If there is one thing the RSS and BJP have perfected over the years, it is the art of narrative engineering. Their brilliance does not lie in policy-making or governance alone—it lies in setting the stage, scripting the play, and ensuring the audience walks out of the theatre humming the tune they want them to hum.
In North India, the story revolves around Lord Ram—the divine king of Ayodhya, the cultural heartbeat of Hindi-speaking Hindus. In South India, the BJP knows better than to force-fit the Ram narrative. Instead, they invoke Murugan, the warrior-god who resonates deeply with Tamil identity and culture. One nation, two gods, one party. This is not inconsistency—it is calculated cultural marketing.
Step inside Parliament, and the theatre continues. What looks like chaos—the screaming, slogan-shouting, and walkouts—isn’t always disarray. It is often choreographed dissent, a performance designed to show the faithful that their leaders are uncompromising warriors. The political spectacle is not about governance—it’s about optics. The people don’t consume bills and budgets; they consume imagery.
And what of intellect? Not a word of appreciation for Banu’s Booker Prize win. For a government that thrives on mass sentiment, celebrating intellectual achievement risks alienating its base. Intellectualism is not their battlefield—sentiment is. And so, silence becomes strategy.
On the global stage, the selectivity becomes even starker. The Israel-Gaza conflict? “Not India’s problem.” A safe distance is maintained, wrapped in diplomatic neutrality. But when Israel bombs Qatar, suddenly India’s Prime Minister issues a statement of solidarity with Qatar. The shift is not about principles—it is about aligning narratives with trade, oil, diaspora, and immediate interest. Inconsistency to the outsider, but absolute consistency to their method: the narrative must serve the need of the moment.
This is not accidental politics. It is a politics of precision. Ram in the North, Murugan in the South. Theatre in Parliament, silence on Banu. Disengagement in Gaza, solidarity with Qatar. Each move calibrated, each silence intentional, each spectacle scripted.
One may disagree with the ideology, but one cannot deny the sheer sophistication of the machinery. The RSS/BJP do not just participate in politics—they curate it, package it, and deliver it as a consumable experience. That is their true genius.