The General Election of 2014 was the most important election in the country since 1977. Rajdeep Sardesai's book evaluates the election vis-à-vis its key players and strategies. In an interaction, he tells RAJESH SINGH about the book
The title of your book is 2014: The Election that Changed India. You accept that there has been a change. Has that change been positive or negative with Narendra Modi becoming the Prime MinisterIJ
The change is a work in progress. Time will tell whether the net result is going to be positive or otherwise. At this moment, I believe the situation is pregnant with possibilities, both good and bad.
But surely there are indications to be had even at this early stage. What do you make of themIJ
I can point to two positive aspects. There has been a restoration of the authority of the Prime Minister and out-of-box thinking on certain issues. The Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, for instance, is one such innovative project that has connected with the people. The negative is authoritarianism in the Prime Minister’s functioning. Too many powers concentrated in an individual, is a worrisome trend in a democracy.
Your book is critical of both Modi and Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi. But you have explained away Rahul Gandhi’s failures as arising out of his ‘reluctance’ to lead or ‘not wanting to open up sufficiently enough’ or even the inability of his team to match Modi’s outreach both on the campaign trail and through the media. Do you believe that the Congress leader’s failures have to do with his incompetence or mere disinterest in the jobIJ
I have tried not to be judgmental about either personality. I have given my opinions based on the ground reality. It’s for the readers to judge. However, I have not been soft on Rahul Gandhi. In fact, I have been scathing in my observations. The book certainly presents him in bad light. The bottom line is: Rahul simply did not click. He lacked decisiveness. He failed.
With the material at your disposal, did you find it easy to come to conclusions about Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, even if you have left the final verdict to the readersIJ
Political leaders are complex personalities. They have their strengths and weaknesses. The end result depends upon which triumphs. Rahul Gandhi is well-intentioned. He genuinely wanted to revamp the party and rid the political system of tainted elements. But that’s about it; he has done nothing beyond expressing intent. His campaigning lacked conviction. Modi has fresh ideas, and he conducted his campaign with energy — and he wore his ambition on his sleeves.
You have remarked in the book that much of the media had continued to view the BJP leader from the prism of the 2002 Gujarat violence. That includes you, doesn’t itIJ
That’s true. like so many others, I too remained in the ‘Modi 2002 trap’. And again, like many others in the media, I did not catch early enough the evolution of Modi into a different personality, emerging out of the 2002 shadows. Since 2002, a certain image of Modi continued to be with me.
Was that also because you had gone through some personally traumatic momentsIJ Did that impact your thinking about himIJ
That is true. I still maintain — and as you know, I have said it in the book — that I believe Modi had been incompetent (whatever the compulsions then may have been for him as a new Chief Minister) while handling the violence. On whether he was responsible for the killings, I will not take a speculative position.
You said earlier that the media did not read the emerging signals about Modi’s ascent. When did you notice those signalsIJ
The first time I realised that something was dramatically changing about him and a ‘Modi wave’ was developing, was when I saw the results of the July 2013 Election Tracker the television channel I worked for earlier had organised. From then on, it was a sure and steady rise of the prime ministerial candidate.
You have spoken in the book about Modi’s transformation. Would you say it is for realIJ
We have to wait and see how the transformation plays out to know for sure it is genuine. For now I will say that Modi has launched a strategic makeover of his personality. It began after his arrival on the national stage, and it is still happening. He is a master strategist, after all.