The election campaign in India this time round has been the most expansive one. It has been touted by many as a jamboree, a must see political carnival. Frankly, speaking it is an entertainment in itself, clearly outflanking the over the top K serials of Ekta Kapoor. The 2009 Lok Sabha elections has got everything in it: flamboyance, wealth, drama, start power and loads and loads of suspense and action.

 

 PR firms, advertising companies and brand consultants are busy writing slogans, copies and with strategic positioning mind games for political parties and candidates, rather than for products and brands. Big bucks are also being spent on its visibility. Joining the fever called elections are the endless number of Bollywood celebrities like Aamir Khan,  Priyanka Chopra and others, all urging us to assert our right to vote.

 

The political parties and their candidates have used every viable media to communicate, place their mandate and persuade the rightful votes to their party. Whether you are watching a news channel, or a mindless programme on any one of the general entertainment channels, they are all out there. Ubiquitously present with scores of endorsement from aam janta (in the case of Congress) or the towering profile of Mr. L.K Advani, the Prime Ministerial candidate of Bharatiya Jana Parishad (BJP), beckoning us to vote for BJP. We cannot miss them. Surely, a time will come when the political parties will use chopper services to colour the sky with campaign messages.

 

During the last Lok Sabha elections, mobile users were confused, elated and surprised to be greeted by the deep voice of the then Prime Minister of India, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He appealed the citizen of India to vote for BJP, for progress and for ‘India Shinning’. This time round the BJP has gotten smarter and wiser; they have used the medium of internet. They have entrenched themselves to every viable website. I am surprised at the intensity of their campaign. No matter which website I visit, even a website like www.timeanddate.com, has been inundated by its e-campaign. If you google for Mr. Advani, there are 598,000 hits against his name and for Mr. Manmohan Singh, there are 2,810,000 hits. Let me also write about the involvement of celebrities. I am sure their involvement comes with a huge price tag. There are very few, who would be doing this as a concerned citizen.

 

My heart wrenches to see so much money being spent on media visibility and so called campaign. How I wish the political parties, would loosen their purse and voluntarily donate to feed hundreds of hungry stomachs, or provide education to the underprivileged children, build shelter homes for the destitute and fight for social irregularities such as child marriage and female infanticide. If the political parties would have done their duties and fulfilled their commitments, when voted to power, they wouldn’t have needed to rely so heavily on reaching to the voters through the media. I hope the voters can see through this.