What should an ideal election campaign be like? Should it be catchy? Should it be a report card of a party in power or a vision document of the party that wants to be in power? With freebies and lofty promises making hitting headlines, political campaigns seem far removed from any ideology or real issues confronting people.
Some of the promises made political parties during the assembly elections just gone by were five kilo ghee for women bearing their first child in Rajasthan, Sadhavi Pragya Singh Thakur's shadow in Madhya Pradesh, a radio on wheels in Delhi and simple political crossfire in Chhattisgarh. So what are Indian elections all about?
In the midst of heavy election season, political campaigns seem far removed from any ideology or real issues confronting people.
Has modern-day election campaigning has lost touch with the aam aadmi issues?
Infosys’ Nandan Nilekani, in his recently-released book Imagining India, talks about the difference between horizontal and vertical ideas in politics. But what exactly are these ideas and is there an Indian politician who understands the difference between the two?
Chandan Mitra (Rajya Sabha MP and Editor-in-Chief of The Pioneer) was asked this and he went on a defensive right away, arguing Indians underestimate the intelligence of politicians. “Whether they understand theoretical ideas isn’t important. It’s important for them to have a pulse of what people feel,” he said. He believed all core election issues like rice, bijli-sadak-paani have remained the same over the years and they are all common man issues.
What’s the issue?
Interestingly two states from the BIMARU group (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP - states that aren’t doing too well economically) went to polls recently and the big poll plank seemed to be terror and the saffron tag attached to it. Why is it that for most political parties, the agenda seems to be an emotive issue first and the relevant ones later?
Dilip Cherian (National Coordinator & President, Lok Satta) drew the inevitable comparison. He said Indian politicians must adopt campaign tactics which make them reach out to voters at an individual level. But he also wondered if there were any real issues being taken up in the first place. “A lot of people are getting caught in the hoopla of the show and have no message,” he said.
Actor / Activist Nafisa Ali said we have two major parties in India and when it comes to elections, there’s only a hate propaganda!”
Will we ever have India’s Obama?
Comparisons with America’s new-found poster-boy of change are inevitable in any election for the foreseeable future. But problem is Obama came into politics because he wants to be in it, as opposed to Indian politicians who are in it just and only to hold on to power, by hook or by crook. They are such lampoons who unashamedly make trivial, emotional, nonsense happenings, an issue when the world’s going through the worst economic crisis.
Mr Advani has recently had a meeting with industrialists but an election speech can’t be a budget speech. It has to be catchy,” Mitra admitted, candidly.
Both Mitra and Nafisa said it was unfair to compare India with America because India has a different response mechanism and that poll issues needed to be catchy indeed.
In conclusion we can confidently say that elections in India are and will continue to be worse than a soap opera where the campaign has to look like the beginning of a big film with a great starcast with Sidhu's, Hema Malini's, Jaya Prada's, Munna Bhai's, Shatrughan's and innumerable others of similar kinds with– no meat, only gimmickry.
“A third class political process has taken advantage of Indians and is using this countrymen to exploit and do all sorts of ridiculous things at the cost of the country.”
Results of SMS/Web poll: Has modern day election campaigning lost touch with the aam aadmi?
Yes: 89 per cent.
No: 21 per cent.
Courtesy: CNN-IBN Nov 2008
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