Power, Policy, Politics: Why I Wrote a Book on Modi’s Bharat

Politics has been part of my professional life for nearly three decades. I have reported from the ground, sat in newsrooms on election nights, watched governments come and go, worked around political campaigns and seen, from close quarters, how a decision taken in a government office eventually finds its way into public conversation.

Over the years, I have worked in India and abroad, met politicians across parties, journalists, bureaucrats, campaigners and, most importantly, ordinary voters. These experiences have given me a close view of how politics is shaped, communicated and finally judged.

Some moments have stayed with me more than others.

I was in Chandigarh when demonetisation was announced in November 2016. I was in Johannesburg during the 2014 election period & in Seattle in 2019, working in an international media environment and watching Indian politics from a distance. I was in Mumbai when the 2024 Lok Sabha election results came in. And I was travelling to Dubai immediately after the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, following the crisis that occurred from both an Indian and an outside perspective.

These were very different moments, but each made me look at Indian politics differently.

And if nearly three decades in media, elections and political communication have taught me anything, it is this. Indian politics is rarely as simple as it appears on television or social media.

I have seen governments praised for decisions that did not work as expected. I have also seen leaders survive decisions that commentators were certain would finish them politically. I have watched elections produce results that almost nobody in the newsroom predicted.

That is why the years after 2014 fascinated me.

I was not watching the Narendra Modi years from a distance. I was living through them professionally and personally.

At different moments, I found myself asking the same question.

What exactly changed in Indian politics after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister?

The obvious answer was electoral dominance.

But that did not explain everything.

Something deeper had changed. The way political power was exercised had changed. The way government policy was communicated and judged had changed. The relationship between a political leader and the voter had changed. And the language of political messaging itself had changed.

That thought eventually became the starting point for Power, Policy, Politics: Inside Modi’s Bharat.

Why Power, Policy and Politics?

The title came directly from the way I began looking at these twelve years.

Power is about leadership and the way political authority is exercised.

Policy is about decisions that eventually reach people’s lives.

Politics is about elections, opposition, communication, public opinion and the continual battle to retain people’s trust.

During the Modi years, these three have repeatedly crossed paths.

A policy decision has produced political consequences. An election result has forced political recalibration. A national security crisis has changed public conversation. Welfare schemes have altered the relationship between governments and citizens.

You cannot understand this period by studying elections alone. Nor can you understand it by simply listing government schemes and their claimed achievements.

The real story lies in what happened between policy, politics and people.

Demonetisation Made Me Look at Modi Differently

One experience that remained with me was demonetisation.

I was in Chandigarh when the announcement came in November 2016.

What followed was visible everywhere. People stood in queues. Cash became difficult to access. Families and businesses had to adjust almost overnight. There was inconvenience, confusion and anger.

Yet something politically unusual happened.

Many people who were facing that inconvenience continued to support Narendra Modi.

That fascinated me.

For me, the more interesting question was no longer whether a television panel declared demonetisation a success or failure.

Why were people willing to accept such disruption?

What did they believe Modi was trying to achieve?

And how had a political leader created enough trust among a section of voters for them to bear personal inconvenience while continuing to support him?

I kept returning to that question while writing the book.

Johannesburg and the 2019 Election

The 2019 Lok Sabha election gave me another perspective.

I was in Johannesburg during that period, working in an international media environment. Being outside India did not distance me from the election. In some ways, it made me observe it differently.

From thousands of kilometres away, I watched the campaign, the political messaging, the media coverage and the results.

What struck me was the scale at which Indian politics was being followed outside India. Narendra Modi was no longer only the leader of the Indian government. His politics, his manner of communication and India's political direction had become subjects of discussion beyond our borders.

The 2019 result also raised an important political question.

How had a government that had taken difficult and controversial decisions, including demonetisation and GST, returned with an even stronger mandate?

That question became part of my larger attempt to understand the Modi phenomenon.

Beyond Schemes and Headlines

Power, Policy, Politics looks at several defining decisions and developments of the Modi years. Financial inclusion through Jan Dhan, demonetisation, social legislation, constitutional changes, welfare delivery, national security, political communication and elections all form part of the story.

But I did not want to write a catalogue of government decisions.

A government announcement is only the beginning of a policy story.

What happened afterwards?

Did the policy work?

Did it change people’s lives or behaviour?

Did people believe in its purpose?

Were there unintended consequences?

And politically, how did voters respond?

These questions are far more interesting to me than reproducing claims made either by the government or its opponents.

The Message of 2024

The 2024 Lok Sabha election occupies an important place in the book because it contested several assumptions.

Narendra Modi returned as Prime Minister for a third consecutive term. But the BJP did not secure a majority on its own, unlike in 2014 and 2019.

That result mattered.

It showed something fundamental about Indian democracy.

Political dominance does not mean political permanence.

A voter can strongly support a leader and still send a warning. A voter can approve of one policy and reject another. The same electorate that gives a government a large mandate can reduce that mandate five years later.

Indian voters are far more politically sophisticated than they are sometimes given credit for.

Watching a National Security Crisis From Outside India

Another intensely personal moment came after the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025.

By coincidence, I left for Dubai the following day.

As the crisis developed and tensions between India and Pakistan escalated, I found myself following events from outside the country.

That gave me another unusual perspective.

I was watching the Indian media and political response, but I was also seeing how India’s actions were being discussed beyond our borders.

It reinforced something I had observed over the years.

National security is not only about military action. It is also about diplomacy, public faith, international perception, political leadership and communication.

At moments of crisis, all these things come together very quickly.

Politics Happens Outside Parliament Too

I have included personal experiences in the book because I have never believed that politics exists only in Parliament, government offices or television studios.

Politics becomes real somewhere else.

At a bank counter when cash cannot be withdrawn.

Inside a household when a subsidy reaches an account.

At an airport when a national security crisis suddenly changes travel plans.

Inside a small business when a government regulation changes.

And ultimately, inside a polling booth.

That is where policy meets the citizen.

Having worked in media, government, elections, and political communication for nearly three decades, I look beyond what a politician says.

I ask why it was said.

Who was it meant for?

Why was it said at that particular moment?

And what happened afterwards?

That instinct shaped this book.

The Modi Communication Model

One aspect of Narendra Modi’s politics that deserves serious study is communication.

Political communication in India has changed significantly during his years in office.

Modi understood early that a political leader no longer had to depend entirely on traditional media to communicate with citizens.

Direct communication, radio, digital platforms, social media, party organisation and an extensive ground network became parts of the same political communication system.

His opponents have had to respond to this model.

Sometimes successfully. Often unsuccessfully.

You can support Narendra Modi or oppose him, but it is difficult to study contemporary Indian politics seriously without accepting the impact he has had on how politics communicates.

This Is Not a Book of Praise

Writing about Narendra Modi comes with a distinctive problem.

Praise a decision, and someone will immediately call you a supporter.

Question a decision, and another group will put you in the opposite camp.

I did not want to write the book within those boundaries.

Governments make mistakes. Leaders miscalculate. Policies sometimes fail to produce their intended results. Political strategies stop working. Voters push back.

Those moments are as important as electoral victories and successful policies.

Power, Policy, Politics is therefore not an attempt to tell readers what they should think about Narendra Modi.

I attempt to record what I have witnessed, study some of the biggest decisions of these twelve years and understand how they changed Indian politics.

Why Write a Book When Everything Is Online?

I asked myself this question while writing it.

Almost everything is available online today.

But there is a problem.

We remember controversies and forget context.

Every morning brings another political fight. A major policy debate can dominate television and social media for a couple of days and then disappear under the next controversy.

A book gives us the space to connect events.

Something that happened in 2016 may help explain an election result years later. A political setback may influence a future government decision. A welfare programme may permanently change what citizens expect from the state.

When you place these events next to each other, patterns begin to appear.

That is what I have tried to do in Power, Policy, Politics.

Why I Finally Wrote It

I did not write this book because I believe the story of the Modi years is complete.

It clearly is not.

I wrote it because twelve years is long enough to ask what has changed.

India before 2014 and India today cannot be understood only through GDP numbers, election results, welfare statistics or political speeches.

Something has changed, like political leadership itself.

Something has changed in what voters expect from a Prime Minister.

Something has changed in how governments communicate.

Something has changed in the relationship between welfare and elections.

And something has certainly changed in the way political battles are fought.

Readers may agree with my interpretation of these changes. They may disagree with parts of it.

That is fine.

In fact, I would rather have a reader disagree with me after reading the book than agree with me without questioning it.

Because Power, Policy, Politics: Inside Modi’s Bharat is ultimately not about asking whether Narendra Modi is right or wrong.

It is about a larger question.

What changed in India after 2014?

My answer lies in the title.

Power changed.

Policy changed.

Politics changed.

And after watching Indian politics closely for nearly three decades, I felt this was a story worth recording.