IN recent history, Tony Blair has beaten all competition hollow while triggering the Iraq invasion. The business of manufacturing ‘spin’ is an age-old pre-occupation in politics. One of the major exponents, Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels is considered one of the ‘best’ in the business. Not only did he manufacture with rapid fire speed and regularity but also owns the copyright for putting it on a firm theoretical foundation. He maintained that ‘spin’ is an interpretation of reality to the ‘people’ or the ‘masses’ and make them believe that it is the ‘truth’. It is the first exposition of how to manipulate the ‘mass mood’ in order to pursue the political objective of rulers. Obviously, such a product would have great value in electoral democracies is a foregone conclusion. But, the trouble is in the very nature of ‘spin’ itself; the inherent contradiction between ‘reality’ and the ‘appearance of the reality’. The other important dimension of ‘spin’ is in the fact that it is a ‘class product’. ‘Spin’ is the prerogative of rulers or aspiring rulers; those who are ruled do not require ‘spin’. On the contrary, their interest lies in the eventual unraveling of ‘spin’. But history has it that every instrument in the employment of rulers has a certain shelf life like all other perishable commodities. It also needs a certain conducive historical conjuncture to germinate, fertilise and flourish. And, it also needs a finite time to perish. But unlike other perishables, its destruction does not take place automatically but requires subjective circumstances of people’s consciousness about its very nature. The faster this consciousness galvanises, the shelf life gets reduced. It is here that the finesse of the ‘spin master’ comes into play; how sophisticated is the ‘spin’ will determine how that much more difficult it will become for the people to distinguish the ‘spin’ from the reality. That ‘spin’ will be a major element of the Modi government’s governance was imminent from the past, as well as the characteristics in which the ‘Modi for PM’ campaign was built up. There was also a second important factor – the historical conjuncture. That people would fall for a ‘spin’ depends on their dire need, so that the bleak reality that they are forced to face and suffer can be substituted by ‘spin’. The last years of the UPA government offered just this historical setting; back-breaking price rises, unemployment, corruption were driving them almost to a point of desperation. Hence, the ‘spin’; Modi the messiah, the strong leader who promised every solution for every conceivable distress for the individual and the nation – almost fairy tale like – did the rounds. This was the essential characteristic of ‘spin’. GUJARAT LEGACY The first challenge that the ‘spin masters’ faced was Gujarat ‘legacy’ of Modi. How to interpret the post-Gujarat carnage and the consequent miscarriage of justice? How to package a deeply divisive personality? In order to do this, it was important to deal with the judicial process; to establish that even the Supreme Court has found Modi unblemished and innocent of any misdemeanor, not to speak of crime – as the constitutional administrative chief of the state, but for whose omission and commission, lives of thousands of innocent citizens could not have been snuffed out. It is here that the ‘spin’ took effect. Not just the administrative machinery; but the whole Hindutva camp spearheaded by the RSS which went into full blast because the nature of the violence was very much majoritarian, and that too to consolidate the political power in elections. Therefore, the reality of the judicial process was completely obfuscated to provide Modi with the judicial ‘clean chit’. But, the ‘spin’ consisted of another essential element; the ‘Gujarat model’. That Gujarat under Modi has achieved spectacular, unprecedented ‘development’; it is almost a paradise! The advantage of dispensing this ‘spin’ was that the principal adversaries were disarmed in countering the basic policy principle of this development model. That ‘development’ did not mean the large-scale wellbeing of the people, the reduction of poverty, the access to education or health and so on and so forth, was an argument which could be hardly posed by the very people who themselves actively pursued neo-liberal paradigm and indulged in the single point obsession with GDP growth. Therefore, the ‘Gujarat model’ which was, indeed, a model of ‘excellence’ in terms of handing over natural resources for a song to select group of crony corporates prevailed and earned the ‘spin masters’ the solid financial muscle in the run-up to the Modi for PM campaign. And, make it click across the country. And, ‘Gujarat model’ became the signpost ‘spin’. ELECTORAL RHETORIC The effectiveness of ‘spin’ depends on how credible you make it appear. So when the ‘spin’ promises the sky, it becomes necessary to break it up in small tangible packages. Black money was a major element. Not only was the promise for bringing back lakhs of crores of black money stashed away in distant secret foreign bank accounts made, but it was also asserted that within hundred days of office, Modi government will ensure that every Indian citizen will receive Rs 15 lakhs. Now to make it appear credible, it mired itself into so specific a commitment that its immediate unraveling was absolutely inevitable. But the ‘spin masters’ instead of pursuing with any degree of sophistication chose a crude response which did not confirm to the nature of business of ‘spinning’. Early on, it was admitted that this was a ‘spin’ – an ‘electoral rhetoric’. Therefore, it is now easier for the targets of the ‘spin’ business to understand that they have been duped by ‘spin’. And, the battle to unravel the ‘spin’ is on. THE ECONOMIC `MIRACLE’ One of the mainstays of the spin was that Modi was the man to deliver an economic miracle. This had to be sold. Because the basic ‘spin’ for the Modi for PM campaign was premised on the economic mess and paraphrased in ‘policy paralysis’ of the UPA government. This was actually an open call for a further aggressive shift in the two and a half decades long neo-liberal economic policy paradigm in favour of those corporates who funded the campaign. And despite the windfall crash in the global oil prices, the spin-masters faced uphill odds. This was inherent in the very nature of their pursuit. The bleak outlook of the global economy and the abysmal domestic demand conditioned by growing inequality and unemployment have created those conditions. But, having got stuck and not being able to deliver on the spins that were weaved out earlier, the spin-masters had to go for the kill. It came in the shape of prematurely doing up the GDP figures. A new methodology was introduced which would take up the figures way past 7 per cent. But the trouble was this ‘faster than Chinese growth’ was not matching up with the actual economic process, and far less the distress that people faced. Therefore, the actual production of rabi and kharif crops in FY 2015 have been less than FY 2014. There are structural weaknesses which can only be corrected by stepped up public investment in agriculture. But spin-masters would have nothing to do with such triviality! The IIP data, particularly the progress in manufacturing also revolted with the overall GDP spin. The financial results of corporates with their stagnant growth and low profit margins also proved to be a stumbling block in corroborating with the spin on GDP. Next came the financial sector where banks were struggling with their NPA and capital and recorded lowest growths in credit and deposit also punctured the balloon that the spin had launched. The spin was most comprehensively deflated by an intelligent counterposer on the degree of sluggishness. A Reuters Breaking News blog put it succinctly – “But just how sluggish is the economy really. Breaking news tried to answer that question by looking at three indicators; corporate earnings, auto sales and imports of computer software. The logic is straightforward: retained earnings financed new investment projects; auto sales are a proxy for consumer demands while software imports reflect productivity gains. Mixing the three in a simple index suggests that growth in the most recent quarter was closer to five per cent. Combining indicators of demand and supply will annoy the purists. However, the rough-and-ready gauge reliably predicted GDP growth in the quarters between 2005 and 2011.” In fact the spin has been so obvious that Raghuram Rajan, the principal regulator of the Central Bank has observed “I don’t want to say anything about the numbers until we understand them better” and added that it would be “premature to take a strong view” based on the updated data in terms of lowering interest rates. The key demand of corporate cronies. The bank significantly forecast GDP growth for the year at 5.5 per cent in sync with the old data base. Subsequently, Arvind Subramaniam, has followed suit making the job of the spin-masters that much more difficult. SOCIAL STRIFE The basic spin on carrying forward the Modi for PM campaign rested on redoing Modi’s image as a changed personality by completely erasing his divisive role in the post Godhra developments. Many other assertions by Modi himself like his description of riot victims as puppies coming under his car tyre or that he was a Hindu nationalist did not help. So, there was a search put up for securing a nationalist on his side. Thus was born the Sardar Patel campaign and the proposed Rs 2000 crore statue in Gujarat. But the spin masters were also facing trouble from elsewhere. The RSS family; as much as leopards cannot change their spots, ministers and MPs, sadhus and VHP top brass and finally the RSS chief himself with the love jihad and ghar vapsi campaigns completely ran counter to the spin that had been laid out to establish Modi as the paragon of social cohesion. The challenge was further compounded by the actual requirements of electoral democratic real politik! Some communal polarisation had to be effected. And it was just not possible for the PM of the country who swears by the constitution to remain completely silent; because even silence signals the abdication of constitutional responsibility. Therefore, this strand of the spin has also come under considerable strain. But the juggling continues in the sphere of ideas. The thrust of nurturing a majoritarian, unilateral homogenous straightjacket substituting the plural composite nature of Indian society is on. And that is the tragedy of spin! It comes into conflict with the ground on which the spin has been fashioned. WORLD IS THE STAGE Faced with growing farmers suicides and adverse reality that the ‘aspirational classes’ came to face, the spin masters have embarked on new theatres for the success of their project. As Modi is the face of the spin, world has become the stage of his mighty strides. In the first year in office he visited 19 countries. With carefully choreographed assemblies of NRIs and live television coverages of the cheerleading crowd, the spin masters continue to try and impress the domestic audience and convince them that Modi has taken the world by storm. But again in the wake of little careful scrutiny some of the spin is also coming unstuck. Instead of the first name relationship with the US president, India has ended up by increasing the prices of essential drugs to curry favour with Barack. Similarly, there are signs that agriculture will become a hit as a result of the friendship. In France, the ‘make for India’ spin had to be temporarily dumped to buy Rafale jets from Dassau abandoning the idea of technology transfer and joint manufacturing with HAL. In Australia again it was the SBI which was goaded to finance to the tune of 1 billion US dollar for the Adani project of coal mining in the vicinity of the great barrier reef, a project which most of the international bankers did not touch with a barge pole and which faces massive domestic opposition due to its possible adverse impact on environment. But finally, the chickens have come home to roost. The veneer of global prominence is coming unstuck! That the spin masters have opted for hitching India as the subordinate ally of the empire and becoming part of their geo strategic requirements has become clear with the reversal of nuclear liability law and the enmeshing with the military web in terms of the new defence pact. And finally, the neighbourhood has become a veritable ground mined by the reckless misadventures of the spin brigades foot soldiers like Rajavardhan Singh Rathore and Manohar Parikkar. India’s assets that it stood for peace and reasonableness is shattered by the chest thumping on ‘surgical strikes’ in the deep interiors of Myanmar to flush out terrorists which provoked even the benign Myanmarese administration into denial and the Pakistan establishment pounced upon it as a diplomatic coup. Therefore deep down the obvious contradiction in the reality and the spin is actually growing wider. The inherent contradictions between two otherwise apparently disparate forces of polarising Hindutva and aggressive self seeking corporates who have come to sustain the spin and the face are also facing difficulties due to the natural inclination of a Hindutva supremacist nature of the basic constituency of the spin masters. SPIN HAS STARTED APPEARING UNSUSTAINABLE Bigger the spin, bigger and faster is the possibility of its crash. And that is precisely what is appearing to happen. With the economy finding to come out with the dogma of neo-liberalism and putting large sections of the people in dire stress in the form of a major agrarian crisis, with growing disquiet of social sector employees in services and no imminent relief for unorganised sector workers, the people at large find themselves at the receiving end of the big spin that Modi was the messiah with the magic wand to rescue themselves where they found themselves in the last days of the UPA government, the situation for the spin masters is proving to be increasingly sticky. But ultimately, the final unraveling depends on collective realisation of the people. The consciousness of the people is the final arbitrator of truth. The battle to light up through struggles is the only course left for us to accelerate the process.