The Aam Aadmi Party's resounding success in Delhi has confirmed one thing - elections can indeed be won by a strong, innovative public outreach programme. AAP got literally everything in their election paraphernalia right - from the Gandhi topi and the wacky jhadu symbol to the intensive door-to-door campaigns and 71 manifestos for one city.
However, what capped the party's poll blitzkrieg was convenor Arvind Kejirwal's carefully practised 'aam aadmi' rhetoric - something that was easy to believe, easy to relate to and didn't ring as hollow as the other 'I'm-one-of-you' declarations made by other seasoned politicians.
Rahul Gandhi. PTI
Essentially, Kejriwal's success was as much a public relations triumph as it was one of clever politicking. The 'pro common man' pitch has been a favourite with politicians in India down decades. However, given how generously it has been used and misused in our political milieu, it is also easily identified with the empty pre-poll theatrics of our political leaders. Interestingly, the other big players in the poll ring at present have been trying to resist being labelled the privileged 'other' in the political discourse of the country which traditionally divides India into two distinct entities - the political elite and the common man. While three time chief minister of Gujarat and now BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi finds it necessary to relentlessly harp on his humble beginning as a tea vendor's son, blue- blooded political elite Rahul Gandhi tries to position himself as a classic outsider like one of us -- fed up with the government, red tapism and nepotism in the political system. However, neither Modi, nor Rahul seems to have made much of an impression with their 'common man' cries.
But the bigger players are not willing to give up yet. While Narendra Modi had reportedly hired Bangalore-based IT entrepreneurs Rajesh Jain and BG Mahesh to propel his social media campaign and oil his lines of communication with the public, now Rahul Gandhi has reportedly sought the assistance of Japanese advertising and communication firm Dentsu to give his campaign a fillip before the polls. According to a report on The Hindustan Times, Dentsu will be leading a campaign to consolidate Gandhi's image as a young, dynamic leader who'll empower the common man. Another communications firm, Burson-Marsteller, has been roped in to take on Modi and AAP's social media avalanche and make Rahul a force to reckon with in social media. The HT report states:
"A team of select professionals is working on the project and Rahul Gandhi is closely involved with the creation of the short films and print ads based on him."
However, one has to keep in mind here that a sophisticated publicity campaign, built with the same precision with which product launches are designed, doesn't essentially help dilute the assumptions the voting population makes about the political class. In fact, a corporate approach to the polls in India would only help widen the breach between the voters and the political class in the country. A campaign that decisively looks like an elaborate advertisement of achievements will only help sediment the stereotypes - most of them unflattering - that the general voting population nurtures about political leaders.
Getting down to the basics, how does one publicise the achievements of Rahul Gandhi - an MP, who has never held a portfolio in any government in India and is important in the political milieu of our country because of his descent. In fact, by centering Congress's poll campaign on Gandhi, the party will only end up reinforcing the body of criticism against it-- one that comprises allegations of dynastic politics, nepotism, high handedness and elitism.
Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party took to social media with a vengeance but scrupulously refrained from advertising the 'achievements' of its leaders. Let alone achievements, they did not even mention the credentials of their leader - some of who were, academically and professionally, worth flaunting. Because the party knew that an election can't be won by appealing to the intellectual whims and eye for aesthetics of a certain urbane section of the society. Their voters were ones who queued up at a community tap to fill water, their voters were ones who were likely to default on steep electricity bills. These voters would neither be enchanted by the fact that Kejriwal is an IIT graduate, nor would they have been taken in by the Powerpoint presentations on the city's electricity consumption. Hence, Kejriwal's 'bijli paani' pitch clicked with then. Incidentally, a lot of the same voters, and many more with even lesser patience for AVs, are who Congress is looking at. It is not too difficult to imagine that short films, made in a visual language that is both unfamiliar and unappealing to large sections of voters, isn't going to get them the votes!
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