On April 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a townhall meeting at the national capital’s Talkatora Stadium with 1,000 odd students gearing up to take second ary school exams. Modelled on ‘Chai Pe Charcha’, Modi’s video outreach to adult audiences, the programme is called ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ and has been an annual event since 2018. From students to beneficiaries of social sector schemes, from party MPs and cadre to bureaucrats and officials, it’s unlikely the country has seen a prime minister who likes to engage directly—and visibly—with so many social groupings. Nehru, of course, did so...but that was the preamplification era, so the ‘Modi effect’ is all new.
From explaining the benefits of central schemes to beneficiaries to relieving student stress, from shaking errant bureaucrats out of their slumber to ticking off errant BJP MPs and coaching partymen about what messages to carry to the people, he does it all—and incessantly. Of course, a lot of this also has to do with the fact that the BJP is already remounting its election army to ready for 2024. No Indian prime minister has won three elections on the trot except, again, Nehru.
This story is from the April 18, 2022 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 18, 2022 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Grand Young Master
Seventeen-yearold D. Gukesh has become the youngest player to win the Candidates chess tournament
SPORTING SPIRIT
BADMINTON PLAYER ASHWINI PONNAPPA, 34, IS OFF TO HER THIRD OLYMPICS, THIS TIME WITH A NEW PARTNER, TANISHA CRASTO
PORTRAITS OF A PEOPLE
Etchings by the colonial Flemish artist F. Baltazard Solvyns are getting a new lease of life in an exhibition at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Centennial Man
A seminal exhibition of K.G. Subramanyan's works in his birth centenary year at Emami Art, Kolkata takes an imaginative and immersive curatorial approach
Rhythms of Nature
ARTIST AND MUSIC COMPOSER GINGGER SHANKAR'S LATEST SINGLE COMBINES SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC WITH INUIT THROAT SINGING
SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND
Kashmiri musician Faheem Abdullah’s debut album Lost; Found is a collaborative effort
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
With its excellent translations, Songs of Tagore makes Rabindrasangit accessible to the non-Bengali reader
Of Freedom and Friendship
T.C.A. RAGHAVAN'S CIRCLES OF FREEDOM FOLLOWS THREE YOUNG MUSLIMS DRAWN INTO THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE
The Razor's Edge
Salman Rushdie's Knife is an eloquent, first-person account of the horrific attack on him. It's also a love story
THE LAST-MILE PUSH
The India Today Smart Money Financial Summit had top experts discussing how technology could be leveraged to widen the reach of personal finance tools