Forgetting aam aadmi politics: Modi's vanity may have cost BJP the Delhi elections.
In all the hoopla about the exit polls coming out of Delhi it’s easy to lose track of what they are not.
Even if the BJP does not win the poll, it does not mean that the death knell is sounding for the Narendra Modi government at the centre.
Though the polls in the capital were a prestige issue for the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah Superheroes, the fact is Kiran Bedi was on that ballot not Modi. Even if the Aam Aadmi Party wins Delhi, it does not mean that it’s ready to become the national alternative to BJP aka the new Congress. It still has only 4 MPs in parliament.
And finally those polls did not hang on a thread – namely from that ultra expensive what’s-in-a-name suit Modi wore to hang out with his buddy “Barack”. It’s tempting of course for media to make this the story of the Suit vs the Muffler but while clothes do make the man, it’s overreach to claim that they make (or unmake) elections.
But what is true is that Modi, the master of PR, the wizard of optics, suddenly has become a victim of those same optics. When his opponents disparagingly talked about his chaiwallah credentials, Modi turned that jibe on his head and it boomeranged mightily on the Congress.
A chaiwalla can not only look at the king, he can become the king. But now the emperor has no clothes?
The great seduction of Modi was not just that he tapped into the aspirational dreams of Indians, it was that he relentlessly portrayed himself as the outsider in a city that was ruled by the Lutyens insider. Modi not only did not belong to that club, he appeared to have no desire to be part of it.
However even if Modi is not joining the club those around him are happy to do so. “So far the Prime Minister continues to look good, but if he pays attention to what his ministers are doing he will find that too many have been infected by the Lutyens disease,” writes Tavleen Singh in the Indian Express. She says Lutyens Delhi turns even the nicest and most humble person into our erstwhile colonial masters – “(a) strut creeps into their gait and arrogance and complacency become their dominant characteristics.” The big man swagger and what Singh calls the “Lutyens strut” can start appearing a little too uncomfortably indistiguishable.
While top-level BJP leaders railed at Kejriwal as a Naxalite, anarchist and chor, at least no one could call him a Lutyens lackey. His great sin of ostentatiousness was flying business class to Dubai for a felicitation ceremony. While his sleeping on the streets of Delhi in the winter was behaviour hardly behooving a chief minister, at least no one could accuse him of a closet Lutyens elite lifestyle.
That’s where Modi’s 10-lakh-rupee suit was an expensive mistake. "Our dream for India is that 'aam aadmi' should be able to travel business class,” retorted Kejriwal. Modi could hardly position a 10-lakh suit similarly as the dream of the aam aadmi in India. But it was never about that suit. It was about the barrage of foreign trips which to most Indians seemed like junkets. All PMs travel but his rockstar speeches in Madison Square Garden did little for bread and butter issues back home. It was about the relentless series of photo-ops. It was about the tsunami of PR and social media while on the ground for the poor people, the garibon he talked about in his rallies little had changed. It was about the PM who seemed aloof while his foot soldiers railed and ranted and flexed majoritarian muscle with apparent impunity.
In these day and age Indians do not quite have the old socialist era hang up of being too ostentatious about displaying wealth. And the Delhi voter might not have resented the Modi-suit had they felt it come with a little more acche din to go around for all. An expensive suit is fine but the appearance of an empty suit is politically dangerous.
We sneer at populist politics and shake our heads at those who fall for the seduction the cheap bijli-paani promised by an Aam Aadmi Party but in a poor country those are not luxuries but basic necessities. We are not a country that feels confident enough to let go of the subsidies of populism just yet.
And that is what Modi seemed to have forgotten. As Sagarika Ghose writes in the Times of India, “AAP success rests mostly in its opposition to Delhi’s privileged culture. In a city where the entitled and newly rich swan around in limousines and jump queues, where social and political power flow from access to government, AAP is Delhi’s anti-VIP war cry, even a pale imitation of a French Revolution moment.” And Modi seemed to be saying if they cannot have bread, let them feast their eyes on him as he becomes the toast of another foreign capital.
While no one begrudges Modi the trappings of power or his Mont Blanc pens and no one expects Gandhian austerity from him, it’s always a balancing act. People need to feel like he has not forgotten them as he revels in the perks and pageantry of high office. Everyone knew despite his chaiwalla talk, it cost a lot to build the Modi-machine. The BJP spent over Rs 60 crore on that holographic campaign to project the magic of Modi. On the campaign trail Modi had often appeared arrogant but that was actually an asset. While his opponents rolled their eyes about the 56-inch-chest, that was a boast that went down well with adoring crowds who revelled in the chest-thumping.
But pride is one thing, vanity is quite another.
And the suit with his name written all over it felt not just tacky but something tailormade for vanity. And if the exit polls are correct, the Delhi electorate might just have made a bonfire of his vanities.
Source: The great seduction of Modi was not just that he tapped into the aspirational dreams of Indians, it was that he relentlessly portrayed himself as the outsider in a city that was ruled by the Lutyens insider. Modi not only did not belong to that club, he appeared to have no desire to be part of it.
However even if Modi is not joining the club those around him are happy to do so. “So far the Prime Minister continues to look good, but if he pays attention to what his ministers are doing he will find that too many have been infected by the Lutyens disease,” writes Tavleen Singh in the Indian Express. She says Lutyens Delhi turns even the nicest and most humble person into our erstwhile colonial masters – “(a) strut creeps into their gait and arrogance and complacency become their dominant characteristics.” The big man swagger and what Singh calls the “Lutyens strut” can start appearing a little too uncomfortably indistiguishable.
While top-level BJP leaders railed at Kejriwal as a Naxalite, anarchist and chor, at least no one could call him a Lutyens lackey. His great sin of ostentatiousness was flying business class to Dubai for a felicitation ceremony. While his sleeping on the streets of Delhi in the winter was behaviour hardly behooving a chief minister, at least no one could accuse him of a closet Lutyens elite lifestyle.
That’s where Modi’s 10-lakh-rupee suit was an expensive mistake. "Our dream for India is that 'aam aadmi' should be able to travel business class,” retorted Kejriwal. Modi could hardly position a 10-lakh suit similarly as the dream of the aam aadmi in India. But it was never about that suit. It was about the barrage of foreign trips which to most Indians seemed like junkets. All PMs travel but his rockstar speeches in Madison Square Garden did little for bread and butter issues back home. It was about the relentless series of photo-ops. It was about the tsunami of PR and social media while on the ground for the poor people, the garibon he talked about in his rallies little had changed. It was about the PM who seemed aloof while his foot soldiers railed and ranted and flexed majoritarian muscle with apparent impunity.
In these day and age Indians do not quite have the old socialist era hang up of being too ostentatious about displaying wealth. And the Delhi voter might not have resented the Modi-suit had they felt it come with a little more acche din to go around for all. An expensive suit is fine but the appearance of an empty suit is politically dangerous.
We sneer at populist politics and shake our heads at those who fall for the seduction the cheap bijli-paani promised by an Aam Aadmi Party but in a poor country those are not luxuries but basic necessities. We are not a country that feels confident enough to let go of the subsidies of populism just yet.
And that is what Modi seemed to have forgotten. As Sagarika Ghose writes in the Times of India, “AAP success rests mostly in its opposition to Delhi’s privileged culture. In a city where the entitled and newly rich swan around in limousines and jump queues, where social and political power flow from access to government, AAP is Delhi’s anti-VIP war cry, even a pale imitation of a French Revolution moment.” And Modi seemed to be saying if they cannot have bread, let them feast their eyes on him as he becomes the toast of another foreign capital.
While no one begrudges Modi the trappings of power or his Mont Blanc pens and no one expects Gandhian austerity from him, it’s always a balancing act. People need to feel like he has not forgotten them as he revels in the perks and pageantry of high office. Everyone knew despite his chaiwalla talk, it cost a lot to build the Modi-machine. The BJP spent over Rs 60 crore on that holographic campaign to project the magic of Modi. On the campaign trail Modi had often appeared arrogant but that was actually an asset. While his opponents rolled their eyes about the 56-inch-chest, that was a boast that went down well with adoring crowds who revelled in the chest-thumping.
But pride is one thing, vanity is quite another.
And the suit with his name written all over it felt not just tacky but something tailormade for vanity. And if the exit polls are correct, the Delhi electorate might just have made a bonfire of his vanities.
Source: www.firstpost.com/politics/forgetting-aam-aadmi-politics-modis-vanity-may-have-cost-bjp-the-delhi-elections-2087341.html more
Even if the BJP does not win the poll, it does not mean that the death knell is sounding for the Narendra Modi government at the centre.
Though the polls in the capital were a prestige issue for the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah Superheroes, the fact is Kiran Bedi was on that ballot not Modi. Even if the Aam Aadmi Party wins Delhi, it does not mean that it’s ready to become the national alternative to BJP aka the new Congress. It still has only 4 MPs in parliament.
And finally those polls did not hang on a thread – namely from that ultra expensive what’s-in-a-name suit Modi wore to hang out with his buddy “Barack”. It’s tempting of course for media to make this the story of the Suit vs the Muffler but while clothes do make the man, it’s overreach to claim that they make (or unmake) elections.
But what is true is that Modi, the master of PR, the wizard of optics, suddenly has become a victim of those same optics. When his opponents disparagingly talked about his chaiwallah credentials, Modi turned that jibe on his head and it boomeranged mightily on the Congress.
A chaiwalla can not only look at the king, he can become the king. But now the emperor has no clothes?
The great seduction of Modi was not just that he tapped into the aspirational dreams of Indians, it was that he relentlessly portrayed himself as the outsider in a city that was ruled by the Lutyens insider. Modi not only did not belong to that club, he appeared to have no desire to be part of it.
However even if Modi is not joining the club those around him are happy to do so. “So far the Prime Minister continues to look good, but if he pays attention to what his ministers are doing he will find that too many have been infected by the Lutyens disease,” writes Tavleen Singh in the Indian Express. She says Lutyens Delhi turns even the nicest and most humble person into our erstwhile colonial masters – “(a) strut creeps into their gait and arrogance and complacency become their dominant characteristics.” The big man swagger and what Singh calls the “Lutyens strut” can start appearing a little too uncomfortably indistiguishable.
While top-level BJP leaders railed at Kejriwal as a Naxalite, anarchist and chor, at least no one could call him a Lutyens lackey. His great sin of ostentatiousness was flying business class to Dubai for a felicitation ceremony. While his sleeping on the streets of Delhi in the winter was behaviour hardly behooving a chief minister, at least no one could accuse him of a closet Lutyens elite lifestyle.
That’s where Modi’s 10-lakh-rupee suit was an expensive mistake. "Our dream for India is that 'aam aadmi' should be able to travel business class,” retorted Kejriwal. Modi could hardly position a 10-lakh suit similarly as the dream of the aam aadmi in India. But it was never about that suit. It was about the barrage of foreign trips which to most Indians seemed like junkets. All PMs travel but his rockstar speeches in Madison Square Garden did little for bread and butter issues back home. It was about the relentless series of photo-ops. It was about the tsunami of PR and social media while on the ground for the poor people, the garibon he talked about in his rallies little had changed. It was about the PM who seemed aloof while his foot soldiers railed and ranted and flexed majoritarian muscle with apparent impunity.
In these day and age Indians do not quite have the old socialist era hang up of being too ostentatious about displaying wealth. And the Delhi voter might not have resented the Modi-suit had they felt it come with a little more acche din to go around for all. An expensive suit is fine but the appearance of an empty suit is politically dangerous.
We sneer at populist politics and shake our heads at those who fall for the seduction the cheap bijli-paani promised by an Aam Aadmi Party but in a poor country those are not luxuries but basic necessities. We are not a country that feels confident enough to let go of the subsidies of populism just yet.
And that is what Modi seemed to have forgotten. As Sagarika Ghose writes in the Times of India, “AAP success rests mostly in its opposition to Delhi’s privileged culture. In a city where the entitled and newly rich swan around in limousines and jump queues, where social and political power flow from access to government, AAP is Delhi’s anti-VIP war cry, even a pale imitation of a French Revolution moment.” And Modi seemed to be saying if they cannot have bread, let them feast their eyes on him as he becomes the toast of another foreign capital.
While no one begrudges Modi the trappings of power or his Mont Blanc pens and no one expects Gandhian austerity from him, it’s always a balancing act. People need to feel like he has not forgotten them as he revels in the perks and pageantry of high office. Everyone knew despite his chaiwalla talk, it cost a lot to build the Modi-machine. The BJP spent over Rs 60 crore on that holographic campaign to project the magic of Modi. On the campaign trail Modi had often appeared arrogant but that was actually an asset. While his opponents rolled their eyes about the 56-inch-chest, that was a boast that went down well with adoring crowds who revelled in the chest-thumping.
But pride is one thing, vanity is quite another.
And the suit with his name written all over it felt not just tacky but something tailormade for vanity. And if the exit polls are correct, the Delhi electorate might just have made a bonfire of his vanities.
Source: The great seduction of Modi was not just that he tapped into the aspirational dreams of Indians, it was that he relentlessly portrayed himself as the outsider in a city that was ruled by the Lutyens insider. Modi not only did not belong to that club, he appeared to have no desire to be part of it.
However even if Modi is not joining the club those around him are happy to do so. “So far the Prime Minister continues to look good, but if he pays attention to what his ministers are doing he will find that too many have been infected by the Lutyens disease,” writes Tavleen Singh in the Indian Express. She says Lutyens Delhi turns even the nicest and most humble person into our erstwhile colonial masters – “(a) strut creeps into their gait and arrogance and complacency become their dominant characteristics.” The big man swagger and what Singh calls the “Lutyens strut” can start appearing a little too uncomfortably indistiguishable.
While top-level BJP leaders railed at Kejriwal as a Naxalite, anarchist and chor, at least no one could call him a Lutyens lackey. His great sin of ostentatiousness was flying business class to Dubai for a felicitation ceremony. While his sleeping on the streets of Delhi in the winter was behaviour hardly behooving a chief minister, at least no one could accuse him of a closet Lutyens elite lifestyle.
That’s where Modi’s 10-lakh-rupee suit was an expensive mistake. "Our dream for India is that 'aam aadmi' should be able to travel business class,” retorted Kejriwal. Modi could hardly position a 10-lakh suit similarly as the dream of the aam aadmi in India. But it was never about that suit. It was about the barrage of foreign trips which to most Indians seemed like junkets. All PMs travel but his rockstar speeches in Madison Square Garden did little for bread and butter issues back home. It was about the relentless series of photo-ops. It was about the tsunami of PR and social media while on the ground for the poor people, the garibon he talked about in his rallies little had changed. It was about the PM who seemed aloof while his foot soldiers railed and ranted and flexed majoritarian muscle with apparent impunity.
In these day and age Indians do not quite have the old socialist era hang up of being too ostentatious about displaying wealth. And the Delhi voter might not have resented the Modi-suit had they felt it come with a little more acche din to go around for all. An expensive suit is fine but the appearance of an empty suit is politically dangerous.
We sneer at populist politics and shake our heads at those who fall for the seduction the cheap bijli-paani promised by an Aam Aadmi Party but in a poor country those are not luxuries but basic necessities. We are not a country that feels confident enough to let go of the subsidies of populism just yet.
And that is what Modi seemed to have forgotten. As Sagarika Ghose writes in the Times of India, “AAP success rests mostly in its opposition to Delhi’s privileged culture. In a city where the entitled and newly rich swan around in limousines and jump queues, where social and political power flow from access to government, AAP is Delhi’s anti-VIP war cry, even a pale imitation of a French Revolution moment.” And Modi seemed to be saying if they cannot have bread, let them feast their eyes on him as he becomes the toast of another foreign capital.
While no one begrudges Modi the trappings of power or his Mont Blanc pens and no one expects Gandhian austerity from him, it’s always a balancing act. People need to feel like he has not forgotten them as he revels in the perks and pageantry of high office. Everyone knew despite his chaiwalla talk, it cost a lot to build the Modi-machine. The BJP spent over Rs 60 crore on that holographic campaign to project the magic of Modi. On the campaign trail Modi had often appeared arrogant but that was actually an asset. While his opponents rolled their eyes about the 56-inch-chest, that was a boast that went down well with adoring crowds who revelled in the chest-thumping.
But pride is one thing, vanity is quite another.
And the suit with his name written all over it felt not just tacky but something tailormade for vanity. And if the exit polls are correct, the Delhi electorate might just have made a bonfire of his vanities.
Source: www.firstpost.com/politics/forgetting-aam-aadmi-politics-modis-vanity-may-have-cost-bjp-the-delhi-elections-2087341.html more
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Problem is that it is not Modi who controls BJP. BJP in fact is such a party which cannot be controlled at all. Remember Vajpayee's last years in office. BJP has lot many elements such as RSS and VHP who have deep roots in BJP. Modi himself is from Sangh Parivar. Their Hindutva agenda is killing people especially those who are struggling to make it every day. More importantly, Delhi is a half state with virtually no powers over civic bodies or police. So to complete Delhi, statehood is mandatory which BJP made clear that they are not ready to offer (especially because of pressure from high profile people living in the capital). AAP on the other hand drafted a clear manifesto detailing every development they are ready to focus and work upon. There is no question of choice here. AAP is way more important for people of Delhi. more
Feb 09
As the campaign went underway, it became clear that BJP had unduly delayed the polls after the Lok Sabha Elections; It did not have a leadership in Delhi to take on Kejriwal and whatever Leadership was in Harsh Vardhan, the MODI - Shah combine did not favor it; remember shifting of portfolios of Dr from Health to Science... To top of it all, the poll speeches were very jarring and to top it, these were emulated by the other leaders in the party; the highlight being personal targeting of Kejriwal in the speeches. For the last 18 months, Mr. Modi is seen in the 'campaign mode',even the public speeches during visits abroad were targeting the domestic audience. Some PR fatigue is setting in. January started with the Naxal charge and other name calling of Mr.Kejriwal and ended up with the expensive suit, he could well have done without! more
Feb 09
