None can accuse Narendra Modi of being slow off the blocks when it comes to spotting a propaganda opportunity. The Olympics and the Paralympics seem to have handed the Prime Minister another diversionary opportunity to sprint, jump and swim across the economic, health and freedom-curbing cesspool that his government stands accused of creating.

Modi has been effusive in his praise for the Indian contingents’ achievements in the Olympics and now the Paralympics in Tokyo, making incessant social media posts, speaking to sportspersons who have won medals and calling them over to his residence for a felicitation.

None can find fault with such encouraging gestures of the Prime Minister in a country where sports other than cricket have often been ignored.

However, the optics of Modi’s overtures, with his telephone conversations with Olympic achievers being videographed and shared widely on social media, the elaborate multi-camera coverage of his in-person interactions with sportspersons, his pep talks to them and his breathless tweets have sparked speculation whether the politician is trying to appropriate the sporting achievements for political gains.

“Soaring higher and higher!” Modi tweeted on Tuesday to congratulate Mariyappan Thangavelu for winning the silver medal in high jump at the Tokyo Paralympics. “Mariyappan Thangavelu is synonymous with consistence and excellence,” he waxed eloquent.

“Congratulations to him for winning the Silver Medal. India is proud of his feat.”

Similar fulsome praise for each achiever has filled Modi’s social media timelines. “The indomitable @sharad_kumar01 has brought smiles on the faces of every Indian by winning the Bronze Medal! His life journey will motivate many,” he tweeted about Sharad Kumar who bagged bronze in the same high jump event.

Modi had been eloquent while congratulating Indian sportspersons’ feats at the Olympics too, while many in the BJP have suggested that the country’s haul of an unprecedented seven medals was another feather in the Prime Minister’s cap.

While most sportspersons have lauded the Prime Minister’s effort to boost the morale of the players and generate a positive atmosphere for the promotion of sports in the country, the political motive behind the extraordinary and well-coordinated drive has either been papered over or deliberately ignored.

Internally, BJP managers acknowledged that the good show by sportspersons at the Olympics and the Paralympics had helped the government to drown the criticism over the allegations of snooping using the Israeli sypware Pegasus, the steep rise in the prices of essential commodities, Covid mismanagement and relatively slow pace of vaccination.

The ruling party insiders even appeared happy about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, saying the development had come at an opportune moment and would blur the crises the Modi government was facing on multiple fronts.

The rise of the extremist Taliban is being indirectly used by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in his alleged polarising campaign for the Assembly elections next year.

The underlying intention of basking in the reflected glory of sportspersons was evident at the well-planned event to felicitate the Olympic medal winners at the Prime Minister’s residence.

The stage for the event had a large banner in which Modi’s picture dwarfed those of the winners, who had been relegated into a cluster. Multiple cameras followed every move of Modi from several angles and recorded his interactions as he treated sportspersons to their favourite dishes.

Bemused social media users had assailed it as a public relations exercise and wondered who had won the medals, Modi or the sportspersons.

Ministers and BJP leaders have also been going all out on social media platforms in their quest to project the sporting heroics as achievements of the Modi government.

“That special moment when India’s Prime Minister calls to congratulate you…. Just after you’ve won the #Paralympics GOLD and broken the world record…. Well done Sumit Antil!” newly appointed information and broadcasting and sports minister Anurag Thakur tweeted on Monday.A video of javelin star Antil talking to Modi over the phone in the speaker mode was also uploaded.

During the Olympics too, Modi’s calls to players in Tokyo had been elaborately videographed and shared widely on social media.

The political intentions became even more stark when the Modi government renamed the country’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, to Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, on the back of the men’s hockey team bagging an Olympics medal after four decades.

Addressing an event in Uttar Pradesh, Modi linked the hockey bronze with two controversial events that have been the ideological cornerstones of his government — the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370.