Exclusive: Mood of The Nation Poll

Strongman Modi stands head and shoulders above everyone else in the eyes of the Indian people. He can do no wrong, it seems, going by the findings of the India Today-Karvy insights mood of the Nation poll for 2019

- Raj Chengappa

Only rarely does a nation’s destiny become so closely intertwined with that of its leader. Till recently, this pantheon of great Indian leaders had been limited to Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Some did come within striking distance of that trinity: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and, for a brief while, even Manmohan Singh when he was re-elected prime minister for the second time. But these statesmen were unable to ascend the altar of mass idolatry.

Now, however, a new claimant is emerging to the throne of absolute power: Narendra Damodardas Modi. The size of the screens and the colour with which we view our leaders have drastically altered from the sepia-toned photographs of Gandhi and Nehru and the flickering black-and-white images of Indira on hunchbacked television sets. We now view our leaders on palm-sized screens, keep track of them through their staccato tweets and are more connected with them than ever before. No Indian leader has mastered the wizardry of such an engagement better than Modi. As a result, in just five years, his persona looms even larger than a 70 mm movie screen in our collective consciousness.

Like the mythical German god Thor (made popular in recent times by Hollywood), Modi is now regarded as someone who can make both thunder and lightning happen. He is both the storm that can sweep voters off their feet, and its eye. He does not just occupy centre stage, he has become the stage itself. Welcome to Modistan.