Narendra Modi and the Power of Television in Gujarat

The growing importance of images in the age of television has created the conditions for Narendra Modi to evolve his nondiscursive populist mode of political communication as Chief Minister of Gujarat. Beyond television, he has relied on techniques like mobile vans carrying TV sets and 3D holograms shown in many different locations simultaneously. In this type of high-tech populism, the dress codes and the body language have mattered lot, and hence Modi’s obsession with details, including the colors to wear and the length of his kurta’s sleeves. If Indira Gandhi’s brand of populism relied mostly on the radio, Narendra Modi, who has short circuited his party in the same proportion, belongs to the television era. But he has not used this medium only to promote his image (TV has also played a role in preparing the ground for the Gujarat pogrom after Godhra).