The dressing up of Narendra Modi
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-32777038 Version 0 of 1. "Make way, Tom Cruise. Modi's the new top gun", screamed a headline in The Times of India over the weekend. It was alluding to one of the most striking by-products of last week's grand summit between India and China: a torrent of astonishing images emanating from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government's feed. Here is Mr Modi, Matrix style in black sunglasses, standing warrior-like behind two Terracotta Army soldiers which, according to The Times, "broke the internet faster than Kim Kardashian's gleaming gluteus maximus". Here is a beaming Mr Modi posing for a matey selfie with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, provoking the Washington Post to quip that the Indian prime minister "knows the power of a good selfie". Both images were hits on social media, retweeted and liked with enthusiasm. It continued in Mongolia, where Mr Modi in a fedora and flowing Mongolian robe, posed with a horse presented by the Mongolian premier. It is the kind of photo shoot that many leaders opt for when travelling abroad, but Mr Modi has made it a trademark and particularly on this trip. But this isn't just about his so-called "swag" and the cult of Modi Cool - Mr Modi is engaged in a very serious kind of image-making that is about his global image, selling India to investors, and his attempt to convert the youth of India to the ruling BJP. "The kind of sartorial flair that Mr Modi demonstrates internationally is unprecedented for an Indian leader," says Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times. Indian political leaders have not been known for their sharp fashion. Indira Gandhi had her elegant saris; her daughter-in-law and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi followed suit. Rajiv Gandhi, in the footsteps of his grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, would often dress in regional headgear and costumes during his travels in India. But "Mr Modi stands out," as the New York Times fashion blog noted last year. "Literally and strategically." So much so that Mr Modi, after Mr Nehru and his eponymous jacket, is possibly the only Indian leader with his trademark costume, the popular Modi kurta, which the blog aptly called a "revisionist version of the classic Indian tunic shirt". Look at the pictures coming out of China and Mongolia and you realise Mr Modi is confident about his choices. Even the decision to wear what turned out to be controversial suit decorated with his own name to meet US President Barack Obama was apparently his own choice. And he makes no bones about his liking for dressing up. "Yes I like to dress up well and stay clean. God has gifted me the sense of mixing and matching colours. So I manage everything on my own. Since I'm God gifted I fit well in everything. I have no fashion designer but I'm happy to hear that I dress well," Mr Modi told Lance Price, author of The Modi Effect. There is even an online shop dedicated to his fashion because he "has become a brand not only in India but across the world". Price spoke to a volunteer who went to Modi to show him some of its products. "We showed him various things like cups and Superman tees with his face on it. He loved it and he said, 'Go ahead and do it'." Dressing up has always been an integral part of Mr Modi's persona, says Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. When he was younger cadre with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteers' Organisation), the hardline ideological godfather of the ruling BJP, he would fold his clothes neatly and put them below the mattress as ironing was expensive. "Cadres belonging to Communist party communes or the RSS in India usually had an out-of-the-bed look. Mr Modi was different. He would always dress immaculately". The pictures coming out of China and Mongolia possibly mark a new high in Modi chic. "His public image is a kind of obsession with him. We often underestimate the hurt that the international ostracisation caused him. Now he is stamping his personality abroad. It is also a story of a small time boy who made it big. So he is constantly announcing his arrival on the international stage," says Mukhopadhyay. "But behind all there is an insecurity. He knows this is the only image he can manufacture." He has arrived in South Korea now to bolster investment opportunities and there are doubtless more versions of Mr Modi's style to come - perhaps even his own take on Gangnam style. |