There is no mantra... I am far from the mantra and tantra world.” These are Prime Minister Modi’s words at a magazine’s conclave last year. There is, of course, no question that he is a superb communicator. He has a love for alliteration, acronym and rhyme.
The website scroll.in reported this saying that the “PM’s approach to rhetoric is to find a way to turn a simple concept into something appealing to his core constituency. NaMo has continued to add to our lexicon of acronyms.” Most recently, Mr Modi referred to the “3Ds that only India had”. He said that “the world is looking at Asia. But they don’t know where to go. We have to give nations willing to invest an address. Demographic dividend, democracy, demand, all three exist in India and only India in Asia.” Mr Modi also used this formula on his trip to Japan.
Alliteration, meaning the use of consecutive words starting with the same letter, is one of Mr Modi’s favourite devices. He has spoken of the “5Ts” to “build brand India”. The five being, according to him, talent, tradition, tourism, trade and technology. Describing his government’s Budget, Mr Modi said that “development should have the 3Ss — samaveshak, sarvadeshak, sarvasparshi.” This means that it should be inclusive. The PM’s mantra for his government is the “4Ps”. He says that “if we want good governance, we must look to ‘4Ps’: people, private, public partnership. We need to move from PPP to PPPP.”
My guess is that Mr Modi wanted to own the phrase but thought it was overused and so changed it a little. Another alliteration is his “5F formula” for the textile industry. In his words — “Farm to Fibre, Fibre to Fabric, Fabric to Fashion, Fabric to Foreign.”
Yet another is the “3Ps”. A TV channel reported on August 14 that “Modi suggested prakash, paryavaran and paryatan (light, environment and tourism),” the 3P formula for Leh-Ladakh, and that “if these three are utilised properly then the country will benefit.” Then there is the other “3Ss”. A newspaper reported that “Modi said the country needed skill, scale and speed to match China.”
During the campaign, Modi spoke of “3 AKs”. He said the “three AKs are admired in Pakistan — AK-47, A.K. Antony, and AK-49 who floated a new party.”
Yet another Modi formula is P2G2. “We need P2G2: Pro-people good governance”, Mr Modi said according to a news report on February 6.
Sometimes Mr Modi strikes upon a very fine phrase — for instance, his promise to change the way India is seen as an investment destination: “From red tape to red carpet.” However, at times it
seems that Mr Modi is forcing himself to come up with something clever when it isn’t really required. For instance, his slogan “from Scam India to Skilled India.” In anticipation of the visit of
China’s leader to India, Mr Modi coined the slogan “INCH, that is ‘India-China’; towards MILES — ‘millennium of exceptional synergy’.”
Mr Modi has the easy way of someone who doesn’t feel obliged to always speak formally. This is what makes him a great communicator. He says, “We need to put ‘life’ in a ‘file’. It isn’t enough to put up facilities, it is equally important to improve life.” On the subject of laws, he said, “this nation does not need Acts, it needs Action.” And fewer slogans too, one might add.
Aakar Patel is a writer and columnist
