There is growing concern among Modi aides that the government is losing the perception battle because of negative media coverage. The same ghost haunted the Congress which subsequently blamed its humiliating loss in the 2014 polls on its poor communications strategy, its failure to highlight its “achievements” and media focus on corruption scandals.

Now it&’s the BJP&’s turn to blame the press for its image troubles. At a recent meeting of the union council of ministers, Modi spoke at length on the issue and berated the ministers as well as party spokespersons for not doing enough to publicise the government&’s good work and its many pro-people schemes like the Jan Dhan Yojna. Much to the ministers’ surprise, he talked of a course correction through a positive media outreach programme, not just in Delhi but across states.

BJP circles wonder whether this means that Modi is considering a review of his closed door policy towards the media. One leader went so far as to speculate that the Prime Minister may overturn one of his first decisions relating to the media and revive the convention of carrying a press team with him on his foreign trips. Modi scrapped this time-honoured convention, raising hackles among correspondents who have always looked forward to the opportunity of travelling with the PM on board Air India One. These trips gave them access to the PM and to key decisions makers in an informal setting, often yielding stories and backgrounders on government thinking on key issues.

While the contours of a new media policy are yet to emerge, one visible fallout of the anxiety over bad press coverage is a flurry of media gatherings hosted by ministers in the new year. Since the Modi government assumed office, three ministers have been the interface with the media: Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Prakash Javadekar. This year, other ministers have taken centre stage. Ravi Shankar Prasad, an old media hand, hosted a huge new year&’s lunch which turned out to be power show with the entire top brass of the government and the party, except Modi himself, present for an informal chit chat with journalists. Newly elected party president Amit Shah was there too.

Prasad&’s lunch brought back memories of the times when union ministers and senior leaders of the ruling party interacted informally with correspondents and editors and freely exchanged views. This was virtually the norm during the Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh government eras. It had stopped after the Modi government assumed office.

Another minister who joined the new outreach is Najma Heptullah. As minister for minority affairs, she hosted two tea parties to which not just the media but prominent members of all the minority communities were invited. The gesture was much appreciated by community leaders as they networked with the gracious hostess and senior officials of her ministry.

Even a low profile minister like Kalraj Mishra seems to have been drafted in. He too hosted a lunch recently. It remains to be seen whether the effort pays off but media persons are hopeful that the government may have opened the door ever so slightly.

Cornered star Amit Shah was quite the star at Prasad&’s lunch. It was his first outing with the media after re-election. Although the media were present the day his re-appointment  as party president was announced, he did not sit down for a chit chat. At Prasad&’s lunch, news hungry journalists made a beeline for him.

The main topic of discussion was the controversy that has arisen over the centre&’s decision to impose President&’s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh. As media representatives shot questions at him, it became a sort of Shah versus journalists argument with the latter throwing tough questions at him about the reason for the inordinate hurry to use a constitutional provision that the BJP has historically opposed.

Rajnath Singh had to be called in to rescue Shah from the media fire. The home minister was led to the table at which the BJP president was seated. The change in guard helped to cool things down.

Helping hand 

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav&’s India Foundation is rapidly gaining as the country&’s most prominent think tank on security and foreign policy related issues. This was underlined again at the Foundation&’s recent two-day conference on counter-terrorism in Jaipur.

Apart from the galaxy of speakers, which included President Pranab Mukherjee who inaugurated the conference, two officials from the Cabinet Secretariat were deputed to help out behind the scenes. It is reported that these two officials handled the logistics of travel, stay etc for the foreign delegates.

Foreign policy circles were surprised by the involvement of government officers, even though they worked behind the scenes as India Foundation is a private think tank. But with a power house board of directors, who include NSA Ajit Doval&’s son Shaurya Doval, Ram Madhav of course and ministers like Nirmala Sitharaman, it is hardly surprising that the government would lend a helping hand.