Following a stimulating panel at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Southbank last month, Megha Harish reflects on “The Modi Effect” one year on from the BJP leader’s decisive victory and how traits which won him the election have persisted and are translating into his style of governance

Harish, Megha

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2015-6-12The Modi Effect: From challenger to Prime Ministerblogs.lse.ac.uk /southasia/2015/06/12/the-modi-effect-from-challenger-to-prime-minister/Following a stimulating panel at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Southbank last month, Megha Harishreflects on “The Modi Effect” one year on from the BJP leader’s decisive victory and how traitswhich won him the election have persisted and are translating into his style of governance.This article forms part of our Modi’s Government 1 Year On series.I voted for the first time in the 2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections. The years leading upto the elections were chaotic ones for Karnataka’s state government: B. S. Yeddyurappa’sincomplete term had been being mired in controversy, followed by short stints by two other Chief Ministers. As aresult, Congress increased their seat share by 52.5% in May 2013, a seemingly decisive call for change following adisastrous period of BJP rule.Last year a very similar routing took place in the Lok Sabha elections, but this time the verdict was in the favour ofthe BJP. A 69.8% increase in seats was an unprecedented majority (despite being won with only 31% of the voteshare). As in Karnataka, the sinking approval of previous governments (UPA-I and UPA-II) and a desire for newgovernance contributed significantly to the BJP’s popularity. Rahul Gandhi’s perceived ineptitude as a rival PrimeMinisterial candidate and Modi’s track record as Chief Minister of Gujarat (despite Godhra) and his campaign,oration and conviction tipped the election in his favour.Last month saw the UK general election, and another surprise result as the Conservative party won an overallmajority, despite the polls predicting a hung parliament. Parallels have been drawn between Narendra Modi andDavid Cameron but I question these comparisons. Modi had the nation mesmerised through his campaign and heturned an Indian general election into a US Presidential campaign (a point made by Rajdeep Sardesai in his bookabout the 2014 election, and discussed by Payal Kamat on this blog during the campaign). Although DavidCameron’s leadership ability was a factor in the Conservative Party’s win, he did not dominate the campaign orreplicate the cult status that Modi achieved. Modi-fever was real and people were voting BJP to see the individual atthe helm. In the Indian case, there is therefore much to be said about the success of the man, rather than the party.Modi’s personality and persona was much discussed on the Modi Effect panel at JLF on Southbank on 16 May (ayear to the day since Modi’s victory), which featured eminent political journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, SwapanDasgupta and Lance Price. The speakers each began by describing their interactions with Modi and personalopinions of him over the decades. His apparent narcissism and self-centeredness were brought up, with Rajdeepeven saying that, “There is no empathy in the eyes of Narendra Modi.” Narendra Modi did not invite any members ofhis family or volunteers of his campaign to his swearing in, despite strategically inviting the SAARC leaders. Thisidea of Modi’s personality as personally inward-looking, but politically-outward looking is fairly pervasive. Unlikemany other world leaders, like Obama or Cameron, who strive create an accessible family-image, Modi’s persona isfocused on him alone, and his interactions with other world leaders take centre-stage.Also discussed at length were Modi’s travels and the high levels of domestic and foreign media coverage he hasattracted as a result. A common theme running across the various one-year-on assessments of Modi seems to behis foreign policy successes. Supporters assert and critics grudgingly admit that it has been Modi’s strong suit overthe past year. His reaching out to SAARC leaders, including Nawaz Sharif, was particularly significant as a firstmove. Modi has however been critcised for being a ‘non-resident Prime Minister’. Swapan Dasgupta refuted thisclaim by saying that had Modi not travelled, he would have been called isolationist. The Prime Minister himself hadthe opportunity to respond to this criticism in an interview with the Press Trust of India on 28 May. He says, “We livein an inter-dependent world. An isolated India is not in our interest. 17 years without a visit by an Indian PrimeMinister to Nepal was not a good situation. Just because we are a large country, we cannot be arrogant and think1/2that we can ignore others.”Modi’s international trips abroad have strengthened his appeal amongst the Indian diaspora, as he begins to courtnon-resident Indians and their potential to contribute to the nation. He has called each member of the diaspora anambassador for India and urged the community to be part of the Ganga cleaning project and other cleaning andsanitation works. At Madison Square Garden last September, he asked organisers to donate $30,000 to Indianvillages.What struck me more about the Madison Square address, however, was the fact Modi was all over my Facebooknewsfeed the next day. This was not because of his oration or policies discussed at the event, but because he hadbeen hanging out with Wolverine and quoted Star Wars: “Thanks in particular to Hugh Jackman. God bless you. Maythe force be with you.” It has been a long time since young people, both in India and abroad, have really beenengaged with an Indian politician, known his name and story and really talked about him. This is something thatModi was able to capitalise on during the election campaign, but which has continued to gain momentum since.Social media has become the primary platform on which supporters and critics of Modi are airing their views and heis now impossible to ignore. Both his twitter and ‘Mann Ki Baat’ on All India Radio have gained huge popularity. Oneof the first episodes of Mann Ki Baat was directed specifically at students and its availability online, in sixteenlanguages no less, is testament to the effort the government is putting in to reaching out to people using the internet.Technology is also being harnessed to a greater extent to improve government efficiency. For example, theestablishment of attendance.gov.in to monitor employees in the public sector, and initiatives like the Remote ExpertGovernment Services (REGS), which allows citizens to lodge First Information Reports from kiosks in centrallocations in cities, without needing to go through the entire police station process. The finance ministry has beenforced to introduce a simpler income tax returns form and new software for e-filing will also be introduced this month.Modi efforts to reform the internal workings of governance do not stop there. Exchanges are taking place with theUK-India Business Council on how to rid a system of red tape without new barriers arising. Modi’s system of ‘ kaizen’or ‘continuous improvement’ is one that has allowed for regular feedback and suggestions from employees at alllevels of the Prime Minster’s Office. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(MGNREGS) is another area that the Modi government is seeking to improve. Last year, over two-thirds of thepayments under the scheme were delayed. Change in policy in underway, with the government hoping to transferthe scheme to the centre and administer remote payments, tied in with the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, withintwo weeks. Prime Minister Modi says in the PTI interview, “This process of correction and cleaning took quite sometime but it will provide long term benefits in the form of clean and fair governance.”I still do not know on which side of the fence I land with Modi but in my mind, even if we remain unsure about themorals of the man, we elected him to be proactive and assertive and to replace a dormant, scandal-ridden rule. Inthat: so far so good.Note:  This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of the South Asia @ LSE blog, nor of theLondon School of Economics. Please read ourcomments policy before posting.About the AuthorMegha Harish is a second year undergraduate student at King’s College London. Pursuing a BA inLiberal Arts, she majors in Political Science with a minor in Colonial History. She is currentlyinterning at the House of Commons in the Shadow Ministry for Prevention of Violence AgainstWomen and Girls.  Copyright © 2016 London School of Economics2/2

The Modi effect: from challenger to Prime Minister

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