Unfazed by slowdown or Kashmir, PM Modi’s PR juggernaut continues 

No matter what, the personality cult around Narendra Modi is being kept alive by the BJP and its various publicity wings.

It does not matter whether the economy is on the brink of a major disaster, people have lost money in bank collapses, industries and businesses have shut down, foreign relations decisions pose huge question marks… Modi has to remain buffed and shining, make-up intact, costume in sharp folds, not a hair out of place.

That’s what we’ve become. A giant publicity event for the promotion of Mr Modi. It does not matter that the BJP did not do as well as it projected or as it did the last time round in elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.

It does not matter that the BJP was willing to take support from controversial politician Gopal Kanda, on trial for abetment to suicide, to form a government in Haryana.

The same man that the BJP had taken out rallies against in 2013. It presumably took social outrage for Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to declare that the BJP would not take support from Kanda.

This was after Kanda was flown in by the BJP and had declared unconditional support to the BJP in Haryana. Evidently you can fool all of the people all of the time. As long as Modi remains buffed, shining, in costume, make-up intact, not a hair out of place.

It does not matter that in Maharashtra there’s a crisis brewing over government formation. The BJP’s frenemy the Shiv Sena has done better than expected, the BJP not as well. The Sena has upped the ante in the power stakes.

But the BJP and Modi continue to pretend that the victory was great, and that there is no skirmish. As long as Modi remains in costume, not a hair out of place, shining, buffed, make-up intact.

There has not been a moment of crisis in the over five years of BJP-Modi rule when Modi has not escaped to another country or hidden away in places like Corbett National Park. He has become a past master at appearing in costume, buffed, shining, not a hair out of place, make-up intact.

Whether shooting with Bear Grylls, cavorting with Henry Kissinger or Saudi princes or “celebrating” Diwali with the troops in Kashmir, it’s always a show, always disconnected from the reality of India.

It obviously does not matter that the people of Kashmir have been in shut down, lock down, break down, suffering dying, separated, since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 this year.

The BJP’s big on the economy some people continue to believe. Kashmir’s businesses have lost an estimated Rs 10,000 crore since August 5. Modi went there buffed, shining, in costume, not a hair out of place, make-up intact.

Did he have anything, even empty words, to offer the people of Kashmir? Drown and die is what he said to the Opposition. But Modi in election-mode, we are repeatedly told, is not to be taken seriously. Anything goes.

The problem is, he does not really say anything much outside election mode, he’s so busy being buffed and polished and presented to his adoring public for adulation.

Every single policy this government has declared officially has been an unmitigated disaster. Any policy that has had partial success is some version of an earlier policy left behind by previous governments. Over and again, his admirers announce that something great is about to come forth. Instead all India gets is the little wind-up doll freshly repainted.

The major achievement of the BJP in power has been the spread of Hindutva hatred across India. The lynchings, the killings, the violence, has been ignored by the top. While being tacitly encouraged and supported by Modi and the rest.

Modi does not need to be buffed and polished at these times, because he appears in his true colours and his select audience accepts him for what he is.

For the rest of the country, the pantomime continues. The government tried to make a chest-thumping masculine election-winning issue out of some skirmish at the LOC. The army chief threatened nuclear war.

And yet, when it came to Modi’s latest trip abroad, the government went meekly begging to Pakistan for permission to fly over their airspace. Next time you see that buffed image, do take a closer look at the reality.