The Last Mile

On January 1, 2014, I wrote the prologue “Good Vs Evil” on the prospects of the outcome of the LS elections and why BJP and PM Modi should win for “good” to prevail. They say a week is a long time in politics but five years have flashed by in supersonic speed. We are now into the last mile of the race to the new LS and the new govt at the Centre. The ModiSarkar has some fantastic achievements to its credit, a few failures and many missed chances. It is only the first time a CM of a state had graduated to PMship and would be completing a full term. That itself is unusual for India as the PMs were usually from the Delhi Belly of politics or more accurately, the Lutyens circle politicians.

They say runners need flexibility, but you may be surprised at the latest thinking. Long distance runners have even adopted Yoga for stretching and flexibility. But scientific research into distance running seems to think if you are too flexible then you’re a less efficient runner. Narendra Modi must bear this in mind. He has tried to be flexible on many issues and compromised on many. This old thought of “consensus” on everything when you were given a historic mandate to clearly stick to your agenda is perhaps a misleading belief. Take a look at just one example of the Congress. It’s not even two weeks since they came to power in Rajasthan and they have already started the purge and cleansing:

The loss of power in 3 states must surely have stung the BJP. There is something that should worry them. In the history of Congress, in no state where they have been out of power for 2-3 terms have they ever managed to return. In that sense MP stands out for the loss. BJP says they will learn from the failure. Of course, people should learn from failures but there is a flaw if you think only failures are teachers. Everybody tells you to learn from failures. Not very often do people tell you to learn from your victories – they mostly tell you to be humble and graceful. Even in Cricket matches, the interview with the losing captain is longer than with the winning captain. BJP and Modi completely forgot what made them win in 2014. Thus, a string of losses in bypolls, near loss in Gujarat and then Karnataka and the 3 recent states. Why do you forget what made you win and what got you there, Mr. Modi?

LS2014 was won a promise – a promise of “Achche Din”. And promises on punishing the corrupt, UCC and many other things. LS2019 cannot be won on promises alone. There has to be a measurable and believable resume of performance – and the common man must have FELT these performances in his experience. The other usual ingredients of the Indian political Tamasha can add spice to these. For all the noise around us, the voter has his own way of measuring such performances and his experience. Here is what I wrote in 2012 in “Gujarat Breaking Rules”:

As I stated, people don’t sit around with poll ratings or IMF ratings or “Tom Moody”
ratings or any other ratings. They don’t know and they don’t care. They also don’t care about the GDP or the GDP growth. They feel “development” in their guts, in their homes and in their lives. They feel it in tangible ways and in their experience. Better gas supply, better transport, a better bank balance or a better/improved house. They know development in those terms. There is no denying a vast population has been lifted above the poverty line. Many of these families maybe gainfully employed and their children pulled out of labour and into schools. And ModiSarkar has contributed to and impacted all of such issues and many others. Thus, the communication of the excellent work has to be done in their terms. And Modi not only has excellent skills in that, he has to make his other campaigners follow that strategy and the tactics involved.

There is an enormous balance in the performance account of ModiSarkar. Many fantastic policies, schemes have been implemented with aggressive speed. In particular, infrastructure and transport domains have performed well. Add mass insurance, cheaper medicines and direct transfer of subsidies. Even the economy on the whole is better than the scam-infested rule of the Congress. So, it is now for BJP to find the right mix of political discourse in the last mile. I believe 70% of their achievements and 30% of trashing the misdeeds of the Opposition and the Chinese Gandhis and their crimes would be a right mix. I am sure the brains at BJP are better equipped to decide on that and will work out the messaging. However, the smart thing Modi did in 2014 was that he turned the medium itself into the message. I am not sure if it was a “strategy” or an accident but the use of non-conventional media, social media, alternate communication, mobile technology, spectacular video rallies all became hallmarks of the campaign. In the new age, the medium is the message. And the concept is explained below by its inventor Marshall McLuhan:

What a top leader says gets relayed, interpreted and transmitted across the whole world in minutes. The messages need to be simple and easy for the common man to relay it over and over again across a large population. The Arun Jaitley type of messaging is bad for campaign, especially not on your economic performance. Jaitley has no connect with the masses and therefore DOES NOT speak their language but he holds the most important ministry. Help breakdown the economy-messages and financial messages of Jaitley into common man’s language. And that will travel better.

And therefore, what medium you choose is very important. If you choose NDTV, the message will be relayed in a twisted manner. If you choose to be bed-mates with Aroon Purie he will invariably bring in an element of Sonia on how she had initiated your specific achievement and you merely took the credit. These are just examples I am giving. The following are some samples of the RATS. Their medium is the most dangerous for Modi and BJP and not a single member of the BJP must be present on them or associate with them in any manner whatsoever:

Let us understand their trickery clearly. You might give a full-page ad in the TOI but the anti-BJP editor might post a most scathing article on BJP in exactly the opposite page of the ad or somewhere close to it. This kind of ambush is common in media. If you tell a hate-monger like Shekhar Gupta “ModiSarkar is trying to increase bread supply” his headline will be “ModiSarkar admits bread crisis” when that wasn’t the situation at all. If the same message is given to Gupta by his biskoot-feeder Sonia, his headline will be “Congress plans to reduce hunger dramatically”. These are criminal media tricks the BJP folks don’t understand very well. Take another case. The recent Anti-Triple-Talaq Bill is meant to help Muslim women get the same legal recourse to wrongful “verbal Talaq” by complaining and getting proper justice as women of any other Faith. The criminals in media instantly screamed, that Modi plans to send all Muslim men who pronounce verbal ‘Talaq” to jail:

The medium is the message. Shekhar Gupta’s shop means poison for BJP. NDTV, IndiaToday mean poison for BJP. Avoid all interactions with them and all such media and avoid them like a plague unless you can profit from an interaction. Avoid indulging in all nonsensical debates on TV. Stick to only critical ones that will benefit BJP. If they don’t promote your achievements, hold regular pressers, there is no escape from that.

In 2014, this was easier and media didn’t matter because there was intense anger against the Congress and immense enthusiasm for Modi. Modi was the challenger, not the defending champion. The media used the same tactics against AB Vajpayee in 2004. In 2014, people even sang songs like “Dil ka bhanwar kare pukaar, ab ki baar ModiSarkar”. You may not find that kind of mania in 2019. That is why the medium and messaging is all the more significantly important and will be decisive. How do you transmit your achievements and what is it that matters to the common man and impacts him? Take the example I give below.

Let’s say you add 4 more trains on a certain route like Ahmedabad to Delhi. Sure, that is “development” but does it really affect anyone? Yes, it does, but it doesn’t register highly and has low IMPACT. Because people don’t travel all the time and additions of trains are heard but not felt that highly. However, a new route has an altogether different impact and experience. People immediately feel a difference in their lives and can feel the impact. If you created a new route, promote that more and make the additions of new trains on an existing route a secondary message. New roads in villages and being connected with transport has a higher experience and impact value. The same for new expressways and highways. The same goes for many other domains. A new employment sector that opened up new jobs has a better impact than a minor increase in employment in an established sector.

When you invent the latest car and are ready to test-run it, the anti-nationals in the Congress, Sickular gang and the media-gang will all be ready to quietly throw nails near the end of the test-road. It is in their interest to keep India a backward country so that their corruption can flourish. The corrupt are still comfortably roaming free and writing Opeds. Nothing will please these criminals to throw out ModiSarkar so that their corruption cases are also buried, just like Indira Gandhi did with the Emergency crimes. As for the Congress, there is not much to worry about them. They already have the biggest warehouse of corruption stocks and they will give you more. It’s in their DNA to start their loot from day one if they ever get the chance as MP and Rajasthan have shown:

Kamal Nath claims that the sudden Urea disappearance is due to “demand-supply” gap. I think that is the most he knows about economics – a lame statement. Where their Pappu Rahul is concerned, let him make more of his idiotic utterances and merely laugh at it. There is no need to respond to every idiotic garbage of his and make him appear a challenger even remotely because he is not. His dialogue will not go beyond Rafale and Modi gave Ambani 30000 crores. As they say “Miyaa ki daud masjid tak”. Demolish their Rafale lies with smart campaigns in regional media and, of course, they have provided enough of Christian Michel statements and other scams to talk about. Whether in promoting achievements or in trashing the Congress – do not go for an OVERKILL. Modulate the messages and the tone of the communication. BJP is the defending champion and the Opposition is the challenger. That is the biggest difference in 2019. Behave like a Champion.

This is the last mile in the stretch up to LS2019. Researchers say, the muscle and tendons are more important than flexibility. They work as the “springs”. “As our feet hit the ground during a run, those springs release stored energy and propel us forward. If the springs aren’t tight enough, they can’t do their jobs properly”. LS2019 is for BJP and Modi to take. Just get the communication right and propel at the right speed to win. Other issues like candidates, local issues are all part of the usual political mix for an election. The messaging and the speed of campaign holds the key. 

Happy New Year! 

 

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