Click to play videoThe Election Commission announced the dates on when the world's largest democracy will go to polls.
India is all set for a five-phase General Election starting from April 16 and ending on May 13 with counting day on May 16. 714 million people will cast their votes on April 16, 23, 30, May 7 and 13 to elect the 543-member Lok Sabha.
The model code of conduct has come into immediate effect: no more advertisements, policy announcements or media publicity campaigns after a rash of expensive advertising by the Government
And that brings us to the question of the day that was asked on CNN-IBN show Face the Nation: Does political advertising get votes?
On the panel of experts to debate the issue were Congress Spokesperson Manish Tewari, MP and Spokesperson of the BJP Ravi Shankar Prasad and Managing Partner of Counselage Suhel Seth.
Ads: does it have a political impact?
The poll dates have been announced and the moral code of conduct has been put into place. Now the Government cannot waste crores in advertising when India’s GDP growth is 5.3 per cent.
Tewari opened the debate by saying, “It is not the Government alone that is talking about its achievements. All state governments are also doing this especially in Punjab which has had front page ads in all newspapers.”
The BJP has been saying in its ads that “hum dil se ladenge, daulat se nahi (We will fight with ours hearts, not money)”. However, the UPA has gone on an advertising blitzkrieg highlighting its schemes. What does the BJP have in comparison to Congress’ campaign?
To which Prasad said, “I have a mixed feeling on this issue. BJP had got a lot of flak when it advertised before the last elections. But the Congress’ excesses are being debated only when the moral code of conduct has been put into practice.”
The India Shining campaign was a mistake. So what kind of a campaign will the BJP now do to beat the Congress?
“If private companies are entitled to spend money on ads then so is the Government on promoting its achievements. The point to make here is that it should be a genuine achievement. The GDP growth rate is poor, there is staggering employment then there is a problem with the present Government and it is there for all to see and judge,” Prasad said.
The flip side of such ad campaigns is that most of the time they are far from reality.
But Tewari said, “Over the last five years the economic achievements of the Government have been rock solid. Schemes like the NREGS have provided sustenance to the poorest of the poor. So we are not touting empty achievements.”
NREGS, RTI, Indo-US nuclear deal, Manmohan Singh – why should the Government not popularise these things?
“The Government’s job is to govern, it is not running a communications department,” Seth said.
“I am amazed at the intellectual innocence of both these gentlemen and at their smugness as if nothing has gone wrong in this country. We are in the throes of an economic meltdown, we need serious initiatives by the Government, we don’t need to know how many ministers are inaugurating airports or such like. The point is that the voter does not believe that this kind of communication is beneficial. This form of communication is just manipulative. It is a colossal waste of money, least expected under a man like Manmohan Singh. Also, private companies can advertise because they have shareholders who can question them. Here we the shareholders of the Government, we are the taxpayers and we don’t want to know which railway station Lalu Prasad is inaugurating,” Seth added.
BJP’s negative campaign
When asked what the theme of the BJP was going with in this election, Prasad said, "Agriculture is declining in India, farmer suicides have risen, there is unemployment. All these issues will be told by the BJP. India is still vulnerable.”
But the panelists argued that this is a negative campaign by the BJP.
“Political advertising and a negative one was successful only once when in England there was a campaign that said, ‘labour isn’t working’ and there were these long lines of people. Rajiv Gandhi to his credit institutionalised political advertising in India. The second time around when the Congress used a negative campaign it failed. I don’t need to know what is wrong in India through the BJP. I can see it all around. The BJP should explain how it will be a progressive party and go from strength to strength,” Seth explained.
But looking at the issue from the other side, has the Congress spent a lot of money on something that will bring it no political reward?
“Seth is just attempting to trivialise a serious issue,” Tewari retorted.
To which Seth said, “Let me take you back to the freedom movement. There the metaphor and idiom of communication is different. It is the responsibility of every political party to communicate with the people. And that is what we are doing.”
But when was the Government communicating when the Indo-US nuclear deal was on?
Beginning to lose cool, Tewari said, “Let Seth go and contest elections and then we will see.”
But Seth fired back, “Why should I? I am not planning to replace you.”
To which Tewari said, “You are passing judgments on people elected by the people. You have no right to do that.”
“Not at all. We are passing judgments on obscene advertising done by the Government,” Seth said.
“No, you are commenting on how the politicians look and I strongly disagree with you. Why don’t you stick to the point of the debate,” Tewari said.
Seth replied, “Sorry Manish, this is a facile argument and there is no debate in this.”
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Ram rajya?
Seth believes that given what the BJP has done so far, the “finest slogan for the party now should be Ram bharose!”
As the debate gathered steam again, Prasad said, “I will have to join what Tewari said. If this is the level of debate and such trivialisation is going to happen then there is no point in staying with it. If Seth has got so much intellectual arrogance then good luck to him. Having said that, whatever campaign strategy that BJP decides will not be discussed here. This is the age of information and we know how to communicate. As a political activist I do have certain reservations on some of the campaigns we undertake and one can revisit them.”
However, Seth took a different line and explained how the Mahatma communicated with the country to inform and spread the freedom movement.
“Tewari spoke about the freedom movement. We should here speak about Mahatma Gandhi. What did he do? The uprising for freedom in each of our hearts was taken out through a massive word of mouth exercise and made into a viable communication movement where you had an objective that people would seek out,” Seth said.
He added, “The Indo-US nuclear deal should have been explained at the time it was being signed. It was an extremely beneficial deal for the country. The context should have been made easy for the voters to appreciate it. My message to politicians is that don’t waste money on full page ads that promote the opening of a bridge or a railway station because it does nothing to anyone and is a slap in the face of communication. All this is reprehensible in such troubled times.”
The panelists agreed that there is a difference between communication and advertising. Communication is a continued process in which the politicians should talk to their constituencies and voters and not go all out before elections.
So will there be a change now?
“The political campaign is different from the Government putting forth its achievements. What you have seen till now is what the UPA has done in the last five years. What you will see is the political campaign,” Tewari explained.
Lessons learnt
What lessons has the BJP learnt from the India Shining campaign?
“There is a whole world that exists between 2004 and 2009. We have won so many state elections since 2004. Yes, maybe there was something wrong and that needs to be corrected,” Prasad said.
“However, the point is that even if the Government comes out with a campaign but it lacks substance then it will be mocked at. I have handled the campaigns of many big states and I am not going to say how much pressure we suffer because of media houses. Please look inwards. I don’t want to be blunt like Seth. We know a lot of things therefore corrections have to be made at many stages,” he added.
“That is national threat from the BJP even when they are not in Government!” said a laughing Seth.
To which Tewari said, “This is not a threat. This is the omnipresent malice that is there is the system. And that malice is putting pressure on political parties to cough money for ads.”
However, with the moral code of conduct in place this situation will not come up now.
Seth concluding the debate by telling the political parties, “Communicate benefits but don’t make empty announcements.”
Results of the poll:
Yes – 42 per cent
No – 58 per cent
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