'Thank You' : The expression of gratitude is now propaganda tool in an elected sphere

At the peak of the second wave of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Delhi — and for that matter in any other severely impacted areas — as we helplessly put together a fight, we could feel the absence of the government. But, at the same time, we realised the presence of a system called the “community”.

For every oxygen cylinder needed, for every hospital bed to be found, for every medicine prescribed, there was the “community” that fought the fire. As the sense of commune prevailed, “thank you” emerged as the most widely used expression of gratitude.

In our messages in social platforms, in those hurriedly attended telephone calls, in front of hospitals, inside the hospitals, and in crematoriums, “thank you” became an expression of solidarity, this time with clean intent for showing gratitude in absence of another suitable term in the vocabulary. As if, “thank you” was the equivalent of an electoral vote in support of us, and our community's sense of coming together in a time of crisis.

The second wave has waned. We are “recovered patients” currently remembering the helplessness of that time with anger. And that expression comes out again: “Thank God, we sailed through.”

But in the last few weeks, this expression has come back to us — in black and white, through songs, in billboards and in those forwarded social messages. “Thank You Modiji”. This slogan has nearly replaced our own expression in private some weeks back. Modiji here refers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the “Thank You” is for him to make vaccines against COVID-19 free.

India’s expression of gratitude to PM Modi for the free vaccine is loud, overwhelming and all pervasive. In a 45-minute drive to my office, I listened to a “Thank You” jingle by children five times on one radio channel. I could spot five huge billboards with the same message. In a petrol pump, a billboard has the same message. And, there were a few others I could see by local politicians with the same message. In all government websites, the same message pops up.

But who is thanking PM Modi?

It is the government of India, whose chief executive is he. All the “Thank You Modiji” messages are issued by the Government of India. This evokes the memory of yore when a king or a ruler by dictate was feted for everything that came to the ruled. It was a relationship where we were not sovereign; the ruler was self-mandated.

Now, we are a sovereign democracy and the ruler is an elected one, surviving on our pleasures. The Indian government thanking its chief executive for a decision which is a right of the citizen makes a point: The government and the prime minister are two different entities/institutions. Showing gratitude to the prime minister by the Government of India makes him a supreme power who bestows support to people, not as a right but as a charity.

This also raises another fundamental governance question. More than a decade ago India started legislating development needs as a “right”. The result was the right to education, right to employment, right to information, right to food security like legislation. The core message behind this was that in general the government was not able to ensure the basic development needs. To bring in accountability, these were made into legislation, thus justiciable. This made development not a charity but a right to be ensured by an elected government.

The campaign to thank the Prime Minister by the government for making available free vaccines is thus a troubling sign of a reset, in our relationship with our own elected government.   

PM Narendra Modi Governance India