// 02.20.2009 at 2:29 am //

The image-conscious Indian ‘neta’

The lack of direct impact of online media strategy on the elections in India is quite obvious, as is clear from the election results in the last few years. For example, the BJP, in spite of its brilliant media campaign in the 2004 general elections, lost the battle. But every political party, from the right-wing BJP to the leftist party CPI (M), and every ambitious and image-conscious politician is nevertheless trying hard to gain a net-savvy image.

Power points

The image of a tech-savvy leader finding solutions to country’s problems through the use of technology caught the imagination of urban Indians thanks to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who during his tenure from 2002-2007 came to be known as PPT (power-point-presentation) president. Today, even the elected representatives of the country find this image quite attractive.

Technology from top: Dr Kalam's website

It’s another matter that there is lack of clarity as to whether the Facebook accounts, blogs and websites in the name of these politicians are actually being run by the politicians or not. Many times these are run by the fan clubs of these politicians, and the support base is nothing to boast about.

Thus, the Facebook page of Rahul Gandhi, which had a support base of 2018 as on February 19, states, “This is a page for Rahul Gandhi from the fans of Rahul Gandhi. This is not being maintained by the Congress Party or Rahul Gandhi. This is created to help and spread the word of Rahul Gandhi the future leader of India.” Again, the website does not give any indication if it has the blessings of Gandhi.

The FaceBook page of Sonia Gandhi, which had lesser number of supporters at 1,002 on the same date, poses the question, “What do you want to see on this page?” And an angry journalist, Pankaj Sharma, posts his query to this, asking, “What is this. Do you have the permission to run this page in Soniaji’’s name?” There’s a website in Sonia Gandhi’s name, which has her speeches, some news and a link to other Congress leaders’ websites.

Surprisingly, a website that seems to be the most updated, tech-savvy and user-friendly is that of LK Advani, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Advani, who started his journalistic career six decades ago, even maintains a blog, which is more personalised, with posts written by him (or maybe dictated by him), rather than by his fan club.

On the other hand, the IT mascot of India, Chandrababu Naidu, could do well to have a relook at the party blog, which gives a confusing signal about the content, and who’s posting it.

Interestingly, the CPI (M) might be thinking of reverse gear when economic policies of the country are concerned, but its website is futuristic, with a clean layout, prominent headlines and links that stand out.

Online backup

The reason why politicians are trying to cultivate their e-savvy image could be because they are trying to cultivate a support base in the long run. It could be because, as Paranjoy Thakurta, editor, Realpolitik, says, an additional voter base wouldn’t harm them, or maybe, as QW Naqvi, news director, TV Today Network Ltd, says, it’s just a fad. “Internet and blogs represent only a very small section of crowd even in urban middle class. It is mostly used in urban India by young generation and when a politician uses a blog/ chat to interact with his audience, its basic aim is to attract urban youth who loves tech-savvy image of its leaders.”

While it’s true that in India the prime election strategy still means traditional modes, and that online media can only supplement that, Prodyut Bora, national convener of the information technology cell of the BJP provides a different perspective, turning the figures that media persons quote to prove the relevance of online media. He says that out of the 700 million voters in India, 100 people will comprise young voters in the 2009 elections. This group is a great user of infotech, including mobile phones. The mobile phone, with 385 million users, is ahead of print publications, with combined circulation figure of 250 million. “Even if you leave aside mobiles, and consider only internet traffic, 60 per cent of internet traffic is from eight largest cities of India, and these constitute 50 Lok Sabha seats.”

Mixed signal: Websites of Indian TV channels

He further argues that the media today is fragmented, and unlike the old Doordarshan days, when the entire country used to watch one channel, now you can’t be sure of who is watching which TV channel. This means that a political party has to utilise all mediums available to reach out to maximum numbers, and this includes online too.

Of course, as Bora says, the party has had to learn a lot  since the 2004 elections, when technology was a novelty. And it knows that there are two parts to communication - medium and message. “You can’t win an election only on the strength of medium, you win on the strength of message.”

Add-ons for media

This also means that journalists too must use multiple sources to gauge the nation’s mood, including regularly visiting Facebook, internet forums, twitters and blogs. However, there’s skepticism among journalists on this count. Alok Mehta, group editor, Nai Dunia, feels, “Blogs do not give the exact picture. These do not help create a wave. At the most, mobile SMSs help TV channels to create an atmosphere.” Thakurta adds, “World-over, and certainly in India, when individuals access internet to access news, they still go to websites which are essentially run by major media organisations. Most media organisations have their websites as extensions of their newspapers.” Here again, online media is only a supplementary source for understanding the political landscape of the country.

Surely then, just as the socio-political landscape of India is complex and at times paradoxical, the approaches to understand this landscape also need to be multifaceted. There’s no one single reality in India, and that holds true for media, too.

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// Tagged Case Studies, Elections, facebook, India, Politics