Modi has brought into practice a style of one-way communication: Giving out messages | The Indian Express

Modi has brought into practice a style of one-way communication: Giving out messages | The Indian Express

Written by Suhas Palshikar |Updated: May 21, 2019 9:56:26 am

The writer taught political science at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, and is chief editor of 'Studies in Indian Politics'.

Modi has brought into practice a style of one-way communication: Giving out messages

Modi probably believes that he doesn’t need the media because his power derives from the people. He forgets that without the prolonged love affair that the media had with him, his image could not have been built in the way it was between 2013 and 2018.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi listens as BJP president Amit Shah addresses a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Friday, May 17, 2019. (AP Photo: Manish Swarup)

Last Friday’s dud press conference by Narendra Modi-Amit Shah might be seen as yet more proof that the prime minister doesn’t face the media impromptu. But that episode and Modi’s unwillingness to be more accessible to the media is instructive for a very different reason. It has brought forward the issue of the relationship between political leaders and the public in a democracy.