Decoding the secret of Modi’s communication | Analysis

Having been a journalist and an anchor for many decades, there is one question that many people keep asking me. “Rajat ji, who is your favourite anchor?” While most professionals compare themselves to their own earlier versions and improve over them, honestly, everyone has someone else in their profession that they like and so do I. However, it is when someone outside your profession shines in a role such as anchoring that one sits up and takes notice. In my rather short list of favourite anchors, I have a non-journalist entry — Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The latest instance of his excellent skill of holding and moderating a meaningful conversation was seen in the Fit India Dialogue 2020. As a yogi who had become the global brand ambassador of yoga, he was fittingly the moderator of this dialogue. And as a karmayogi who has never taken a day off, he is also the epitome of fitness. However, that is not what stood out in the conversation; it was something else.

From a young female Kashmiri footballer to a cricket superstar, from a nutritionist to a yoga guru, Modi spoke to everyone effortlessly and held forth on their respective topics with elan. The ease with which he connects to people from many walks of life, something that I had observed long ago, was there for everyone to see.

The warmth Modi exudes also helps people connect easily with him. This breaks the ice and puts people at ease and makes them open up, forgetting the fact that they are speaking to a larger-than-life leader. For example, in the same “Fit India” interaction, he cracked a joke with Milind Soman about his age, created a phrase “Ace It Like Afshan” for the footballer, and asked Virat Kohli about the Yo-Yo test.

When it began, some people thought that Mann Ki Baat would be a monthly speech on the radio. But Modi has made it a conversation where he, as the anchor, brings together the successes and stories of common people. Even there, he is a calm and knowledgeable anchor whenever he is speaking to people. The conversations are always engaging. An engaging conversation is possible only when people are looking to learn from one another with an open mind. This ability to think that they may have something to learn from the other person is what makes people good listeners. An important reason behind Modi’s excellent conversation skills is that he sees himself as a constant learner. He may be the prime minister, but he still thinks he can look to learn something from everyone, young or old.

A good anchor should be sufficiently knowledgeable about different topics to hold the conversation with people from different domains. This ability to be a constant learner has not only helped Modi converse better with people, but has also helped him in a different way. He knows quite a lot about many topics. He has said many times that he has spent some time in most districts of India, especially before he began to hold national positions in his party. Being among the people has helped him gain great knowledge about India’s vastly diverse people and cultures, which one cannot get from books or newspapers; it’s practical knowledge. This is the sort of knowledge that, if one wants a media parallel, separates an anchor who has reporting experience from a studio-bred anchor who does not have experience of the heat and dust outside.

In a recent interaction organised by Niti Aayog, Modi was speaking to a few bureaucrats and technology experts on skill mapping- and employment-related issues.

I came away impressed by the precise questions he asked on connecting people with skills, employability, social infrastructure in worker clusters, rating of companies based on how they take care of employees and forecasting of manpower requirements in upcoming industrial clusters. He elevated the level of conversation with his specific questions and inputs that even the panellists could not help saying that it inspired them to think deeper.

A similar trend was seen across the multiple interactions he had during the coronavirus pandemic with media, doctors, and various other sections of society. He spoke with specifics at hand, calmed everyone and made everyone remember why they were doing what they were doing.

Indians are generally passionate about conversations. This is the reason why Modi’s conversations, be it “Fit India Dialogue” or Mann Ki Baat or a host of other such conversations are avidly followed by people. However, the “X factor” in all of them is Modi. The most articulate orators are good at mass communication which is often unidirectional. However, Modi is a rare phenomenon who is both a mass communicator as well as an excellent moderator in multi-directional communication.

In fact, given the “aggression” in news studios of late, some anchors can take a leaf or two out of Modi’s book, that research, preparation, and composure create enriching conversations.

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