Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat has completed 10 years of its uninterrupted engagement with people from all walks of life principally through the medium of All India Radio. No other prime minister had ever engaged the public in a direct, regular communication as Modi has. This has helped him reach out to even the poor in far-flung villages where radio programmes are still a craze. All India Radio maintains a high degree of professionalism while simultaneously disseminating information and entertaining its audience with a regular fare of well-packaged cultural programmes. Modi tapped on this huge potential to reach out to the common man – and this gave him good dividends in terms of popularity and personal appeal, which eventually translated into votes for him and the BJP-led alliance.
Modi’s speeches are a far cry from the intellectual depth of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, who engaged the literate millions through his writings as in the Discovery of India. Both Nehru and Modi spoke about the past and present; and Modi came up with little, barring anecdotes on the life and times of the ordinary, yet extraordinary people, while he also made it a point to sing paeans on community leaders and social reformers of the past. He demonstrates his empathy with the disadvantaged sections, be it the tribals, the Dalits or their leaders of yore, with the obvious intent of endearing these sections of the people to him. Wooing is a main endeavour of every successful politician though the plight of all these poor might never have changed for the better in any significant way. Modi, through his radio programme, appealed less to the intelligentsia or even the educated and well-informed segments of the society. He hardly spoke on the growth story, possibly because there is nothing exceptional to cite on any front other than the highway sector development under his 10-year-term. He also avoided, as is his wont, controversial topics and made no attempt to present his own mind on such matters. Nor did he speak affirmatively on issues like the farmer agitation, the stir against CAA etc. To that extent, his treatment of subjects has been superficial; and this has become a character of his Mann Ki Baat – it lacked depth.
To be fair, if Modi’s speeches are turned into a book it would have much less of an appeal compared to the writings of Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru’s indulgences were of a high order. Through his writings, Nehru projected a grand vision for India. With his eminent upbringing and western education, the first prime minister built strong foundations for Independent India and shaped its destiny. As prime minister, took this growth trajectory forward and provided a much-needed stability to the nation through his repeated terms in power.
