Political
parties have left no stone unturned to attract voters and project themselves as
savior of people. Media was used as a chariot to move ahead in the battle of
power. And like any battle one (BJP)
stood up as a winner and survivor. Media
showed to people the effulgence in Modi for good governance. The party spent on
the dazzling, high-tech campaign to persuade millions of voters
that he was the man to lead India out of its current economic and governmental
malaise. Media had been used a tool of
propaganda by BJP and other parties, though BJP came first in the race to 7
Race Course Road and thus a big round of applaud to the owners of these media
houses.
The 2014 general election saw a paradigm shift
in Indian politics. After 30 years of coalition politics, which had given many
unstable governments, the country is celebrating the majority government of
BJP, which emerged as a single largest party in this election. While
anti-incumbency factors might have contributed to the rise of voters, an
innovative PR campaign also helped increase voter turnout. [‘Badhai ho APCO (Aapko)’]
Congratulations to APCO for its game-changing role in its clients’s historical
victory. APCO is world’s largest PR firm and BJP’s campaign partner. It
directed ‘Narendra Modi in making’ and done fabulous job, helped pave the way
for 7RCR for its protagonist (Modi).
Good
advertising requires competent personnel including a number of specialists to
enable it thrive in the ever dynamic and competitiv environment. Prashant
Kishore , Chief Manager of entire Modi’s campaign was an important man behind
the camera. He kept record of every move and planned every small thing
accordingly. A massively funded media
made people choose their leader. Modi brand was sold wisely and widely. Digital
brigade was prepared to prepare the ground for projecting Modi as benevolent,
decisive and a strong leader who can help economy revive, eradicate plague of
terrorism and rend corruption from the country. India felt his presence,
whether it was his marital status, his rallies, his selfie and even in his
non-presence, it was media which helped him reach millions at a time through
various platforms like 3D hologram rallies in which people could have listen to
his speeches without attending his rallies.
The
2014 general election is particularly a divisive election and media played very
significant role in it. At the same time, media had never been so misused to
set the political agenda. There is a lot of evidence about what was played up
and what wasn’t and the way things had been structured to make single party
game. Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman in their book ‘Manufacturing Consent’ described the
influence of ‘propaganda’ and ‘systemic biases’ in media and explained how
consent for economic, social and political policies is manufactured in the
public mind. Slogans like ‘Janta Maaf Nahi Karegi’, ‘Abki baar Modi
Sarkar’ went viral all over. The way media dwarfed other contestants and
showed Modi as tallest among others, it built silent consent among the voters
and in this way consent was manufactured by the big media houses. Exit poll is
a primary and significant tool for manufacturing consent. Media has grown
enormously in the last decade and has reached the voters with a surge of
information narrowing down the gap between voters and politicians. The media
coverage of the 2014 election started in December 2012 when Narendra Modi was
re-elected as Chief Minister of Gujarat. There were speculations all over in
media whether Modi would be the Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP or not. Why
so much focus on Modi ? Why media was hounding an individual on being projected
as prime ministerial candidate of a party? These are serious questions. Modi was
projected as ‘Vikaspurush’, a strong leader who could steer the country
out of crisis and no doubt it has driven the frustrated voters towards Modi
giving clear mandate, creating history in Indian politics.
There
are more mobile phones in India today than toilets, according to the latest
census data. BJP was excellent in research throughout the election campaign. Thus
this data was used by BJP wisely and tactfully. One of the BJP's most unique
campaigning tools allows potential voters to listen in on Modi's rally speeches
on their phones. Recently it was made mandatory for parties to submit their
advertising spends to the election commission to maintain a record and avoid
malpractices. An estimate by the Centre for Media Studies puts the
total cost of this season’s campaigns is around 3000 crores. This is triple the
expenditure the spent on electioneering in the last general election.
BJP's ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ (discussion
over tea) campaign, where satellite and mobile technologies were used to host
live interactions with people, and became successful in drawing supporters. The
social media strategy of the Congress party didn’t appear to be as aggressive. The election fever also witnessed
the rise of a number of android games that can be downloaded on the mobile
phones. These games had also contributed in manipulating the opinion among
youth because in a number of games like Modi Run, the protagonist portrays
Modi. Parties have used social media as a platform for direct interaction,
where 50% of voters were young and most of them are active on social networking
sites. Having an official YouTube channel or an active Facebook page
is now as important as holding mass rallies. BJP remained ahead of all parties
as it is present on almost every social media platform, on the other hand Sonia
Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi remained aloof from the micro-blogging site.
A
single party proving majority on the floor of the house of the people after
three decades would not have been possible if media had not been in the role of
facilitator. Fourth estate of democracy played an important role in the vital exercise of government formation.
