The Age Of ‘Modi-ism’ Is Here

The long and laborious summer election of 2019 is done with. The results are out, Narendra Modi is set to win a second term as Prime Minister with a strong mandate. And this return is no mean achievement. This return takes place in the face of a five-year rule just completed, and therefore qualifies to be called a pro-incumbency vote in favour of Brand Modi.

So what’s with Brand Modi?

I define the brand in my book rather simply. The brand is a thought. A thought that lives in a person’s mind. And this person may or may not even be a consumer.

Brand Modi is therefore a thought. A powerful thought that lives in people’s minds. To that extent, Brand Modi is really not the physicality of the Prime Minister, as much as it is the metaphysicality.

Not if you peek into the method that has built Brand Modi. And not if you have witnessed the euphoria around Brand Modi in the elections just concluded. Brand Modi is a thought that lives in the minds of more than a billion Indians who live within India, and the minds of the entire Indian diaspora that lives all across the globe.

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections revolved round this one single brand, Narendra Modi. While the Bhartiya Janata Party and its allies rallied around NaMo’s popularity, the entire opposition attempted to cast Modi in a negativ light. In the process, the focal point of all election debate was Brand Modi.

Brand Modi began with humble origins. The ‘Chaiwallah’ imagery worked in a nation where poverty and hard work are the true realities of common life. The citizen of India, by and large, loves to celebrate the success of the small, as opposed to the success of the high and mighty. So, in the days prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when Mani Shankar Aiyar invoked the Chaiwallah jibe, it become a rallying point for Brand Modi to connect with nation of people with humble beginnings.

Humble beginnings apart, Narendra Modi the politician worked hard. The man built a reputation of being honest and clean. As the successful Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi’s made a brand of ‘the Gujarat model of development’. As part of that brand, in his 4,610 days as chief minister, Modi invested in planning, implementing and evaluating success of programs. In every bit of this process Modi also deployed the tools of marketing to disseminate information and communicate all the time. ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ was a brand, just as every other successive activity Modi touched on the way to political stardom was.

With the 2014 win, Modi increasingly leaned on the tools of advertising, marketing, branding, and digital media. He evangelised everything electronic and digital, with every ministry mandated to have an active Twitter handle. Critics often dubbed him as a Prime Minister of event management. But he did not not dither.

Voters see this as a PM who built all those toilets, connected all those ‘pucca’ (tar) roads into a network, and someone who brought electricity into the villages and the gas cylinder into the homes of the deprived.

The demonetisation of bank notes in 2016 added to the PM’s allure, as a crusader who disrupted the status quo and unleashed churn in the homes and businesses of the rich.

In came the Balakot strike, and Modi became a hero, capable of entering into the home of the enemy to strike them down! That took Brand Modi brand to a super-stature.

What we are seeing in the election verdict is an appreciation of Modi the attitude, as much as Modi the man. A positive attitude that wants to take the bull by the horn and attempt to deliver. The allure of Brand Modi can best be defined now as ‘Modi-ism’, a philosophy all by its own.

That philosophy was evident in the prime minister’s first address to his party workers after his re-election victory on May 23, when he said he sees just two castes – the poor, and those who want to help the poor.

Brand Modi: What Lies Ahead?

So what can we expect ahead from Brand Modi in the clean run of the five years ahead? Here are seven possibilities.

1. Economic Re-engineering

Expect a real effort at economic re-engineering, as opposed to social-re-engineering that we have witnessed in the past. Expect schemes that take care of the poor of the country in a more sustainable manner, than the lowest common denominator way of the past, the loan waiver.

2. An Inclusive India

In terms of approach, there is no other approach left to take than the inclusive. India is a bit too diverse to take any other path. Therefore expect Brand Modi to get more and more inclusive in tone, tenor and decibel.

3. The President-Prime Minister

A Prime Minister who is more than a Prime Minister. The super PM! (REMOVE THIS LINE!) One man will really take the decisions strongly with a yen to seek out that guy Vikas (development), wherever he is lurking.

4. A Humble Approach

Expect Modi version 2.0 to be a more humble approach. Expect humility and dignity ahead. And this is going to mellow the audience all around the Prime Minister. Maybe even endear him to the dissenters.

5. The Right Is The New Left

Expect Brand Modi to be as Left as what is left of the Left is. The poor and the deprived shall be the focus of attention. Possibly even at the cost of those who are better.

6. Expect Disdain For The Elite

Maybe a wee bit of disdain! Khan market is passé! Khanna market is the future.

7. Expect Pride In Everything Indian

Varanasi is Kashi. The Indian way will be a point of focus. ‘Desi’ is in and ‘videshi’ will be tolerated.

Harish Bijoor is a brand guru and the founder of Harish Bijoor Consults.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BloombergQuint or its editorial team.