you always wanted to become a saint or a soldier,” the star interviewer had observed.

Congress hit back by describing Mr Modi as a “failed politician who is about to be rejected by the people on May 23 is looking for an alternative employment avenue in Bollywood”. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, in a public rally, said: “Yesterday you may have seen him interviewing with big, noteworthy actors but you will never see him with people.” Regardless of Congress’ jibes and swipes, the interview dominated the airwaves. Besides being promoted in social media, most of the Hindi and English TV channels not merely aired it throughout the day but also held panel discussions about the “journey of an ordinary man to the top”.

Millions of viewers and voters (as the election entered the fourth phase) watched the Prime Minister talking about his poverty, how he washed his own clothes and how “detached” he was from all “moh, maya”. The interview, a BJP strategist claimed, “had a major impact among the people”. He elaborated, “This is a battle between a dynasty and an ordinary man, who has nothing but the desire to serve the nation. The interview established it's a fight between a pauper and the prince.”

The Prime Minister, accused of not holding a single press conference but a monologue through his “Mann Ki Baat” during the last five years was all over TV channels and print media as the elections were announced. True, the PM made himself available to a select few, who avoided raising any contentious issues and thus allowing him to build his own narrative. Yet, the fact remained that Mr Modi began communicating when his party looked vulnerable.

In sharp contrast Congress president, Rahul Gandhi has so far confined himself to speeches at public rallies. There has been no effort from Team Congress to counter this well-oiled saffron propaganda machinery working round-the-clock at a breakneck speed.

In the art of propaganda, BJP apparently follows the Nazi model. Dr J. Kuruvachira in an article “The Nazi influence on L.K. Advani” wrote: “L.K. Advani was greatly inspired by Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in evolving his political strategy…”

An RSS leader, preferring anonymity, quoted Joseph Goebbels, Reich minister of propaganda extensively while talking about BJP’s publicity blitz. Referring to Akshay Kumar’s interview with Mr Modi he pointed out that Goebbels had said that “propaganda must be creative… it is a matter of productive fantasy. The genuine propagandist must be a true artist.” Unlike the previous regimes, BJP under Mr Modi has used all the means of modern technology to propagate its agenda. To showcase Mr Modi's election rallies and interviews of ministers, a channel, NAMO TV, was launched before the polls.

If the 2019 elections were being fought on the cyberspace, BJP is winning the war. An article in DailyO argued that the “BJP strategy depends on two E’s — engage and encourage — while the Congress strategy is simply that of 2D’s — defend and defame.” It claimed that the Congress “on its social media could not strike a balance between leaders and the party… Congress’ social media has, therefore, become monotonous as their only strategy is to attack PM Modi 24/7 without building their own narrative.”

BJP’s troll army is often accused of behaving like a lynch mob. It “bullies, abuses, and fights dirty”. Fake news has become the other weapon to target the enemy. According to a BBC research, “A rising tide of nationalism in India is driving ordinary citizens to spread fake news.”

Aggression, another form of propaganda war, is not merely confined to cyberspace. If the government is asked what it achieved in the last five years, the ministers and BJP spokespersons get into a tizzy and question 60 years of Congress rule. “Those who did nothing for 60 years are asking us questions,” is the standard and angry response.

Compare 26/11 Mumbai terror attack to Pulwama terror attack. Post the 26/11 attack, the ruling UPA government was torn to shreds by the media. Home minister Shivraj Patil lost his job. Immediately after the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel died, the BJP instantly controlled the narrative. The party launched into an offensive tactic stepped up its agenda of muscular nationalism. Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah in their rallies asked the electorate to vote for a strong government. Mr Shah thundered: “The sacrifice of CRPF personnel won’t go in vain. It’s not the Congress government which is at the Centre, it is the BJP which is at the Centre.”

BJP asked its ministers and chief ministers to attend funerals of the CRPF personnel. While the 26/11 attack, according to Steve Coll, the author of Ghost Wars and Directorate S, was the “most dramatic and sophisticated televised attack worldwide since September 11,” the Modi government swung into action and the ministry of information and broadcasting issued an advisory on how to report the Pulwama terror attack.

“In light of the recent terrorist attack, TV channels are advised to be particularly cautious with regard to any content which is likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promotes anti-national attitudes and/or contains anything affecting the integrity of the nation and ensure that no such content is telecast which is violative of these Codes,” the advisory stated.

Wary of being branded anti-national, Congress and the Opposition maintained a stoic silence. The silence of the Opposition gave BJP the space it needed at this crucial hour. The saffron cacophony glossed over the glaring intelligence failure.

The Prime Minister sought votes in the name of Pulwama “martyrs”. Mr Modi claimed he had warned Pakistan that if the Indian pilot was not released “that night it would have been a night of massacre (qatl ki raat)”. The Prime Minister targeted his jingoistic constituency and threatened Pakistan, saying, “India’s nuclear arsenal is not merely meant for Diwali”.

Anyone seeking evidence to the government’s claim of destroying enemy camps and killing 250-odd terrorists across the border in a retaliatory strike after Pulwama, was shouted down and branded an “anti-national”. Goebbels had written: “We have acquired so much expertise in the field of propaganda.... that we can overcome our opponents and they can hardly utter a word.”

Recently, the Azim Premji University’s Centre for Sustainable Employment came out with a report stating, “50 lakh people have lost their jobs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation exercise in November 2016”, Unfazed, Mr Modi and BJP stuck to its script claiming “demonetisation was needed to speed up formalisation of the economy and added that the move crippled illegal companies”. In Goebbels’words: “There are times when statesmen must have the courage to do something unpopular. But their unpopular actions must be properly prepared and must be put in a proper form… Such propaganda in the end miraculously makes the unpopular popular, enabling even a government’s most difficult decisions to secure the resolute support of the people.”

Films are another media the BJP has used to target, defame its Opposition and build the plank for muscular nationalism. The film, The Accidental Prime Minister, according to a critic, was an “out-and-out propaganda film, created for the specific purpose of making the former Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) look like a weak, spineless man, a puppet whose strings were controlled by The Family(Gandhis)”.

As the Congress watched, the BJP lost no time in appropriating the blockbuster Uri’s (a dramatised account of the retaliation to the 2016 Uri attack) catchphrase, “How’s the josh?” While presenting the interim budget, Union Minister, Piyush Goyal talked about the film saying, “I watched the film... jo josh tha, kya mahaul tha us hall ke andar (the atmosphere inside the movie theatre was charged).” As the BJP MPs thumped their desks, I&B minister Rajyavardhan Rathore delivered the dialogue, “How’s the josh?”

Former I&B minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari wrote: “Cinema has publicised racial and cultural animosities, battered political foes, glorified the national aura of governments, and depicted the homeland as a victim of malevolent external powers. The Nazis were the ultimate gurus in this respect... They drafted film directors to augment Hitler’s authority and depict grotesque images of Germany’s alleged enemies.” Goebbels had observed: “We are convinced that films constitute one of the most modern and scientific means of influencing the mass. Therefore the government must not neglect them.” Incidentally, every film in Nazi Germany was controlled by Goebbels. There were many actors and filmmakers in Nazi Germany who became the new stars of the Nazi silver screen.

Communication and symbolism are the ultimate weapons of a propagandist. Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf: “I know that men are won over less by the written than by the spoken word,

that every great movement on this earth owes its growth to great orators and not to great writers.”

Lenin, Trotsky, Mao, Hitler, and Goebbels, to name a few, were great orators and Mr Modi fits the bill as a master communicator. Symbolism has always played a key role in Mr Modi’s political strategy. Unlike his political rivals, Mr Modi understands how politics and religion intertwine in India.

In 2014, Modi chose Varanasi, the holiest of the seven sacred cities as his Lok Sabha constituency. At the roadshow in Varanasi on Thursday, Mr Modi, clad in saffron attire, performing 'Ganga aarti, played the role of a devout Hindu to the hilt. Rahul Gandhi with his soft Hindutva is desperately trying to catch up. The Congress scion has miles to go.

In 2014, BJP’s propaganda machinery has successfully and convincingly built the Brand Modi. At a time when the narrative has shifted from rising unemployment, farmers’ distress, price rise and inflation to “Hindu identity”, “aggressive nationalism” and “anti-minority rhetoric”, time will yet again test the power of propaganda.