The Triumphant Politics of Joyful Change

The Context Today

Indian politicians and political parties have been mimicking their US counterparts for the past decade or so.

For example, they have learnt that astutely devised narratives built on great research help. Mr. Modi is supposedly to have hired an international PR agency — APCO, and this was later denied by APCO, to build a narrative and an image that glossed over some of his questionable past. O&M and Soho Square came up with quite brilliant lines as slogans including ‘ab ki baar Modi sarkar’ (this time around, a Modi government), and ‘Chalo chale Modi ke saath’ (Let’s go with Modi). Now, we have the ruling party questioning the birth certificate of its opposition leader — quite similar to tactics deployed by Trump against Obama.

Politics in India has become increasingly fractious, fragmenting, and really quite depressing as one witnesses both sides of the aisle indulging in taunts, insults, and gimmicks — the August 15th speech by Modi Ji was as infantile as some of the actions of the opposition in the parliament.

However, there seems to be a new trend in US politics that should be and ought to be mimicked by our political honchos as well — and that of the politics of ‘Joy’ where Kamala Harris and Tim Walz pair up for the DNC and speak with the American middle class (and…