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Life isn’t static. It offers infinite experiences, meandering through an enigmatic maze of joys and sorrows, swinging between the sublime and the ridiculous, residing in grueling circumstances as well as blissful abodes. Politics steals colours and shades from life, presenting varying templates and images, both exciting and disheartening. The difference is, unlike personal experiences, the impact of political decisions go far beyond, hurting, or alleviating the pain of millions of people.

 Two sets of images caught the national attention over the past few days. That strikingly beautiful visual of Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting in a boat in the Ganga wove such a serene impression of politics that is usually mired in the ruthless power mechanics. 

The camera in Modi’s hands demonstrated the Prime Minister’s eagerness to capture the realities of this great nation. The Howrah Bridge standing majestically in the backdrop was witnessing the sober aspects of the election campaign vitiated by undesirable institutional and individual interventions. 

This video, seen along with Modi’s humble gesture of buying jhalmudhi from a local market, rekindled our desire to see a people’s prime minister who doesn’t occasionally indulge in such gimmicks to fulfill the demands of symbolism in politics.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: PTI

The final images in this set of visual campaigns came from Varanasi where the prime minister, wrapped in a colouful attire, flashed trishul and damru, before the waiting cameras. This must have delighted the andh-bhakts (blind loyalists) who would love to visualise their leader as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. 

This was the rainbow spectacle of a leader who deploys every trick in his armoury to impress the gullible masses at election time. Though the simplicity of buying a local snack for Rs 10 and the pretensions of divinity was a complete pictorial orchestra, an additional feature was introduced this time to reach out to the football crazy youth of Bengal. Modi indeed looked younger and fitter in that jazzy tracksuit.

 The other set of visuals presented by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi involved ground realities from Andaman & Nicobar and Ladakh. Realities Modi’s cameras choose to ignore. Gandhi showed the nation what he described as destruction of ecology in the Nicobar island “being surreptitiously executed by the Government to help Gautam Adani”. ........

© The Wire