(Pawan Khera is a political analyst with the Congress party.)If the UPA 2 was an example of a PR disaster, NDA under Modi is proving to be a PR overkill. Not much has changed between BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Modi. He was campaigning then, he is campaigning now. The difference being that now the government ends up paying for his PR excesses. What appeared to be an effective means for him to communicate with the voters, Modi's oratory now comes across as an end in itself.
From Nepal to Japan, all that he has successfully done is to talk his way to entrench himself in our minds. Governance has been reduced to a Big Boss-inspired soap opera, with the Prime Minister as the Pied Piper of India.
With most media outlets indulging in competitive sycophancy, every word uttered by him, howsoever inane, finds an echo from headlines to debates to hashtag trends.
What happened on Teacher's Day is unprecedented in terms of the way 1.8 million schools were mandated to organize live transmission of Prime Minister's interaction with 14 million students. Teachers were incidental to the program, except that they had to hire equipment, rent auditoriums, tutor children and later prepare compliance reports. Some schools went a step further and decided to organize a quiz based on the Prime Minister's speech and add marks to the finals.
All this to cater to the fundamental urge of the Prime Minister to talk. To talk, not about what problems our 5 million teachers face; not even about children but to talk about his favorite subject - himself. Students were made to ask questions tailored to ensure the Prime Minister was able to talk about Bal Narendra. And if people were expecting him to address issues of under equipped, under staffed schools and under paid teachers, they were hugely disappointed. In fact, he ended up insulting teachers by saying that people who fail at becoming doctors and engineers end up becoming teachers.
Those looking for content in the interaction, were amused at the rather naive connection he drew between climate change and getting older. His inspiration clearly came from the Dina Nath Batra School of Environmental Sciences.
Interestingly, Narendra Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat had been addressing students of the state since 2008 on Teacher's Day, with scant concern for either the students, or the teachers or education per se. In May last year, the Supreme Court had slammed the state government over its Vidya Sahayak Scheme. Not only was the court angry over the recruitment process of Vidya Sahayaks, it expressed shock at the meagre salary of Rs 2500 being given to the Vidya Sahayaks.
Those looking for the real intent of this exercise are convinced that it was meant to serve as brand-building for Narendra Modi, the incumbent Prime Minister impressing a captive audience comprising future voters.
Remember his victory speech in Vadodara when he indulgently spoke about children making YouTube films on him -
Agli peedhi taiyyar ho gayi - the next generation of voters is ready.
If it was as innocent as plain brand -building, one could have overlooked it as yet another attempt at self-promotion by a man grappling with lofty expectations and a loftier self image. This should be seen in the light of the plans of HRD ministry of rewriting the curriculum and indoctrinating young minds. For the RSS to succeed in making education completely bereft of liberal influences and promote its agenda it needs plumbing - to send messages for what is euphemistically called 'character-building'. Narendra Modi is doing the ground laying work for that plumbing.
Such is the apprehension about this regime that the CBSE's circular asking students of class XI and XII to furnish their mobile phone numbers and email IDs is being viewed with suspicion across the country and termed as an invasion of privacy. The exercise is being seen as an attempt to create a database to be used for non-academic purposes by the state.
For those who were confused whether it was children's day or teacher's day, the answer is it was neither. It was a day of Narendra Modi.
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