The UPA’s media campaign

BY IMPACT Staff

The ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has embarked on a massive and aggressive advertising campaign with a budget of Rs 180 crore -- to be spent by the national exchequer.

According to Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, it is “definitely not planning an ‘India Shining’ type of campaign... the story of UPA is based on evidence and statistics”. This is the lesson which the present government has learnt from the ‘India Shining’ disaster of the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, which turned out to be an ‘India Whining Campaign’.

The flab and flamboyance of the ‘India Shining’ campaign proved to be a lesson for its successor government, the UPA-I. The UPA-I’s advertising campaign in 2009 was more effective and to the point than the bloated Rs 150 crore budget of the NDA government, which collapsed under its own weight.

The utter futility of such flamboyance was an insult to the intelligence of the Indian masses. The lesson that such hyperbole cannot beguile the masses has been learnt well by the UPA. It has, therefore, chosen the path of pragmatism and the possible.

The UPA campaign is very focused on objectives, with five earmarked themes. Between now and February 2014, the government’s Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) will conduct the advertising campaign, according to the themes drawn up by its visualizers. The DAVP executes advertising campaigns of different ministries of the government of India, in total worth at least Rs 600 crore per annum. Such advertising is meant to inform Indian citizens at large about the aims, objectives and achievements of the administration.

The first phase of the UPA-II campaign is already under way, with Rs 35 crore spent since its launch. Says Tewari: “Rather than the ‘hyperbole’ of India, this new campaign is aimed to showcase the  achievements of the present government in the context of its aspirations. The achievements in relation to the goals the UPA has set out to perform are quite remarkable in the face of formidable obstacles.”

The first part of the campaign features a film by well known director Pradeep Sarkar, with lyrics by renowned poet Javed Akhtar. The latter has appropriately composed the catchy tune: “Meelon ham aa gaye, meelon hamen jaana hai (We’ve come a long way, but there’s much to be done yet).” This is original coinage and appropriately sets the tone and tenor for the campaign. There is no hyperbole or flamboyance. It does not seek to undermine, underestimate or mislead the masses.

The first phase stresses ‘political stability’. This is unique in the backdrop of the fluid political situation of the coalition partners of UPA. The public view is quite contrary to the notion of stability. But this is where the UPA underscores the fact that despite the pushes and pulls of conflicting interests, the UPA government has indeed survived to tell the tale.

The second selling point of the new campaign is ‘social cohesion’. This is also apparently inappropriate for a government that had to send a couple of Cabinet Ministers to jail, and faces daily reports of some scam or the other. But despite all these jarring notes, the orchestra plays the theme tune. The public is reminded that despite aberrations, there has indeed been a resounding success in social cohesion.

The UPA government has competently sensitized the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to deal with the economic scams as well as social incohesion. The CBI has instituted cases against alleged perpetrators of fake encounters and arrested the Home Minister of Gujarat as well as several IPS officers and others. The UPA government has thus sent a strong message to the minority community, and highlighted free maternity benefits, hospital facilities and minority education loans.

The next phase of the campaign will lay stress on economic development. “We have maintained good growth in GDP between 2007 and 2012, at a time when emerging economies across Asia are facing problems. The economic meltdown decimated global institutions, but India’s growth remained robust,” Tewari said.

There has been a steady progress of the Indian economy in the nine years since the demise of the NDA government. This is a silent revolution, whether the supporters of NDA like it or not. “It is not an attempt to extrapolate or inflate, but the story of how India has evolved over nine years,” the Minister said about the planned campaign.

Achievements in the sphere of internal security will be the focus of the fourth phase of the campaign. Whatever critics say, I think this is also in the face of the common perception. Maoist insurgency, border conflicts with Pakistan, insurgency in Assam and elsewhere should not be allowed to detract from the fact that everything is well under control.

“We have managed to contain leftwing extremism and militancy in the North-east, and there is evidence in Jammu & Kashmir that the situation is getting better,” Tewari said.

Taking a holistic view, the UPA campaign finally focuses on the restructuring of Indian foreign relations in the right perspective. The entire campaign is something to eagerly look forward to. It will be propagated through TV spots, short films, Print media as well as mobile and social media. With a year to go for the general elections, the public waits with bated breath to see its effect.

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Tags : Media Mantras