Since 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, with only a few exceptions, been consistently speaking in Hindi to connect with the Gujarati people in his home State, whether at government events or election rallies. As these speeches and events are telecast live by news channels, they reach a national audience.
During the campaign to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, for instance, Mr. Modi addressed six rallies in the north and central provinces and the Saurashtra region. All his speeches were in Hindi; he spoke occasional sentences in Gujarati. Even in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls, he mainly used Hindi while addressing over a dozen rallies across the State.
This was not the case before Mr. Modi became Prime Minister. During his nearly 13 years as Gujarat Chief Minister, the majority of his speeches were in Gujarati, which is also his mother tongue.
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