Phantasmagoric Appeal of the One

HE is everywhere. There are his cutouts in which the prime minister is holding a broom. In others, he is waving at nobody in particular. And then, there are the selfie booths at airports, in institutions, and at railway stations, with a 3D life-size replica of Modi.

- Chinki Sinha

For everyone to be with the prime minister. The cult of personality has been a dominant feature of Indian politics since Modi became the prime minister when even vaccination certificates had his photo. It is an idealised, heroic image created through mass media and propaganda centred around nationalism and now, religion and majoritarian politics. 

This is the time of apotheosis, the culmination of it all in deification almost. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone beyond a human avatar to be hailed as an avatar of Lord Vishnu by his own party members. In the Ram temple consecration ceremony, Modi was the man who supposedly returned Lord Ram to his estranged homeland Ayodhya. In his speech, he said that Ram had been living under a tent and now, Modi has got him his birthplace—a pucca house like crores of Indians. Modi, and not an ordained priest, did the honours of setting up Lord Ram in his newly built abode while leaders and others, including Bollywood celebrities, cheered him on.