Shivam Shankar Singh Profile picture
Apr 19, 2021 9 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Why is the PM missing? Why are they campaigning in Bengal? Here’s the likely answer:

In any event, the first question he asks is what’s best for his image. It’s never what’s best for people or nation, it’s always the image.

In the current crisis, they took a concerted call...
And they reached the conclusion that staying out of reach and away from the crisis was a better bet for his image.

Thought process: Nothing to be done, we’ve already exported vaccines, not allowed foreign ones or prepared hospitals and oxygen, so people will die.
If Modi leads from the front, people will associate him with the deaths and the crisis. So he’ll do nothing.

In a few weeks, when lots have died but the situation starts to get better - oxygen, medication sorted, bed situation better, vaccines being imported and made...
You’ll see him dominate coverage again. Speeches, media addresses and all of that jazz. Huge social media campaign saying he’s saved the day and everything’s better because of him.

Most will subconsciously associate his image with things getting better. Operation successful.
This is how this machinery operates. The only calculation is what’s best for the ruler’s image, rest is immaterial.

Doing it this way gives them an opportunity to spin it around once the crisis is over. Memories are short and blame is easy to deflect when you own institutions.
Of course, there’s a possibility things won’t get better for a while. In that case he’ll stay in the background for as long as possible and the nation is in HUGE trouble!

PS: Regardless of previous terrible decisions, there’s still a lot the PM can and should be doing...
This one won’t do any of it though. He’ll let juniors, bureaucrats and god handle it till it’s time to swoop in for a photo op.

Why the Bengal campaign? Can’t just be hiding in an office. It gave a reason to be away and unreachable!
Many will say how can people not blame him, this is a stupid plan. Well guys, this works super well and he’s done this countless times!

To rule the narrative, you need to disappear when others control the narrative. Just don’t engage with it. This is key to narrative dominance.
Because many says he’s come back, he hasn’t. One speech isn’t leading from the front, it’s the best way to disappear.

Give a low content speech, and absolve yourself. The way it worked during the fallout of demonetisation and the migrant crisis.

Watch the masterclass in PR!

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Shivam Shankar Singh

Shivam Shankar Singh Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ShivamShankarS

Nov 26, 2024
As the EVM debate starts again, some facts to ponder. It doesn't matter if it's rigged or not - it matters that ECI prove the process beyond doubt. And it hasn't.

1. The code of EVM is a secret. Never been independently audited.

2. All EVMs get connected to a computer.
Since VVPAT, candidate names and party symbols need to be loaded on to the machine. This happens through a windows software.

So the EVM knows which candidate is at which position since VVPAT. EVMs aren't randomly allocated anymore - the major defence ECI had of the system.
So hacked or not, the process is problematic. And just overlooking it all is weird.

Never understood why the ECI is so secretive. It can and should make EVMs available for independent auditing by anyone!
Read 5 tweets
Aug 5, 2024
The Yen carry trade unravelling is some scary stuff. It's a cycle that might be very hard to contain, and a TINY .25% hike in interest rates in Japan is taking down many markets. I explored why and finally got it. And it's quite something!🧵
Japan had zero interest rates, so people borrowed money there and put it in any kind of asset for a potential for yield, all over the world. In global stocks, crypto, real estate... Literally anything that can yield over zero.
This flow also meant the Japanese Yen as a currency lost value for years, as people sold it to buy USD to invest in the US. Especially as US hiked interest rates, making it all a risk free money making bet! Image
Read 10 tweets
Jul 24, 2024
Everyone telling you you're not middle class because earning 10-15 Lakh in India means you in the top 5% is wrong. You're most definitely middle class!

Even earning 30 Lakhs, you're middle class!

The middle class isn't economically in the middle. That's a misconception. 🧵
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, defined by occupation, income, education, or social status.

There's the poor and below middle class - defined by a social profile of having to do labour to live, and struggling for the basics.
They struggle every month to make sure bills are paid. And they don't even think of sending their kids to expensive schools. Of course no big vacations. No eating in Khan Market / CP type restaurants. They drink nothing over Blenders Pride.

Above this is the middle class...
Read 13 tweets
Jun 13, 2024
A thread on what's coming next for the nation!

How to Win an Indian Election (Penguin, '19) is an intro to politics and how it works. How parties, citizens, and other stakeholders operate in the political realm.

The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities (HarperCollins, '21)
explains how parties and nation states shape your information environment, and in effect shape your reality.

Anything you "know" and who you are is a product of the information you consume... shaping that shapes your thoughts. The book explains how that is done.
TACAR, as @iam_anandv loves to point out, also predicted a LOT of things years ago - including providing a roadmap for how an... ahem... authoritarian leader's control over information can be broken, and what such a leader would do to prevent his grip over reality from breaking.
Read 19 tweets
May 28, 2024
Looking into city planning and real estate in Delhi is a different sort of hellhole!

So much of Delhi is illegal. Even legal areas have all sorts of illegal construction. Municipality sends notice, people get court stays for decades! So bad, most builders just build illegally!
Image
Image
Even more crazy... people advise other to encroach! And people are like itna toh chalta hai while building totally illegally extended structures.

Areas with crores of people living don't have proper water and sanitation! No trash collection is super common. This is the capital!
Parking? You have to be insane to think there will be any! Everyone parks on the roads, leaving just enough space for one car at a time to pass.

Most illegal areas are two wheelers only, this is the posh Delhi - no parking. Just enough space to crawl through.
Read 6 tweets
May 25, 2024
I now have a working theory on ECI reluctance to disclose form 17C and voter turnout data.

There will be no mismatch. If there are more votes in EVMs than votes polled, all hell would break lose. It'd be the end of India's democracy tag and no one would risk losing the tag...
Instead, what we would see is voting is down in very specific, targeted booths.

Granular turnout data would have told us how opposition votes are being suppressed!

This'll still come out, but now after results, and no one would be able to do anything or care as much.
If the pattern was figured out now, there would be huge outcry. Instead all we see is few complaints of voter suppression. Machines not working. Police and goons causing disruptions... And overall decline in voting percent.

The narrative was voter apathy, lack of enthusiasm...
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(