Suhel Seth Unmissable On 'Brand Modi', Underscores What Makes Narendra Modi Different At TNS 2024

is a brand in itself but is that fiction is that reality how big is that brand so uh do you want me to answer it this way or shall I just finish what I have to say and then up to you up to you what would you like since we're a democracy I think let me share my initial thoughts and then you can uh in your inimitable Style Quiz me would that work absolutely absolutely good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and uh the good news is I don't have a teleprompter so I'm actually looking into your Charming eyes when I speak about a person who has actually captured the imagination not just of India but if I may add of the world the man's name is Narendra Damas Modi let me begin with an early morning anecdote of today I got a call from an old parsy friend of mine called Zubin Kara who runs VFS I don't know what it stands for but I do know they do all the Visas across the world that company is a unicorn and he ask what what time is your afternoon Siesta I said thanks to Times now and the times Network there is no Siesta today because I have a talk at 315 which has been delayed thanks to akat sh's new friend milind theora so he says uh what will you speak on I said bran M he says I have to tell you he is the best encourager and bird keeper I said what do you mean he says for us at VFS means for them he has allowed them to fly with wings of confidence and with wings of Courage the Hallmark of a brand is you never buy a brand people tell you brand no you buy a benefit you don't buy Colgate you buy the whitest wash it so happens that in your mind the whitest wash is signified by Colgate you keep buying Colgate many of you are young some of the people in front uh who are supporting recent Dentures are not you remember some were byword when we wanted to talk about edible oil we talked about dalda today when you talk about serious politics you talk about Narendra Modi when you talk about walking to Nowhere you talk about another young man who's not so young anymore so the world changes what is amazing about Narendra Modi and I've written this I first met Narendra Modi in 19 1999 when I was asked to handle the campaign for atal G when he was staking claim for Prime ministership and from then till now the Hallmark of Narendra Modi is only one consistency and focus that's what great brands are all about brands are all about being consistent you know that you will not be surprised with bad quality you will not be surprised with unpredictability and what's more you will not be surprised with letting the customer down no matter what you might say and I hate all political parties I think all political parties should be banned but then what democracy will we have I mean Nava poor thing can't run India even though she should so what do we do we are in a bind of all the choices that you have today Narendra Modi is the only brand that has been made by himself made for India and made by Indians every other brand more often than not has been a Brand out of Legacy has been a Brand out of inheritance and has been a Brand which has been supported or substantiated by other factors Narendra Modi has no lineage to talk about except the one he will leave behind that's what great brands are about Modi touches the hearts and minds of people whether they love him or hate him that's what great brands are about you know what is the worst form of human antagonism is when you are indifferent to the human being you can love a human being you can hate a human being but when you're indifferent it's the worst insult to that human being today Narendra Modi is the only political brand in India that is engaging every day whether you like it or not he's in your face is that a good thing time will tell he's there for a temp he's there for a Metro run he's there to talk to you know religious communities he's pumping flesh with a G8 leaders he's organizing the G20 and he's working 18 hours a day the last time he went to Bangkok was for a conference that's the difference that is the difference Brands need to constantly work they need to constantly innovate they need to constantly recalibrate great brands are those that are often and always relatable to people and people's desires people's wants people's needs brands are not as you and I think some vacuous entity that is found on the top of a shelf which are great literature brands that you and I remember if I were to look at Hindi literature dinkar premchand rabindra tagor more recently in the world of theater Vijay Tendulkar mahes datani which are the political brands that you remember javal Neu indraa Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi Rahul Gandhi Sonia Gandhi mulayam Singh J prakash Nar the list is endless but which brand will be remembered for altering India and altering the way Indians are perceived Brands must always fulfill a need need what was the need in 2014 the need was for India to rise from the abys and from the ner it had sung to by being known across the world as a country that promoted crony capitalism that engendered corruption and that was all about nepotism that is what 2014 was all about from 2014 to 2014 you had a lady who was in power but not in office you had a man who was in office but not in par that's the irony today you have Narendra Modi who's in par and in office there's another person who's out of power and in jail but we we'll go to that later he's also a brand he's a disruptive brand he's not a brand that you would take home to your mother and say so which are the brands that you would be proud about whether you like it or not and I don't subscribe to a lot of the things that Mr Modi May subscribe to I've often said that the BJP has been the worst Communicator of its remarkable achievements and let me tell you very few governments have achieved what the BJP government has achieved from 2014 till now but all of that is covered by the D of what I call nonsensical surround sound which deals with religion communities all of that stuff but more will be remembered he will be remembered for integrating Jammu and Kashmir he will be remembered for making the Indian diaspora feel proud no matter which country they are in no matter which nationality they hold today he will make them and he has made them proud of their Origins he has given to the poorest of the poor dignity dignity is more important than wealth and let me tell you about poverty it was famously said that poverty is not about money it is about the lack of opportunities that has changed under Narendra Modi and that should continue to change and Narendra modi's other great brand descriptor is decisiveness but even more important than that is his unwillingness to listen to surround sound you know I was just telling some friends earlier there's no point in being popular you can never be popular with everyone or anyone the moment you get off get up from the dining table they will abuse you so if you're looking for popularity go to Big Boss house but if you're looking to run the country be like Modi because many decisions will seem unpopular now but they are for the greater good for tomorrow and great leaders plan for tomorrow poor leaders walk today great leaders plan for India poor leaders plan on dividing India great leaders want to embrace the idea of India poor leaders want India to be divisive broken up into little pieces that's the difference between Narendra Modi and whoever else that you take into account which is why he will win elections because he's a political person and the last thing before I get into this Q&A with dipti Narendra Modi is a politician he's not an activist he runs a political party not an NGO he's concerned about the aspirations of 1.4 billion people he's not concerned about the aspirations of 127 Jokers sitting in some foreign University trying to understand what he's saying that's the essential difference so the brand will continue to embellish itself because it has the power of sustenance from you and me and the voters the blessings or the curse that's what real brands are about brands are the ones that make a difference brands are the one that encourage you brands are the ones that inspire you and most importantly Brands great brands are those that invigorate you if you can't be inspired you can't be invigorated and you can't be encouraged then what's the purpose of a political brand did Churchill win the war himself no did na not say that I will give you Freedom give me your blood and tears so it is history is evident history is witness to the fact that great brands are the ones that engage with consistency and with Focus great brands are those that listen but they don't listen to everything because ultimately their desire is to get things done their desire is not to find fault great brands are about optimism weak brands are SI iCal great brands are about the future weak brands are about yesterday and that's why I believe Narendra Modi is a compelling brand brand Modi is not an idea whose time has come it's an idea whose time shall remain tomorrow who knows it might become a noun for great work it might become synonymous with hard work and it will be a byword for being a true Indian that's Narendra damoda [Applause] Mii so what Brian soil said has done is to ensure that most of the questions that I prepared know he decided to you know just go there answer most of them by himself so that is brand soel said for all of you ladies and gentlemen but being a journalist I will still poke him we'll ask him questions we'll also take a lot of your responses to it because a lot of what soale said does make sense but then it makes you ask the obvious question you know one brand doesn't fit all many would say soel brand saturation brand fatigue is this also a reality in today's day and time you see him everywhere he talks to you morning Day evening after afternoon almost every time what what does that lead us to it's very similar to watching the news are every evening we don't get tired we watch it every night it's the best network on the planet we love all of you we don't get TI we see NAA we see dip we see we see padmaja every day we're not tired we're invigorated we are encouraged we are inspired now add Narendra Modi to that and then you can see how more inspired we are but on a serious note yes there is brand fatigue but remember you're talking about 1.4 billion people not people who have bunked office to attend a summit I'm done he's done I I I couldn't believe that he's done you know because there's so much more to Brian Modi soale you know let's be a little bit more serious because this is also the challenge that I think the opposition today is facing when you're looking at Brand Modi that many say is getting even more powerful to what he was in 2014 to 2019 to now in 2024 you know he began with saying Modi sarcar that's how the narrative began in 2014 2019 was bakod pulama nationalism Surge and you saw in him someone who could deliver this time it's about Modi K guarantee versus where is the opposition is is there is there any single brand that you see can even fight together is that is that even possible no of course there are Brands to be fair Rahul Gandhi is a Pan national brand but often some brands are also there on the Shelf because of longevity not because of relevance so he will remain there but the point is who will you buy Rahul Gandhi with all due respect and I I have to say after the bhat jordo yatra I said and I will maintain he did a great job of brand Revival and brand redefinition to give him credit but he lost steam so come back to my original point it is about consistency and it's about Focus one day he talks about cast census the next day he talks about you know making Aloo out of gold or whatever the hell you now now to even keep up with him I mean it's easier to keep up with mud's films than to you know listen to all of this so I mean every day he's splitting now you asked a very important question about Modi guarantee the slogans let me give you an example and this published material I've written about it September 2018 I went to meet Modi in his house in Gandhi nagar he was the chief minister and he says I want to show you a book that has come out which my government has prepared you know what that book was on the gift City two 2008 we're talking about 16 years ago then he asked me he says I said bubai Mr I said I will convey this to Mr Nano happened and Mr Tata has admitted that in various interviews it happened because of Narendra Modi and today sad has been converted into the Detroit of the west of India thank thanks to Narendra Modi so he's a man who gets things done he's a man who makes things happen the next speaker you have is hardip Singh Puri ask hardip how many court cases were filed against hard puri's government against Prime Minister Modi on kavia PA did it happen it happened you see dogs that's the Hallmark of great Brands you continue to do your work you can't be stopping to answer every diet tribe which is either unsubstantiated or meaningless or purposefully distractive that's not possible okay now just to push that point a little further soale sometimes what happens you might have a good decent brand but you don't have the strategy the wherewith all perhaps that many eyeballs that can make that brand even you know getting any closer to a brand like Narendra Modi do you think that also plages the opposition and the Very fact today that you have a leader in Narendra Modi who is not just working on ground he speaks to people directly he coins these slogans these acronyms the government is all over the place connecting with people but the opposition somewhere is not visible does this mean that they are not working at all or you believe a part of that PR strategy also perhaps for the opposition has gone wrong no I think the opposition is working but I don't know which country they working for or in they seem to be fighting the elections in Fiji or Greenland or something like that but they're certainly not fighting election in India because if they were Rahul Gandhi before his bhat Joo nay or bhat n joro whatever the hell it is he would have reached out to M banery the first person who deced the Congress was their Alliance partner mam who said they will not even get 40 seats this time in Parliament this is your own Ally disbelieving you how the hell do you expect the voted to believe you a b you never have Alliance Partners who have egos bigger than their ideologies today an akiles yadav or Tes yadav or you know Stalin each guy thinks he's born to be prime minister why the hell should they listen to Rahul Gandhi now let's get back to Legacy Indra Gandhi died on October 31 1984 Rajiv Gandhi died in May 1991 Fair 1991 till now so let's imagine a person is 30 years old he doesn't even know what ra Rajiv Gandhi and indraa Gandhi have done so he doesn't even have the context of Legacy he doesn't even have the context of History that's the problem and as you rightly said I think this is my belief that the Congress needs a strategy but the first leg of that strategy must be Rahul Gandhi must step aside he he is not someone who can Inspire he's not someone who can lead he may be a very good human being he may be very bright but as of now he's intellectually innocent until he proves us wrong he must step aside because he will cause a lot of damage to the long-term benefit of the congress party and let's be fair India needs an opposition but it is not Narendra modi's job to go to Khan Market every morning looking for an opposition to buy now soil even as you make that point and our audience here I'm glad they're having a good laugh on this but just think of this see that you've spoken about mamata banerji and a lot of other leaders they say that Rahul Gandhi is the biggest trp for Narendra Modi the very fact today that you have a brand Rahul perhaps not as strong as a brand Modi that adds to Brand Modi also it it gives him that bump you know so the very fact then you will have him being compared to when K jaal to an MK Stalin you go down south does that change the narrative especially you know in the southern part of the country why does brand Modi weaken when you come down to South which school did you go to that that is not a part of the question no no I'll tell you I'll tell you why if you went to school as you did and you came first in class and it was a class of 38 people but 37 of them were such big duffers would you feel happy coming coming first I would much rather come first where I'm surrounded by Geniuses and then beating them is fun can I tell you Narendra Modi and Amit Sha yes but it's no fun for you know competition you need great competition the fact that and I'm not saying this no one has paid me yet the fact that times now network has Ruled The Roost for so long is because you'll have a damn good brand you have a good product if you had a terrible product and great strategy it wouldn't work if you had a great product and no strategy you would fail that's the problem with the opposition today so even if they have a great product regionally they have a very very poor strategic bent of mind and you know why they are planning for tomorrow Modi is planning for 2047 when you plan for 2047 you play chess when you you plan for tomorrow you play kabudi that's the difference okay what about brand BJP here where does brand BJP go and uh is there a danger like because you spoke about brand Indira also when you have a personality cult and perhaps a brand becoming so huge that it subsumes e e e Elizabeth the first defined the England of that time so Napoleon defined what was happening in France the Zars defined what was happening in Russia then came Lenin then came Stalin you had Naser in Egypt you had uh I was about to say Salan Khan you had Saddam Hussein in in Iraq so it is very difficult to say can you separate why should you separate the brands Narendra ra Modi is the elected prime minister of India he's not the nominated prime minister he has not come through the back door he has won an election so he and the aspirations of brand India if they are intertwined it's better for the brand dipti and it's better for both Brands because they will need each other for sustenance and for growth okay even when you say that I'm I'm being informed that a lot of our viewers would also want to take questions so we'll open the session in just a moment we'll get the mics to you where you are but before that I just want to use this opportunity so to you know squeeze in one quick question in spite of whatever we say in spite of whatever is discussed here why is it that for the Western press still there is a problem with brand Modi is it because you know of the history is it because of the fact that they cannot digest the fact that India is on its way to becoming a superpower or India today has a voice I mean why why is the Western press still so against bran Modi so again without asking you which school you went I assume you did read William Shakespeare if you did there's a play Julius Caesar in which Mark Anthony asks Brutus why did you stab Caesar brutus's response is brilliant Shakespeare he says it's not that I loved Caesar less I loved Rome more it's not that the Western press hates Modi less they hate the success of India more and the more you react the more they will get under your skin treat them like The Barking Dog and treat yourself as the Cara you don't need to respond to every barking dog if you say but why did the New York Times do this why the Washington Joker then why you know there's an old saying in Bengali and bengalis were always you know I'm more Bengali than Punjabi but they always self victims you ask a Bengali mean my neck is cut but no blood is coming out that is the situation with New York Times and Washington Post ignore corun okay we can have a good laugh with that we'll get the mics coming to the audiences in case someone wants to take a question anyone okay I see a hand going up there on the left and the right both if you can have the mics going there please and do remember you're asking your question to Brand soel s yeah okay yeah go on please thanks not so like the only problem is they haven't had the time to share it with you once you're free and you tell them they'll come and visit you and share the plan looking forward to it okay a quick follow-up question before we take another from the gentleman there on the right who raised his hand he just spoke about a number of names Yogi ADI Amit sha and all so are these equally big Brands you know I want to or they all come under the umbrella of brand Modi only so let's have a very interesting history session again India has never predicted a future Prime Minister other than javal nehu and let me take you through history today if I miss one or two don't miss Pandit nehu died on May 27 1964 everyone thought that uh you know moraji would become or whatever you had gulzari L as in terim you had L bhad shastri he died it was not indraa Gandhi's turn she became did you ever imagine that narim would be prime minister did you ever imagine ik gal would be prime minister I think even I gual never imagined he'd be prime minister deaa slept through his prime ministership did you ever imagined Charan Singh would be prime minister Chandra Shar would be prime minister when vajpai became prime minister everyone thought adani would be prime minister when adani thought he would be prime minister Narendra Modi became prime minister have you ever predicted a prime minister other than n no so to to quot S ha to must always keep the opposition happy okay I just have time for one quick question can we have the just the mic there yes quickly because our next guest the union Minister hardip Singh Puri is also waiting I'm told yes it was wonderful to hear suale brand and you can see we've turned into Big Brand already a Big Brand like Modi G uh many of you wanted to know everybody talks about modi's successes anywhere anywhere in one place can you mention where he failed and you want to improve him a I think it's a very myopic way of defining great Brands you know in every in every packet of cornflakes or cereals there'll be one ingredient that you may not like but you don't Define that serial by that let me go back to what I have said essentially you've got to understand the DNA of great Brands great brands are about consistency they are about Focus but most importantly they're about getting things done aashi and whatever surname is I can never pronounce it Marena or marinaa or whatever she says Arin kial is an idea but you know what an idea if it is not executed no one sees it it's like a a ship in the night it sails but you don't see it modi's difference is he has been able to set an example of delivery modi's Ministers of which one of the most eminently successful Minister here hardip whose wife is a far better author than most in this room lakmi let me tell you what they have achieved and I've have said this to hardip I've said this time and time over again the bjp's only failure has been in marketing itself the congress's only success has been in marketing its failures now figure that one out so when I tell you when I tell you that the Prime Minister does not need to do as we would say in erser Tora P that's not his job his job is to make sure that people live with dignity he's done that his job is to make sure that he replaces Cal cooking ovens made out of mty with gas cylinders he's done that direct benefit transfer done that 370 done that I don't know how many of you go to Sri nagar as often as I do talk to every person earlier when you went to Sri nagar they would say up Hindustan say today they don't say that because Modi has made them Indians he has not converted them into angry Kashmir which Theus had done and I must say this let me also tell you I travel overseas once every 2 weeks nowhere and at no point in time has India been taken more seriously with greater panach with more Pride than it has been taken today it takes a great leader to encourage his people to believe that they can conquer the world you know I started with that unicorn story about VFS today we are the world's largest providers of unicorns we have great authors we have great scientists we have sent people to the you know we have sent vehicles to the moon for less than a cost of a Hollywood film would that have been possible if your leader said I don't believe in you and now I will end by just saying one thing you ask me the fundamental problem of the Congress from its utterances the Congress hates the idea of India they love India's idea but they hate the idea idea of India and they hate the success that Indians are capable of today what Modi has done is he's come with a giant human saw of encouragement and Unshackled every Indian he has made every Indian believe in him or himself and he's told the world that if you're Indian the world is your oyster for that and that alone we need to be grateful that a man like him pass the annals of India that apart you've got a great television network with uh with very powerful anchors such as yourself and Nava and on that note I must leave because you mustn't keep a minister waiting no matter which government it is fascinating conversation thank you so much so thank you

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Id: aVsAohlsV-o

Length: 35min 48sec (2148 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 28 2024