Humans in office!

Canadian PM has endeared himself to Indians through his bhangra video that has gone viral

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, did rise to power but thanks to the intensely endearing videos of him doing the rounds, it is a little difficult to associate him with the word ‘power’ and the image of a Prime Minister of a nation. The recent election of a Liberal school teacher as the North American country’s premier stands as an example of how in some countries, people elected to public office work hard to gain public trust.

Not only had Trudeau particularly endeared Indians with his now viral bhangra video, he has achieved with relative ease what politicians in all other countries have only begun to try — a likeable online figurehood. While Barack Obama does love sharing online updates of his White House life, Modi’s Twitter is quite verbose when he is on his travels and David Cameron manages to announce the odd economic milestone through his Twitter account, most PMOs have a stilted trademark in their social media interactions — something that followers immediately see through. Trudeau, on the other hand, has videos of him falling down stairs in addition to posting hard talks on taxes and abortion laws.

Social scientist and researcher Asmita D. Ram says that the root of such popularity as enjoyed by Trudeau lies in an accessible lifestyle. She says, “Unlike politicians who have had an inhuman and meteoric rise to power and who remain weighed down by concerns, the handsome Canadian PM is a man whose journey was for all to see. He never overplays the election or his role in it. When people admire him on social media, they do it because they would probably have followed the same path had they been the son of an earlier PM with a penchant for literature.”