Indian PM Narendra Modi resurrects Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats to bypass the media
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New Delhi: The young student fretting about exams and the marks he needed to secure a good job received some advice from a kindly “uncle”. He was told not to overdo the studying and instead to get out, play sports, and divert his mind.
“Exams are not everything. You, young Indians, should take up hobbies and travel to widen your horizons. Do something outside the box.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June Photo: AP
The “uncle” dispensing advice was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Every month since he took office in 2014, Modi has been having a “fireside chat” with ordinary Indians through the Mann ke Baat (roughly translated as Heart to Heart) radio program.
People write in with questions or suggestions. Out of the thousands received, some are selected. Then, on the national radio network, Modi spends half an hour responding.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation on the country’s Independence Day from the ramparts of the historical Red Fort in New Delhi on August 15. Photo: AP
In the two years, more than 445 million Indians have heard their Prime Minister chat to them. The topics have ranged from farmers complaining of drought, to corruption and drug addiction, and calls for cleaning up the country and respecting teachers.
This is the first time any Indian prime minister has communicated with the masses in this way. One government survey of six main cities found that more than 60 per cent of the population were tuning in every month.
“Mann Ki Baat has become a unique opportunity to connect with the entire country. It has become a platform where people from across the nation share constructive views, express their views and concerns,” Modi said.
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Modi has often said that he finds some of the 60,000 suggestions that have poured in from listeners genuinely useful.
Franklin D Roosevelt, seated centre, speaks on the radio in 1944. Photo: AP/File
“The program only takes 30 minutes every month but people give their views and write about them every day. It is because of the involvement of the people that the government has become more sensitive towards the needs of the people,” he said, while talking about the latest show aired on September 24.
On another occasion, he said the radio chats were like conversing with “my family about routine issues while sitting at home”, and that through them, he had “become like a member of every household” of the country.
Modi’s admirers have called the initiative an ingenious communication tool that helps him connect with ordinary Indians.
“When he talks, I feel as though he is talking to me personally and that he cares about me. No other prime minister has given me this feeling,’ said Rakesh Bansal, an auto-rickshaw driver in New Delhi who said he has listened to every single broadcast.
Political analyst Parsa Venkateshwar Rao agrees that the chats are a clever way of sidelining the role of the traditional media and letting Modi communicate with people directly, like US President Franklin Roosevelt who began the idea of the ‘fireside chat’ with the nation – a series of 28 radio broadcasts. But, he said, Modi lacked the personal touch.
“Modi tries hard to be casual and informal but he does not manage to infuse the personal touch. He is not a warm, friendly person and no matter how much he tries to sound avuncular, he fails to come across that way,” said Rao.
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