Not long ago, Airtel Launched a proposal named Airtel Zero which aimed at providing all its Customers Toll Free Access to the mobile applications ie. at Zero Data Charge. Big E-commerce companies such as Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal rejoiced as they no further needed their customer to have access to Internet to use and order stuff from their mobile applications! Startups on the other hand saw trouble coming their way as they couldn't afford this scheme.

Flipkart was keen on going all in for this offer from Airtel. However, things happened to turn around later on.

The User Ratings on Flipkart's mobile applications degraded as not many internet maniacs who supported Net Neutrality liked what Flipkart was about to do. Rounds of discussions and meetings were conducted on the same topic at Flipkart's Head Office.

A move such as that could have defamed the company which would have further incurred losses on the Sales of its Services. Applying the most basic principle of Game Theory, they realized that the Nash Equilibrium (the best strategy) of this multi-player simultaneous Game lied in withdrawing from Airtel Zero, as it is for the company's own benefit to do what is best for everyone (Cooperative move)!

They finally withdrew from the proposal of Airtel Zero and supported the cause of Net Neutrality thereafter.

Guess for the NaMo Wave?  E>> hc/λ

Yes, we are surely talking about Narendra Modi! Undoubtedly, his party and its alliances won 336 seats at the center (much greater than 272 that are actually required to get a majority) and got a record 3 lakh votes over his congress rival in Vadodara. It not only takes wide publicity but also good tactics to inculcate one’s image and name into the brains of a rather populous country like India.

Let’s see how Modi changed the rules of the game. He targeted the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh which together accounts for 210 Lok Sabha seats. He wanted to turn around the percentage of votes received in these states as BJP had won a paltry 31 seats in 2009. He inspired investor confidence in Gujarat and had put development at the forefront. Both of these yielded huge returns for him. He got the best minds for advertising on board which included Sam Balsara, Prasoon Joshi and Piyush Pandey who have had a wealth of experience behind them. His two very easy, mind-catching and popular lines ‘The NaMo wave is coming’ and ‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkaar’ created a sense of unity and empowered him over others. He believed that the poster of a Hindutva boy would emerge as a vote multiplier. Also, Modi ensured fine-tuning of booth management so that it could end up with more hits than misses during the elections.

Before even delivering his first speech, he used a much more convenient way to reach the public. He tweeted. A simple tweet of a few words that the whole world saw in a matter of seconds. It witnessed 70k tweets at the moment of writing and 40k retweets in 45 minutes which set a completely new record in India. Modi also had the fastest growing Facebook page (for the last day, week and month) of any politician or elected official worldwide. It was growing at 1.171% against Obama’s 0.305%! In addition, the campaign mounted other support networks and communities on Facebook like “India272+” volunteering program, used the BJP’s party’s official page to organise a massive mobilization.

Modi made a mark on the national scene by providing assistance for the shifting of Tata Motors in 2008 for production of the car Nano which established him as the champion for industry and development. Modi, an excellent orator as he is, highlighted slowing economic growth, high inflation and lack of good jobs to resonate with the young and urban voters by blaming Congress led UPA for the problem.

Such deeply strategized moves overthrew his opposition parties’ big time. So after a 5 week election cycle which witnessed 537 million votes, he was elected the Prime Minister of India and created history.

Even after becoming the PM of India, the problem of wrong imaging abroad still remained. In May 2005, Modi was denied Visa to US just because the anti-Modi parties convinced the Americans of his involvement in the massacre of 2000 Muslims by the Hindu nationalists, which turned out to be a huge lie. To undo the damage that was done, he outlined a strategy whose first step was inviting the SAARC leaders which consisted of heads of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan to his swearing in. By this master stoke he sealed the mouth of those who questioned his desire for good relations with the neighbouring countries. While other Prime Ministers would visit the superpowers first, he instead visited India’s neighbours, on his own terms. Next, he settled with Xi, the president of China, a peace treaty and requested him to move away his troops away from the Indo-China Border.

On the account of everything he achieved, he was given a red-carpet welcome in US. He lectured to about 18,500 Indo-American audiences in Madison Square Garden which is otherwise known as the home of New York Knicks Basketball and New York Rangers Ice Hockey team. On a rotating stage, he vowed to fight corruption and touted India’s promise as a Tech-Giant. The speech which got a huge number of views not only on YouTube but also on local News channels was a major event in righting his image which was otherwise intentionally distorted by his detractors.

Yes, the energy E of the NaMo wave is much greater than hc/λ.

This article has been published in the Fifth Edition of 'The Strategist', the bi-annual newsletter of The Kgpian Game Theory Society at IIT Kharagpur, in October 2014. Read more at ISSUU.