India’s 2 crore first-time voters grew up with Modi — so the case for his re-election deserves a comic book, not a white paper. Author Shantanu Gupta presents his innovative political communication project: a comic novel presenting 101 reasons to vote for Narendra Modi, structured as a dialogue between a pro-Modi commentator and a skeptical anti-Modi journalist who are taken to the streets, villages, and cities to hear from real people.

Launched just as the Election Commission announced the 2024 election schedule, the book topped Amazon’s politics category within two days of announcement and trended on Twitter — confirming Gupta’s thesis that Indians are deeply interested in their democratic choices. The comic format is a deliberate choice: for voters who grew up consuming content visually, a graphic narrative makes ten years of governance achievements accessible in a format they naturally inhabit.

Gupta argues that Indian voter behaviour is driven by a combination of performance and identity — when work is good and a voter feels culturally affirmed simultaneously (as many do under Modi), caste and identity politics recede. The session doubles as a discussion on what political communication means in the age of first-time voters who have never known a pre-Modi India.

About Speaker
Shantanu Gupta is a Political Analyst, TEDx Speaker and author. His book, ‘The Monk Who Became Chief Minister’, a biography of Yogi Adityanath, is listed as the ‘Most Memorable Non-Fiction Books of 2017’ by Amazon.