MEN OF THE MOMENT

NARENDRA MODI

MR INDIA

NaMo has in many ways become the undisputed sun king of Indian politics. His opponents hate him and the people of India love him (at least most of them) giving him a thumping victory in the recent elections and a majority in the Lok Sabha, the enormity of which hasn’t been realised since we won our independence.

While his detractors termed him the chowkidar chor and tried to re-enliven his Godhra past, Modi stood strong and never wavered in the face of an almost obsessed, hate-filled opposition. Rafael never became into the controversy Rahul Gandhi had hoped would win him the election and neither were demonetisation and GST viewed as policies that would topple the saffron emperor. This election also signified a major departure from vanilla campaigning. Both sides have officially entered the digital age, with aggressive IT cells and even more hot-headed ambassadors. NaMo’s particular success at rallying Bollywood to support him, a feat that has not been accomplished before, was visibly significant – the Akshay Kumar interview, nationalist movies like Uri: The Surgical Strike and The Accidental releasing suspiciously close to the elections, all this and more had a populous impact. On the other hand, the Congress used all its might with their media relations from around the world to paint Modi as a dividing force.