'Over four crore houses under PM-Awas Yojana’ – A board in a railway station announces in upper case letters. Next to it, stands a cutout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi handing a cardboard-made key to a woman. Both of them are smiling. In front of the board, a man uses his thela as a pillow and sleeps on the cold floor of the station. His head covers a portion of the board that says ‘This is New India’.
Upon a closer look of the picture, one will find two more persons sleeping inside the so-called ‘Modi selfie-booths’ where people can take photos of themselves with a Modi cutout. The images surfaced after an RTI response revealed that the Union government is allocating up to Rs 6.25 lakh for each permanent 3D selfie booth and Rs 1.25 lakh for each temporary booth featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image at railway stations.
The messaging was clear. Thousands of people visit railway stations every day. They would then be swayed by this cutout which displays PM Modi’s achievements. But will they?
Opposition to brand Modi
A couple of days ago, a young man saw a chariot with the name ‘Modi Sarkar’ accompanied by government employees under the Central Government’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra at Sonyachi Shiroli village in Kolhapur district’s Radhanagari tehsil.
In a video that went viral, the man was seen questioning the employees as to why ‘Modi Sarkar’ was written on the chariot instead of “Bharat Sarkar'' or “Government of India” as the scheme being promoted is that of the government, and not Modi – a question that probably many within the country have.
The BJP has for long tried to establish PM Narendra Modi as a strong and trustworthy leader. The party tries to reinforce this ‘Modi magic’ not just ahead of elections but across diplomatic events, during promotion of schemes and programmes and even in educational spaces. But it hasn’t come without resistance.
When the University Grants Commission issued a directive requiring colleges to set up Narendra Modi Selfie Points within their campuses, student associations and faculty alike, expressed fierce opposition.
A faculty member at a top institution said that the government was portraying every ordinary achievement as a spectacular one and attributing the credit to the Prime Minister, according to a report by Telegraph. “This new directive is an addition to an existing list of activities by various government institutions to attach the Prime Minister's image to various initiatives. These things include the COVID-19 vaccine certificates and Rozgar Melas,” the faculty member said. The directive was eventually rolled back.
This is not the first time that UGC has come under the scanner for ‘being an extended arm of the government’. In 2021, the body had asked all universities, colleges and technical institutions to put up banners thanking Prime Minister Modi for "starting free vaccination for 18 years and above age group".
In a WhatsApp message sent to various university officials, UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain also asked the institutions to share the banners on their social media pages. The move drew sharp reactions from several quarters including academicians, student bodies and politicians.
"Mr Modi is not our first PM and this is not India's first vaccination programme. But the campaign against Covid-19 and the vaccine programme is being projected as a one-man show, a propaganda tool for the prime minister,” said Peter M, a 62-year-old right to information activist and a member of India's main opposition Congress party.
For this reason, Peter wanted a new vaccination certificate – one without PM Modi’s face in it. When he petitioned against the same in the Kerala High Court, the court dismissed it, arguing that it would set a ‘dangerous precedent’. India is perhaps the only country so far whose vaccination certificates have the Prime Minister's image.
Impact of brand Modi on voters in previous elections
The ‘Modi factor’ has often been discussed and debated during elections. The advantage the BJP gets from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity— which has been credited for the party's win in elections over the last few years — has often been referred to as the Modi factor.
According to the CSDS National Election Studies, in the previous Lok Sabha elections of 2019, not only did Modi get additional votes for the BJP but also for its allies in the National Democratic Alliance. Around one-fourth (27 per cent) of BJP voters in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and about a third (31 per cent) in 2019 said “they would not have voted for the BJP if Modi was not the PM candidate.”
The recent drubbing of Congress and victory of BJP in the state assembly elections was majorly attributed to BJP’s election campaigns that were heavily centred on the Prime Minister. Data from the Lokniti-CSDS post-election survey indicate that nearly 19 per cent of BJP voters in Madhya Pradesh voted in the name of Modi, while in Rajasthan it was 24 per cent.
But the commonly repeated slogan of ‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’ (Modi makes the impossible possible) doesn’t resonate with the people of South India – as seen in election results of Telangana and Karnataka.
In Karnataka, the BJP relied on Modi’s popularity, by scheduling his rallies just a few days ahead of voting. Modi also enlisted the help of a polarising propaganda film, The Kerala Story, to appeal to Hindu voters – all of which did not help the party that eventually ended up losing the second-largest Southern state.
Similarly in Hyderabad, where Modi addressed a massive public gathering and conducted a road show, BJP only retained Goshamahal seat. The remaining seven seats it won were in North Telangana.
However, BJP still maintained 36 per cent of the vote in Telangana. And in Telangana, the BJP nearly doubled its vote share to 14 per cent.
