Author Archives: lookingbeyondborders

Modi Leads The Charge For Now

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By Rahul Sharma

PRMoment

More than two years ago a taxi driver in Kerala told me that he would vote for Narendra Modi if he ever got an opportunity. A year later – and this was before Modi won the Gujarat state elections for the third time – a hotel doorman in Chennai said the same thing. And earlier this year a young engineer working with a technology company in Bangalore echoed similar sentiments.

In the two years since the Kerala cabbie voiced his support for Modi, the perception that the Gujarat chief minister (and yes, he continues to be in that role) is a strong administrator, decisive, incorruptible and a man who keeps his promises has only strengthened. In New Delhi, in Kolkata, in Lucknow, Bhopal, Jaipur and Mumbai, Modi looks down upon us from posters and billboards – half smiling, half mocking, challenging everybody – especially the Congress that seems to merely follow his political agenda.

Never has an Indian politician been “branded” as Modi has been. We have NaMo phones, we have NaMo tea stalls, there are already two biographies out in the book stores and a biopic is underway. We also have a NaMo kurta, and probably many other products to come as the election temperatures rise.

Pitched as Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) potential prime ministerial candidate after the 2014 elections, Modi is setting himself up against a much younger, yet non-branded, Rahul Gandhi – the scion of a political family that has either ruled or helped rule India for a very long time. A perception battle between the two – amplified by the media – is probably the most top-of-the-mind dinner table discussion these days and one that Modi seems to be winning, at least for now.

As Modi launches his political blitzkrieg, mowing miles with his first-mover advantage, it is amply clear that he is working to a sharply targeted multimedia strategy put together by a war room that is propping him as a leader who can change India. The early start bodes well as it will give Modi and his team enough time to convert the fence sitters and break away those charmed by the Congress.

The media is helping by headlining every word Modi utters and television panel discussions are only cementing his position as a man who matters. Slowly, but surely, Modi’s image of a steely leader is getting entrenched into the political and social frequency of an election that is still some months away.

On the other hand, Gandhi seems weak, indecisive, and battling his own party, as he tells people his mother was upset with his choice of words when he interrupted a party press conference to oppose a proposed ordinance allowing convicted parliamentarians to keep their seats that was cleared by the prime minister and his cabinet.

Set up against a wily politician and an orator who can transfix the crowds, Gandhi’s image of a reluctant inheritor only gets a fresh shine every time he speaks.

The battle is between a man who thinks on his feet and seemingly wants to lead this large and diverse country, and another who still doesn’t seem to have made up his mind about whether he wants the job. In the public relations battle, Modi has won the first set. He’s still got to win the match though.

The shift in perception since the days when the national media called Modi a “murderer” after the deadly 2002 religious riots in Gujarat has been slow but huge.

No longer is Modi the pariah he once was. No longer is he hated or reviled as he was. No longer is he a political embarrassment (to many) as he was. No longer is he in the headlines for the “wrong” reasons as he was. Feted by the industry, the youth seeking jobs and a middle class frustrated with the Congress government over poor governance, dynastic politics and inflation, Modi seems to have grabbed people’s imagination and emotions.

Gandhi is sincere, but he lacks the power to hold the crowds and veer them to see his point of view. That’s because while Modi is all over, Gandhi pops in and out with statements that only raise more questions. New Delhi’s political citizenry is widely convinced that the young man wants Congress to lose badly so that he could then clean up the grand old party’s corrupt, wobbly script.

I remember watching Modi make the crowds dance during his election rallies in his home state back in 2007. Thousands of people wearing the “Modi Mask” followed the slow wave of the man’s hand from left to right – hypnotized by the sheer power of his oratory and stage theatrics. It scared many a political pundit. Gandhi is no match. In fact, the entire Congress party is made of weak speakers who sound unconvincing even when they mean business.

But let’s remember that a few months is a long time in politics and a lot could happen between now and the elections due by May next year. Winning a public relations and a perception skirmish is only part of the larger battle that Modi has to fight to help the BJP return to power after a decade in the wilderness. Voters might love Modi, but they might still choose not to cast their ballot for his party.

Eventually, Modi will have to make people believe that he is not as divisive as many believe him to be if he wants the top job. That’s easier said than done. The posters and potshots are fine for now. The winner in the public relations battle between Modi and Gandhi will only be announced next year – the day the votes are counted. Until then, watch the political theatre and enjoy.

Is Chinese Money Good?

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By Rahul Sharma

BusinessWorld

In the larger scheme of things there are today two countries that have the capability and the capacity to funnel substantial investments into foreign markets. One is the United States – the traditional home of large multinational companies with global footprint. The other is China, which is looked at with suspicion not only in India, but in the United States as well.

At a time when India needs to attract higher foreign investments – not only to bridge its gaping current account deficit, but to also create millions of new jobs – there is a need to look at Chinese companies differently than we have in the past. And we can learn lessons from the Americans, who worry about China’s rise as much as we do.

The first lesson is to be pragmatic. The second is to find a right balance between politics and business despite the usual noise that tends to drown reason to accommodate the interests of both sides.

Last year, two Chinese technology companies – Huawei and ZTE – were hauled over the coal by the intelligence committee of the U.S. House of Representatives after concerns over national security threats. “Chinese telecommunications companies provide an opportunity for the Chinese government to tamper with the United States telecommunications supply chain,” the committee’s investigation report said.

It recommended that the United States should view with suspicion the continued penetration of the US telecommunications market by Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers and private companies should consider the long-term security risks associated with doing business with these Chinese companies. Of course, the two companies protested loudly as anybody would, but the report is now a permanent marker in US-China relations.

However, Americans turned out to be eventually pragmatic. They have not only allowed Chinese companies to invest in the key energy sector, last month the largest acquisition of an American company by a Chinese firms went through without serious hiccups.

There was cause of celebrations when shareholders of the US Smithfield Foods Inc. agreed to sell their company to China’s Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd for $4.7 billion. The deal went through despite initial concerns over national security.

Let’s return to India. The same telecommunications companies that got hammered in the United States have also been under the government microscope for some time. Every Chinese company looking to invest in India quickly becomes a victim of a 50-year-old narrative when India and China went to war over a border issue. Since the issue remains unresolved, the mindset demands that everything China and Chinese needs to be looked at suspiciously.

If for a moment we do agree that Chinese companies have sinister plans to destabilize India, we need to look West – towards Europe, Africa and both North and South America where cash-flushed Chinese state-owned and private firms have been on a business buying spree for some years now. While the big focus was energy earlier, the trend has changed as different businesses (going cheap everywhere post the 2008 financial crisis) are being eyed and bought.

Given that most American companies have virtually given up on India and are keener to invest in their domestic economy that is beginning to finally expand, the only source of investment that India could possibly look at is China. However, it has to be pragmatic and balanced in attracting the kind of investments it wants and in sectors where the threat factor is low. Let’s not forget that the eventual plan of the two countries is to raise bilateral trade to $100 billion in the next few years, and that opens up several possibilities for Chinese investments in sectors that are safer from a “national security” point of view.

While geopolitics will always continue to play a strong role in India-China relations, let’s also understand and appreciate that the two need each other – for different reasons of course. While it is in India’s interest to bridge its trade deficit with China, it is also in China’s interest to get a toehold in the Indian market at a time when its exports to the West are shrinking and its overall economy beginning to slow down.

Similarly, it is in the interest of Chinese companies to overtake Japanese and South Korean brands that have made India a strong home in the last two-odd decades. For India, which is now talking of allowing Chinese companies to set up shop in special economic zones (than let them run around freely in the countryside), the focus should be on getting the best deal for the government and the people.

National security, like everything else, is relative to the situation on ground at a certain period in time. India needs to handle matters with China confidently and keeping its interests in mind.

Let’s go back to the Americans again. Back in 1971, President Richard Nixon and his right hand man Henry Kissinger set the ball rolling to bring China into the global economic mainstream. The reason was geopolitical, For three decades after that American companies poured in billions of dollars into that country, bringing it to a point that now Americans themselves have started looking at China as an emerging global power that could overtake the United States in the near future.

The threat of China to the superpower is as real as it to a regional power such as India, which also happens to share a troublesome border issue with the large neighbor. Good business always makes for good politics and, therefore, it is in the interest of bother India and China to ramp up investments.

India doesn’t have to entirely follow the American way, but it can surely learn how to deal better with the Chinese by letting them in in a manner that helps New Delhi resolve its economic troubles.

(The columnist, a former newspaper editor, is President, Public Affairs, Genesis Burson-Marsteller and co-founder of Public Affairs Forum of India. He has a keen interest in China and Southeast Asia. Views are personal) 

 

Beware, My Mum’s a Geek

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By Rahul Sharma

Caravan Daily

It all starts in the morning.
Tinng! My phone announces the arrival of the first text message from my mother.
“How are you doing? What’s your day looking like? Have you left for office?”
I have the option to not respond, but I do. It’s best to set her mind at peace. I know if I don’t, the next one will arrive in in about 10 minutes: “What happened? Is all well? You didn’t respond.”
So on, and so forth, the messages meander through the day. She saves the ones she finds funny. She also saves the ones she doesn’t like so that she can then throw them back at me when she wants to pick up a fight with her only son. She shares the “joke of the day” and battles to find the right smiley to go with her messages. On my last visit I found her angrily complaining about the phone company, which she said was trying to cheat her by not registering her for a television game show.
“That voice keeps saying that the format is incorrect. Five days now. All they want to do is to make money, but I will not give up,” she declared haughtily. I raised my eyebrows and allowed myself a smile.
For somebody who will be 77 soon, she’s doing pretty well managing the latest gizmos and associated technologies.
Not very long ago it was an emotional challenge to teach her how to use a laptop and a mobile phone. Now it’s an emotional battle. I can be accused of being uncaring and selfish if I am not prompt enough in responding to her text messages and emails. I have visions of living with a scarred and tainted heart for the rest of my life.
For someone who until very recently confessed of being a technological dodo, she has also done well in adapting to the nuances of social media. Yes, she’s on Facebook, wishing cousins, nephews and nieces and grandchildren a happy birthday and merrily clicking “like” on their photos and messages.
Quite an achievement for a woman who called me a few weeks ago to complain that the music CD was not working on the computer. “There is some problem, which I can’t understand,” she said. I told her to press the “eject” button and put the CD back again after taking it out. She said she had done that thrice.
I later figured out that she had been putting the CD upside down. “Oh! So, all that written stuff side has to be up? How would I know that?” Right, mom, how would you? Sigh!!
My father doesn’t understand what’s happening and does what he does best when he wants to show his disinterest. He sits on his favorite chair in front of the television and scowls at his wife’s preoccupation with the laptop. His angst is partly understandable. He feels ignored. After half a century of togetherness, his partner has found a new love.
Eeeks!!!
But going on to 80, he’s obstinate and has decided that while the Internet is fine, social media is a waste of time. It’s better to wish folks on their birthdays and anniversaries by calling them. They appreciate that more, he argues. He probably has a point.
So he goes online only to check the status of his various court cases and applauds when a new date for the hearing is announced. That means he can leave his wife behind, jump into a car and get to another city to meet people my mum won’t ever want to – folks like lawyers and middlemen, chaiwallas, and other sundry human beings who clutter the corridors of courts in small towns.
He relishes travel more than social media, which seems to be just fine with my mother. She gets to spend more time on the Internet when her man is out of her way. Her propensity to send text messages and write on Facebook increases sharply during such periods.
As for me, I have partly rejoiced the shift though I do end up asking some hard questions.
Was it a good idea for her to learn how to construct and send a SMS? Was it good to introduce her to Facebook, emails and the Internet at large? Was it a good idea to get her a swanky laptop and a dongle that she could use to nearly permanently remain online?
These questions haunt me every day…well almost, especially when I get messages at odd hours — in the middle of a meeting, while I am driving, while in the shower, as I have just slept, and am expected to respond.
I believe it was a great idea for her to learn new technologies. It has given her a brand new window into the world of information and relationships. Moreover, it also means that she has something to do and something to look forward to. She eagerly awaits a response and a “like” for her “like”. And given that she has always been a voracious reader, the Internet is this vast ocean of knowledge that she devours happily.
And very importantly, she has found long-lost friends and relatives in various parts of the world whom she had never called or met in decades. It’s a fun-filled, happy, new world for her. She not only messages me, she messages my sister in Canada too. And thanks to her “joke of the day”, she has rediscovered humour and doesn’t complain much about my father’s scowls any longer.
Now she wants to learn how to upload photos on Facebook and has been making subtle inquiries about “this thing called Twitter.” I am happy to teach her how to put pictures up, but dread the day she learns to Tweet… She can be extremely forthright with her views, and I wouldn’t really want to be embarrassed!
Good luck, Mum!