By Japan K Pathak, Ahmedabad, 11 August 2013

This is the power of online media. While around one lakh people were witnessing Narendra Modi’s speech in and around(through live video screens) Hyderabad’s Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium, and lakhs of others possibly on news TV channels, it is interesting to note that as many as 10,000 people were watching Mr. Modi’s speech live on Youtube. This was most probably the highest number of real-time viewers Modi’s any live speech attracted so far online. Remember 10,000 is equal to nine town halls of Ahmedabad or even more Tagore halls of Ahmedabad.

For last some time, Modi’s almost all important speeches are telecast live online through Youtube. Modi’s IT office ensures that not only Modi’s speech, but full length of events(attended by Mr. Modi) go online. This offers real experience of the event.

Modi’s Youtube channel has nearly nearly 60,000 followers. His Youtube channel enjoys millions of views. Contrary to traditional print and TV media, Youtube provides perfect source of information, as his speeches are unedited, full in length and quickly available.

Every spin, trick and twist attempted on any of the Modi’s speeches fails to survive when Modi’s original speech is watched in full context on Youtube. The practice of posting Modi’s all important speeches on Youtube has lowered down the number of spins,tricks,twists attempted by mainstream media on the content of his addresses.

By Lok Sabha elections time, Modi’s channel may cross one lakh followers mark and 50,000 to 1,00,000 live views when speech is made available live online. Today’s figure of 10,000 live viewers online is a great news anyway.

What we have found is that once uploaded, Modi’s speech on youtube is never removed by his team. It means there’s a huge online record available to public for scrutiny. This brings transparency.

In Mahatma Gandhi’s time there was his personal assistant Mahadevbhai Desai who would note what Gandhiji spoke at particular event or on a particular day. We may doubt whether it was an unedited job every-time! In Modi’s case Youtube is doing Mahadevbhai Desai’s job unedited.

Foot note:

DeshGujarat was launched in year 2006 as majorly an audio podcast blog. Apart from other audio jobs, we also used to record Shri Modi’s speeches through our digital audio recorder and put them online in those days. It was an attempt to connect him to more people. In those days, you write Narendra Modi in google search, and you would get all negative articles describing him as mass murderer, devil and what not! We were shocked to see the response his audio speeches were getting! This because he was the most misunderstood politician at that time. I remember that outside a function in Grand Bhagawati hotel in those days, I had given him a chit to read in car. I had suggested him to go through the website of then New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and replicate it. Rudy Giuliani was wonderful orator and his speeches, and all the details, updates were available online impressively. Dynamic Rudy Giuliani is not New York’s Mayor today, but Modi’s today’s web site and allied online presence is far better than New York’s present Mayor’s website. Today Modi’s online presence in Indian context is being compared with not New York Mayor’s online presence but American President’s online presence.