By Sweety Sinha:
The recent development within BJP has indicated that the party has endorsed Narendra Modi as a prime ministerial candidate. Modi has held the top job in Gujarat for 3 consecutive terms and this bears evidence to his rising popularity. He has vociferously ‘tried’ to alter his public image in the last 10 years. He has emerged as a brand that common people look up to. Even RSS has favoured Modi and has helped him become the most popular face of the Party. All this raises the question as to what led to Modi’s elevation. He has set aside the claims of the top leadership of his own party for premier ministerial ship.
If public image for Modi has to be counted for, he has emerged as a good orator. If we recall the last famous speech of independent India it was definitely “Tryst with destiny”. Post Nehruvian phase saw the emergence of Mrs. Gandhi as a good speaker on the public platform. Atal Bihari Vajpayee is considered to be the most admired orator of the modern times. After such a long gap, Modi has been a good candidate to step into their shoes. Today, India needs a powerful and a convincing leader and Modi seems to bridge that communication gap with the people. He has changed his image over time depending upon the needs of the country. Today, Modi realizes the fact that he has to tone down his anti Muslim image if he aims high. It is still debatable if he has been able to do so. He is technically sound as well in the age of twitterdom. He is one of the few national leaders who have expressed themselves on the digital platform. Even his comparison with Rahul Gandhi is cleverly crafted as he is a good orator and this works well for Modi. He has a captivating persona and his speeches are emotionally constructed to hit the right audience. His own style of sarcasm targeted towards Congress and UPA government is yet a charming factor in his oratory. He has a high sense of understanding to address the crowd’s mentality. His speech at SRCC reveals that he is up to date with statistics and graphs.
Modi has also been able to project himself as a good, efficient and an able administrator. Gujarat has been consistently ranked as the most developed state under his leadership. Modi is now the face of Gujarat development and his pro business inclination has helped Gujarat. He has facilitated the entrepreneur and business community of Gujarat.
This zero downs to the bigger question: Will Modi bring BJP back in power? Will his fan following on social media platforms transform into vote share as well? Will his Gujarat model be accepted by the entire nation?
There are many questions and only time will answer them.