The Making of Brand Modi

‘I transformed Gujarat’, he would tell frenzied crowds, ‘now allow me to transform India’. It was a message that carried resonance.

But an increasing number of studies have found that the claim that Modi transformed Gujarat do not quite hold up. Two UK-based economists, Professor Maitreesh Ghatak of London School of Economics and Sanchari Roy of Warwick University, find that while Modi ensured that Gujarat remained a high performing state, it didn’t significantly do better in his tenure than other high performers like Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra.
 
On economic and social parameters, Gujarat is placed in the category of 11 ‘less developed states’ in RBI governor’s ranking of states.  

The marketing of the Gujarat success story and the building of Brand Modi started in 2003, in the immediate aftermath of the 2002 riots. The Modi government came in for widespread criticism for the sins of commissions and omissions during the riots, and it thought of an image makeover. So it caught hold of an American PR conglomerate APCO, whose Indian affiliate Akriti Promotions, headed by Pankaj Mudholkar, came out with a suggestion to hold an investor summit in late 2003 during Navratri festival.   

At that time, Mudholkar was with Grey Advertising. “We wanted to showcase the happy, happening images of Gujarat to the people and Navratri couldn’t have been a better choice for it, when the state is at its colourful best,” he told NDTV.

Grey organised the first few editions of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit; since 2011, the contract has shifted to APCO.  Each summit became a high-voltage media event, drawing top CEOs whose praise for Modi as a go-getting Chief Minister was telecast across the country. 

Thus from a figure of controversy, Modi became a Brand that delivers. Brand Modi promised efficient administration and then he had followed up it with Swagat, which is an online site, and the results were there to see. So people believed in whatever he mentioned.   

Here too, some have found an element of hyperbole. Data suggests that only a small fraction of the MoU’s pledged – 1907 projects out of 17,705 – have been converted. As of 2013, Maharashtra remains the highest ranking state for FDI inflows. Delhi is second. Gujarat slipped from the fifth to the sixth position.

And yet Gujarat scored through sheer hard-sell.