Why Modi gets under the skin of the ‘liberal’ media

Much has been written about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Narendra Modi over the last five years in the press. The Delhi-based ‘liberal’, ‘intellectual’, Left-leaning press will keep hammering on about how only they know what is right and wrong and good and bad for the country. The rest of us are supposed to accept that anyone who does not subscribe to their point of view is a fool or blind or incapable of thinking properly. Unfortunately for them, this category now covers a large proportion of the country.

This section of the media will keep describing the BJP and Mr Modi with the usual words they employed for him in the past – divisive, polarising, communal, fundamentalist, ego-centric, anti-Muslim and anti-minority. Yet, when asked to come up with specific and concrete examples of these descriptions, they will be unable to go beyond mere name-calling.
Why does the ‘liberal press’ hate Modi so much? While there are many ways of analysing this and understanding this, here is a marketing and sales person’s perspective on this phenomenon.

Like many aspects of marketing and life in general, success is about dealing with people and managing relationships. Today the status quo has been upset. If Modi 1.0 was about the temerity of a chaiwala becoming a PM and proving the ‘intellectuals’ wrong, then Modi 2.0 is about a bigger threat – upsetting a comfortable and rewarding status quo. The reality is that Mr Modi has threatened – and to a large extent – succeeded in upsetting a major characteristic of Indian politics, namely, dynastic rule. This section of the press will not like this because they have been shaken up from their comfortable positions.

The success of the press depends on their getting access to information. Access to information is through people – knowing the right ones. Think of the advantages to the press community if dynastic politics is the order of the day. All they need to do is pick up the phone and chat with old friends. The old boy network and “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ syndrome works brilliantly. The relationship gets passed on from one generation to another. The old guard just hands over the reins to beta or beti or in many cases biwi or pati. When the dynasty continues so does the relationship and all benefits that accrue.

The press moguls will now have to work much harder to get access to people for their breaking news. It is therefore not surprising that the BJP in general, and Modi in particular, are at the receiving end of the wrath of a section of the press. The BJP has been smart enough to circumvent the old media in many ways and work through social media and its own foot soldiers in the press to get its message across. The old media can whine and cry about the loss of a credible and strong Opposition and the dangers and threat to democracy. Like in the corporate world, when the market leader loses the pole position, they must ask why and how they let others overtake them instead of playing martyr and victim.

The Indian public have given their mandate and it is up to the press to act maturely and responsibly to help the government take this country forward. The press will do themselves and the country a lot of good if they could stop raving and ranting at the top of their voices, playing prosecutor, and judge on all matters. The press must play the role of a responsible watchdog to keep the country on track. What we need in India is a fair and objective press that brings the good and bad news to the public and lets the janta decide who and what is best for them.

So far it is game and two sets to BJP. Let's see if they can keep their cool and win the third set and match in 2024!

(Ramesh Venkateswaran is adjunct faculty in Marketing at IIM Bangalore and IIM Udaipur)