BENGALURU: Are techies more prone to becoming fans of Prime Minister Narendra Modi? The answer is yes and no. While some clearly see him as a strong leader, others keep their own counsel.
However, recent incidents in the city would make one believe that most techies root for him. The IT crowd in Bengaluru, which normally congregates around water coolers for quick work-related chats, becomes a boisterous and loud group when it comes to politics.
And no faction is louder than Modi fans, who manage to drown out all other voices criticising the PM. On March 18, one such group welcomed Congress president Rahul Gandhi with pro-Modi slogans, when he was at Manyata Tech Park for an interaction.
The incident threw up the question of whether Modi and the BJP continue to hold sway on techies --- the educated, young, largely middle-class, social media users.
Techies themselves, HR professionals and political analysts --- all believe that IT employees continue to be a huge support base for PM Modi even if they don’t subscribe to BJP as a party. The question whether this support translates to vote, however, remains unanswered.
‘It’s more like picking the best among the worst’
Bharat S D, an engineer with a German company in Bengaluru, said, “As far as political discussions go, Modi is equal to development and Congress is equal to scams is what one can hear in my office space.” The 28-year-old added that 8 out of 10 people in his own circle believe Modi’s success has been in marketing himself as a person that the youth of the country can rely on. “It is more like picking the best among the worst,” said Ramya S V, an HR professional. “Modi may not have fulfilled many promises he made, but I trust him when it comes to matters of terrorism and Naxalites. Rahul Gandhi, who makes gaffes in his speeches, is not an alternative,” she added. Ramya was resonating the discussions that take place between cubicles at many tech companies in Bengaluru.
Social media — largely Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp — act as a source of information for the IT crowd but the crux of the problem could very well lie here, according to analysts. “This is a segment that has maximum access but minimal information. A group that is the victim of instrumental education without any critical thinking built into them. They consume what they see without thought,” said Prof Narayana A, political analyst and researcher.
Interestingly, most techies that The New Indian Express spoke to, said that they preferred PM Modi but could not point to a specific reason for their choice. “If they are unable to explain why they support Modi, it simply means that the opposition is not able to articulate very well why Modi should not be given a second chance. Image trumps performance in politics and there is no effective counter-narrative,” Prof Narayana said.
Bengaluru’s IT crowd is a blend of locals and migrant techies and engineers from Northern states of India who, according to peers, seem to have more unflinching loyalty to Modi than others. “Migrant techies have no familiarity with caste, region, language or culture here. The one thing that instantly connects them is politics,” Prof Narayana noted.
Max Melvin, a techie who is not a Modi fan, agrees that groupism adds strength to the perception. “Modi supporters are vocal, loud and start forming groups. People who believe in other ideologies remain silent and refuse to voice their opinion or provide a counter-narrative,” he said.
“Techies who hail from the Hindi heartland are readily willing to buy the politics of cow, Hindi imposition and Hindutva,” he said. While he claimed that the loudness of Modi supporters is what gives the impression that techies are largely BJP supporters, he believes that the perception is grossly exaggerated by the silence of those who disagree.