Who is the best orator in politics of India in current times? One may easily say: ‘PM Narendra Modi’.
He uses his power of narration and oration to connect with the masses. In opposition politics, Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Congress, is trying hard to emerge as a credible and effective communicator.
Political communication has evolved, not only through impressive speaking, but also how it touches the hearts and minds of people persuasively.
It does not depend on words and metaphors, but it gets its effectiveness through its power to easily create visuals in the minds of the listener and evoke their memories and experience. Abstract words or displaced metaphors go like a no-ball in cricket.
Rahul Gandhi has started to use two words — dar or bhaya (fear) and nafrat (hate) — in many of his interviews, rallies and political meetings while attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party and politics of PM Narendra Modi. He also uses Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with the BJP as producer of politics based on fear and hatred.
Recently, in his Bharat Jodo rally organised in Delhi, his main narrative was the BJP’s politics of “fear and hatred”. But in spite of his repeated assertion of these phrases, words and metaphors, he has not been able to persuade the public effectively.
Why has Gandhi failed to mobilise the public around his arguments?
There may be two reasons for the ineffectiveness. Firstly, the way Gandhi uses these words, they merely seem like abstract metaphors. Secondly, they are not in the right place with clarity on the target group. What does he mean when he says the word fear? One can assume he means the fear of the BJP, which is unconvincing to the masses.
On the contrary, the fear in the BJP-led states is appreciated by a large section of masses, because, according to them, it bulldozes guns, mafias, criminals and corrupts. One can easily hear the appreciation of such actions at tea shops, pan shops, dhabas and chaupals.
Another meaning of this metaphor of fear appears more clearly when he links the fear with what he calls “the politics of hate”. It may impress minorities, but the minority itself is not homogeneous, it is divided based on their experiences as individuals and community from BJP-led states and the Centre.
The various government schemes, decisions have now eroded the age-old perception of BJP-Sangh across communities.
Another aspect is any mobilisation inherently produces counter-mobilisation. If someone wants to evoke minority by such metaphors, it can also produce counter polarisation among majority which may benefit the BJP.
The metaphors of dar, bhaya and nafrat are clearly not helping Gandhi and the Congress mobilise people against the BJP. It is time they rethink their strategy.
Badri Narayan is Professor and Director at GB Pant Social Science Institute, Prayagraj, and author of ‘Republic of Hindutva’. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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