People Connect: What Others Can Learn From PM Modi’s Public Life
At the conclusion of any Parliament session, we routinely hear accounts of House productivity, loss to the exchequer due to House disruptions etc. We also get to know about MPs’ active participation in Parliamentary proceedings, including their attendance, participation in debates, private members’ bills, etc. These parameters are a fair indicator of an MP’s report card in Parliament.
Performance in Parliament is an important yardstick to evaluate a public representative. Another very important yardstick is a representative’s connect with the masses, the “aam janata”. How often does a public representative meet his or her constituents and the people? This is fundamental to the functioning of a democracy.
People’s opinions and feedback help the government, or a people’s representative for that matter, undertake course corrections, whenever required. People’s leaders ensure that such interactions inform policy decisions. This is at the heart of a dialogic democracy.
If one were to quantify a representative’s People Connect – how often one meets people, in public meetings, or virtual meetings in the new settings, and draw a list of Top 10 leaders with the “most impressive People Connect” ratings, nationally, the names would be interesting. What won’t be surprising, however, is to guess who would top such a list. Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s People Connect is formidable, and others can only dream of matching the regular interactions that the PM has with people, his constituents, countrymen, and other stakeholders.
It can well be argued that given that he is the country’s Prime Minister, it is only to be expected that he has a maximum number of meetings and interactions. However, even when one factors this, other political leaders in the political spectrum would be no match for PM Modi, when it comes to People Connect. In the age of social media, it is easy to track a public representative’s public engagements (one only has to go to their social media handles to get a fair idea of their People Connect).
In fact, People Connect is an extremely important factor why PM Modi remains so popular, and so highly-rated by the people. This has been the hallmark of the two decades that he has occupied public office. Lately, there has been a debate on “dialogic democracy”. One has to attend Modi’s public rallies to feel people’s sense of participation in such events.
Talking of “dialogic democracy,” Prashant Kishor, who has worked with Modi in the past, and is now advising Opposition parties, said something interesting recently. In an interview to “India Today”, he said: “He (Modi) is also a great listener. He has the quality of listening to as many people as possibly can be heard on any issue, which gives him the advantage of benefitting from all points of views”.
This provides an interesting contrast to, say, what former Congressman and now BJP CM in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, had to famously say about his encounter with a top Congress leader.
Those who write Opinion Columns, or even those who make forceful points in TV debates, don’t matter beyond a point, in a democracy. It is the public representatives who call the shots in a democratic system.
It is People Connect that is at the heart of a democracy. Those who do this, day in and day out, survive, thrive, and go on to write history. Those who wait for opportune moments for such interactions, and also go on holidays in the interim, are often forgotten by the people.
In an earlier piece, this writer had argued that “People Connect”, “Innovation” and “Futuristic Vision” were some of the defining features of Modi’s public life. Of these three, People Connect helps in building the foundation upon which other factors have a bearing.
In a recent public function, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar mentioned Gandhi, Patel and Modi together, to drive home a point. Among other themes, a running thread through the careers of Gandhi, Patel and Modi is their infinite ability and willingness to meet, engage, persuade and influence people.
(The writer, a JNU alumnus, is a political analyst. Views are personal)
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