Narendra Modi and the Power of Television in Gujarat
Résumé
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).