'Selling of the President' turned out to be a masterpiece in USA. On the lines of the same, in India, we are seeing selling of the prime minister as we march towards parliamentary elections. The efforts taken by our ex-home minister - Lal krishna Advani- are no way below the marketing campaigns done by any corporate house. The writing of an 'autobiography' was treated to be the end of public career of a person, at least in India. However, Advani's book turns out to be the tool used for image building.
The book comes at a time when India is about to face parliamentary elections. There are many critisms the book has seen till date, from many people coming from various stratas of the society. The political opponents, political partners, diplomats and even the commmoners have a lot to say about the books, and in most cases, it is not really the appreciation towards the book. However Advani is least bothered about what the experts have to say about the book. He is also not bothered about the statements given by his partymen and political partners questioning the facts (!) mentioned in the books.
But who cares? It is the time to play holi and ensure that the pics will appear on the front-page of all leading newspapers in India. It is the time to keep meeting the political leaders of all possible political parties in India. This ensures that you remain in the limelight. Media is also news savvy. At a point of time, when there is nothing happening as such, as stock markets remain flat and end of the financial year leaves with less of happenings, it makes a lot of sense for the media to offer good coverage to Advani.
It is not the first time, India is observing such ‘marketing campaign’, being launched for selling the ‘would be leader’ of this nation. However, the historians and the political experts are more than aware of what happens to such marketing campaigns. But the political leaders are not really willing to pay heed to such details. Instead of speaking about the real issues in front of the nation, they are busy 'building' their images. The posters that appear in your neighbourhood talking about the local corporators and ward head and team leaders of political parties are just the tip of the ice-berg. The real campaigns are yet to unfold. For the families where the farmers have done suicides and the survivors of those Jawans who laid their lives for the nation, it is the time to watch how the national leaders are gearing up for the elections. May the elections come quickly and someone should come to power so that there can be some action on the actionables - real issues.
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