By Shailesh Kapoor
If you haven’t realised it by now, the first half of 2024 is the perfect time to do so. That there is no such thing as ‘Too much Modi’. We are into the second week of the new year, and the Prime Minister has been in the news every single day.
It started off with his Lakshadweep snorkeling adventure, which stirred up an unexpected, somewhat silly, controversy. Maldives found itself at the receiving end, though they have their own politicians to blame for saying the wrong things, and choosing the worst possible timing to say them too!
This week, the Prime Minister is on a development tour of sorts. After a well-marketed Gujarat tour, where Mukesh Ambani showered praises on the Prime Minister, Modi is in Mumbai today to inaugurate the Atal Setu, India’s longest sea bridge.
Next week, the focus will shift to the mega event on January 22 in Ayodhya, where the Ram Mandir will be inaugurated. The guest list (or the absence of names from it) has been making headlines anyway, and we can expect Mon, Jan 22 to be one of the biggest news days in modern Indian history.
We are already in the pre-election season, and post Ayodhya, the campaign trails and the rhetoric will gain momentum, and we can expect another 4-5 months of headlines dominated by politics, and indeed by its favorite face.
That Prime Minister Modi has been the mass media’s favorite is well-known by now. But in recent weeks, even the digital media platforms, which have often been critical of the Modi government, have found it hard to resist covering him on almost a daily basis.
One of the offshoots of the Prime Minister’s media coverage is that it has made news more inclusive for female audiences and the youth. For many years, older men (30+ years) were seen as the core TG of political news in India. However, PM Modi brings with him a ‘fan base’, much like a film or a series franchise would. ‘What did Modi say today?’ is often a topic of discussion in recent years between housewives in small-town India. No surprise, then, that our ratings-hungry news channels cannot stop talking about him.
Many political experts believe that barring a last-minute surprise, PM Modi is all set to come back for a third term. Modern India hasn’t seen a national leader of such longevity. There has been no Prime Minister to hold the office for 15 years at a stretch since Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-1964). Not even Indira Gandhi.
We are already in the ‘Modi era’, and a win later this year will extend it by at least another five years. An era that’s defined by a personality, and also by the media’s whole-hearted endorsement of it.