The above video-clip has gone viral in India and is drawing mixed and vociferous reactions from Modi-haters, baiters and admirers.
The Modi-baiters in Kerala Congress Party put out a spiteful social media post that read: “The Pope finally gets to meet God Almighty!”. It’s funny but ill-conceived since the Modi-admirers turned it easily into a blasphemous slur on Christianity.
The Modi admirers also gushed over the way they saw the Pope reciprocating Modi’s warm, grandstanding gesture. The Modi Hug turned out to be irresistible to the Prince of the Vatican even !
The Modi-detractors however are saying “Hrrmph!” and puckering their snooty noses to express their displeasure over Modi’s Hug which they think only time and again lowers if not cheapens the dignity and status of the high office of the Prime Minister of India. “For Gawd’s sake, can’t this man spare us all his display of unctuous diplomacy at all world forums?! It’s so goddamn embarrassing, this man’s cheap showman antics! ”, they seem to be tut-tutting with a disapproving grimace.
Here are a few messages and comments which some within my own circle of friends sent me :
1. “The caption (for the above video-clip) should be “how Modi met Pope”. Pope as he did for other world leaders there only held out his hand to Modi. But it was Modi who leaned forward and took the initiative to embrace him! And did you see the obvious look of embarrassment of the guy behind who was pushing Pope’s wheel-chair? (The only thing he didn’t do was to roll his eyes and look at the roof in exasperation!)
I for one don’t understand the sort of visceral disdain many in the country have for their elected PM such as the above comment exemplifies. It seems downright unfair and spiteful .
The Modi Hug was a good warm gesture of the Head of State towards another. Yes, one might even say it was pure drama or staged and cynical optics. It was maybe even a tad more effusive than diplomatic outreach normally demands… but why ridicule our country’s PM for it ? Isn’t he just doing his job enthusiastically at an international forum. Isn’t his bit of histrionics all only for the sake of the country’s foreign policy?
2. “The Pope’s wheel-chair attendant might have thought that the Modi Hug constituted a protocol breach and hence might have been discomfited by it and reflexively might have looked around him for some protocol officer or security personnel to hurry to his aid. You might have noticed that the other leaders only kissed the Pope’s cheek. The problem with grand public gestures of leaders arises only when gestures get imprinted or associated with religious overtones such as wearing a skullcap or wearing saffron-colored attire. I personally felt that our PM could have maintained a simple gesture of namaste for all and also not shaken hands with ladies and simply offered them namaste 🙏”
The above comment too strikes me as being rather uncharitable and wholly unappreciative of the psychology of an elected leader of a country representing at the G-7 Summit a billion and half people on the planet which PM Modi happens to be whether one likes it or not.
The Modi-Hug is now part of Modi’s brand-building exercise both within and outside India. Whether one loves or hates it, Brand Modi is an international cynosure in the world of politics.
Brand-building calls for a certain amount of style, swagger and panache. Brand Differentiation is holy doctrine in modern Marketing Theory and Modi is adept at differentiating himself from many other world leaders who are more powerful than he. Modi can strut around as a near-equal amongst them all at World Summit forums precisely because he is able to effectively differentiate himself from them both in style as much as substance. And his efforts at building Brand Modi internationally has paid him rich dividends in the last 10 years . He’s truly a mass leader who has been globally acknowledged being one.
In my own view , the Modi Hug is really part of India’s and EAM Jaishankar’s foreign policy tool-kit too. It is effective in power projection of India’s Democracy.
It is also, yes, a cultivated mannerism intended by Modi to charm friend, foe and frenemy alike on the world stage. However, it’s not dissimilar from the exaggerated mannerisms of a superstar like Rajinikanth or a Shah Rukh Khan …. Nothing more , nothing less.
We Indians who are Modi baiters and haters must honestly ask ourselves: Why do we love Rajinikanth on the one hand but then love to hate Modi on the other hand for the very same fault of both : their fault of grandstanding in public with their expansive well-choreographed brand-gestures intended to capture the public imagination?
Sudarshan Madabushi