According to a survey conducted on the success of Mann Ki Baat in six Indian cities, it is revealed that 66.7 per cent tuned in to the radio to listen to the show and found it useful. Mann ki Baat has become a major source of revenue for All India Radio. While the usual advertisement slots on AIR sold for Rs 500-1,500 per seconds, but a 10-second advertisement slot for Mann ki Baat cost Rs 2,00,000. Addressing a population of 1.252 billion and becoming so successful surely needs the skills of a great orator.
If we glance at Independence Day Speech delivered by PM Modi, one finds that his 65-minute speech was one of the most trended topics on August 15, 2014, a first in its history. Though many might think it to be the changing social media effect, the tweets stating his speech to bring tears in the eyes of politicians to being a speech that can create a thunder at Red Fort clearly speaks why this particular speech was a result of the sheer brilliance of this one man.
Similarly listening to his speech in Rajya Sabha, one agrees that he is a good orator which was proved by his speech on March 3, 2015. He not only talked about the problems of India and about the missions of his government to solve them, but he also dared to talk about topics which his predecessors dared to even think about. From Black Money to Technology, he talks about it all and talks well.
It is not an easy task to win the hearts of the country to become one of the most popular Prime Ministers of all time while his hands are still stained with the blood of Gujarat Riots. People forgot the riots and focussed on the nitty-gritty of the Gujarat model that was built by Modi himself. This man managed the whole campaign single-handed.
He is the first Prime Minister of India to travel in metro with fellow passengers who were daily commuters. He even had a friendly conversation with them. It takes one to be a great listener to become a good orator.
One has to see Modi’s materialisation as a powerful public speaker wielding enormous influence. There is no doubt that his speeches are ‘political’ and expedient, calling upon people to trust him because a lack of trust in him would be disastrous. His public speeches also persistently harp on corruption and successfully repeat the claim that he alone stands against corruption while the corrupt have ganged up against him. His rivals either lack the skill or find it tasteless to attack him on his expensive watches, clothes, shoes, and sunglasses.
For Modi, who has comfortably addressed six rousing election speeches in a day, speaking extempore in Hindi comes effortlessly, though he is a native Gujarati speaker, who avoided speaking in English unless absolutely required. His first speech in English, without the teleprompter, was during the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa – summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July, when he read out his speech in English.
His habit of using his hands expressively during his speeches and likes to pause to await the audience reaction whenever he has posted a query or made a light-hearted remark is able to get directly across to his foreign audiences with his English speeches.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
