Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s podcast with MIT researcher, geopolitical and tech expert Lex Fridman has gone viral. The podcast lasted three hours and 17 minutes and touched topics as diverse as geopolitical, spiritual, personal and political. Fridman called it ‘one of the most powerful and moving conversations of my life.’
Recent guests on Fridman’s show – which has 4.6 million subscribers – have included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Argentinian President Javier Milei. This conversation is in keeping with the sort of freewheeling candid interactions the Prime Minister has indulged in recently, the latest being the podcast with Nikhil Kamath.
However what was interesting about the Fridman podcast was that nothing was off the table, not even the 2002 post Godhra riots in Gujarat. It is interesting to see the way the Prime Minister conducted himself throughout the interview because the message is often in the medium. Before answering the question on the riots (which took place when Modi was the Chief Minister) he first brought in the geopolitical context of global terrorism as well as the fact that as many as 250 riots had already taken place in Gujarat prior to 2002, and none took place after that. That being said he moved on to other topics, from Trump to China and clearly that is what the interview was all about, the positioning of India (and himself) as the elder statesman of the world. He spoke about our cultural legacy, spiritual heritage and India’s place in the world. Here again the context becomes important, this is the Prime Minister’s third term and he has made no bones of the fact that he is aiming for a fourth. But his focus now has shifted from the domestic to the international. Of course he is on the lookout for a legacy – and this is a good time to pitch for one at a time when the world is redefining itself.
However given the variety of subjects covered – and this included his relations with the RSS – it was clear the PM was using the global platform to send out a message, not just globally but also inwards within India. And judging by the positive feedback, from Trump to China, it does seem as if the three hours were not spent in vaim. Again , no surprises there for there is a reason why the PM is called the Master of the Message.
