Historical revisionism in contemporary India: an analysis of the Mann Ki Baat broadcasts

Following success in the 2014 national elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated a novel communication programme called Mann Ki Baat (MKB), which constituted monthly speeches broadcast over the radio. The content of the speeches covered a gamut of cultural, historical, governance and contemporary topics. In the article, we analyse the historical content of the speeches delivered by PM Modi during his first tenure between 2014 and 2019. We used content analysis to evaluate the speeches’ salience, valence and ownership of diverse historical personalities. Further, we interpreted the symbolism accompanying the personality mentions. The results suggest that MKB was aligned with the BJP’s historical revisionist project. The speeches gave more emphasis to ideological allies than ideological adversaries. The highest salience was given to ideologically ambivalent personalities, whose ownership was projected through symbols sympathetic to the party and government. The findings shed light on the historical revisionist project that underlay the apolitical positioning of MKB. Furthermore, it shows how efforts at historical revisionism go beyond revising textbooks to the practice of everyday politics.