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Business News/ Industry / Modi mania everywhere: Can you catch a break from it?
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Modi mania everywhere: Can you catch a break from it?

All you see on magazine covers, hoardings, airwaves and TV channels is Narendra Modi and all you hear is either him or his pointpersons extolling his virtues as the helmsman of NDA govt

In the run-up to the Modi-led NDA’s first anniversary in power, Indian (and international) media coverage is obsessed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Premium
In the run-up to the Modi-led NDA’s first anniversary in power, Indian (and international) media coverage is obsessed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Delhi: It’s Narendra Modi all the way. On magazine covers, hoardings, airwaves and TV channels. All you see is his face and all you hear is either him or his pointpersons extolling his virtues as the helmsman of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

In the run-up to the NDA’s first anniversary in power, Indian (and international) media coverage is obsessed with the man. The rest of the government isn’t even a footnote!

“He remains the central figure of his government and his party. He’s also the central figure in his own understanding of what this huge change over the past year has been about—new government, new mandate, a completely new set of people and priorities," said Sevanti Ninan, a media critic and author and editor of the media tracking website, thehoot.org.

Such is the obsession with the man that even The Economist, a weekly news magazine which took a strong stand on Modi last year, seems to have given in. It put him on the cover this week, describing him as India’s one man band. To its credit, it acknowledged the fact. “This newspaper chose not to back Mr Modi in last year’s elections because of his record on handling religious strife. Though he fails to control the Hindu extremist bullies who back him, we are happy that our fears of grave communal violence have so far not been realised", read a quote from its cover story

Earlier this month, Time, an American weekly magazine, sat him down for an interview, seeking his views on everything from his dreams for India to the global war on terrorism and what personally moves him. Why Modi Matters?, read the cover line.

Closer home, some of the coverage showed a little more restraint. For instance, the cover story in India Today, an English weekly magazine, was titled, Modi’s First Year: Impatient India Wants Delivery, Not Just Intent. While Open magazine’s cover story read, “One year on, he faces the gaze of a nation reeling under exaggerated expectations. Those who are looking for a re-run of the Modi Miraculous of his campaign days are likely to be disappointed". Grim words, but it was still Modi on the cover.

“It’s about scrutiny and celebration. The media brought him in with huge hype a year ago and the expectation hasn’t abated. The media has a lot of grist for its mill. In the fitness of things, the media has to make a lot of this anniversary because he came in with a huge mandate," added Ninan.

But for the most part, the media just hung on to his every word. Television news channel Bloomberg TV India, for instance, has been running a weekend campaign called NaMo’s Year with exclusive interviews with ministers like Suresh Prabhu and Nirmala Sitharaman, among others.

When he cannot or isn’t present for an interaction, he takes it upon himself to leave his impramatur. Like on Friday, when he tweeted about the appearances made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and other key ministers, including Arun Jaitley, on television channels like Aaj Tak and ABP News.

“On popular demand, sharing @AmitShahOffice speaking at @aajtak Manthan." Modi said in a tweet. “Do watch my colleague @nitin_gadkari speaking at ‘Shikar Sammelan’ on @abpnewstv." read another. “My colleague @arunjaitley ji speaks about the work of the NDA government in the past year, in his articulate style", went a third.

The coming week will have a lot more of the Modi show. The BJP has planned 250 rallies and 500 press conferences across the country, between 26-31 May, to be addressed by its MPs and MLAs, to inform people about the achievements of the government. The party is calling it the Jan Kalyan Parv, which loosely translates as people’s welfare festival. The Prime Minister will, without a doubt, be the star in every one of those events.

Modi is expected to kick off the roadshow with a rally in Mathura on Monday, a day before his government completes a year in office.

Besides the rallies and press conferences, the Press Information Bureau has rolled out a schedule, starting on Thursday, for ministers’ interviews with print and electronic media and other news portals.

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Published: 23 May 2015, 12:49 AM IST
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