Can Politics be Marketed like Coke or Condom?

Consumers of political marketing in democracies run on vote-counts face torrents of counterfeit to completely fake assurances of services to garner their votes.  Going by the prevalent level of disgust for politicians in most democracies anyone can safely conclude that the majority consumers feel cheated and exploited by the politicians who enjoy comforts of a President, Prime Minister and other exalted offices way higher up the ladder than those which achiever citizens obtain through hard work and diligent education.

In the era of Societal Marketing orientation when consumers are motivated to experience only those pleasures which would not harm their present society but also ensure a safe future for the coming generations how could hazardous political products be allowed to be marketed in the name of so called adult franchise? If a seller can’t escape the consequences of dangerous products why not penalize politicians and political parties for non-delivery of adequate services? If telcos can be penalized for call dropping & lack of 

connectivity why not hold the Modi government, all governments, to similar test?

When a customer is free to change the service provider in case Airtel , Vodaphone etc fail to ensure call dropping then why demand compensation for lack of services?  Will the Indian politicians demand similar punishment for a political party & politicians for cheating them with fake promises during election campaign? Why have two standards for same crime. It’s wrong to assume that its moral to market everything from religion to insurance. Marketers the world over have accepted the principle of not extending marketing concepts, principles and tool to various category of goods and services to ensure safety of consumers. For example categories like insurance, healthcare are not allowed to be marketed like Condoms and Coke. Political advertising and marketing is too serious a tool to be left at the disposal of unscrupulous politicians who have no regard for ensuring the adequate delivery.

Isn’t it more difficult to get a driver’s job in India than acquire a gift of high political office?  Will it be fair for Rahul Gandhi to become next PM of India without working as a minister till now? What did Modi do before he was made the CM of Gujarat? How could Narendra Modi be expected to lead India to better future if he failed to find a job during his youth? Political offices need people with high degree of expertise and skills besides missionary zeal to do something for a country. Yes there are minimum standards for someone becoming a PM in India but are they enough? Any Donald Trump can charm the voters with a political marketing campaign designed and run by professionals like me but is it good for the health and future of any democracy? Its time India wakes up and lays down clear qualifications-skills and work experience, for the high political offices or be prepared to remain a poor and inconsequential country.

Political marketing is very effective and pervasive discipline having considerable impact on a society therefore it must be held to highest degree of consumer/citizen accountability in a democracy for sake for evolving it into a republic. Election manifestoes and other promises must be brought under consumer rights and the apex courts must old public trial before each election to help citizens make informed choices. Consumer can avoid Coke & condoms but not politics.

Sangh Parivaar or Gandhi-Nehru Parivaar- India has a choice

India was given independence by the British much ahead of the scheduled date of 1948. Shocked? Why the British left India in hurry than enjoy the benefits of ruling such a vast country? Well the British ruled many parts of India for almost 300 years. But the Raj was not allowed to rule Punjab by the native Sikhs for a long time & the famed empire ruled Punjab for the least times as compared to India.  Dogs and ordinary native Indians were forbidden to venture into areas that the British kept for their exclusive use. Point is the British had a low opinion about intellect & lifestyle of the natives that find expression in many a statement of the Raj politicians who doubted the ability of Indians to rule such a vast land. The Indians too agreed with the British view on the low intellect & poor competence of the natives by accepting the partition of India.

Pakistan was carved out of India in 1947 as the Islamic republic and remaining parts of India under Gandhi-Nehru persuaded the locals to pursue a ‘secular’ dream. The Sikhs who ruled Punjab when the British ruled Delhi also decided to walk on the path of secularism, rightly so as the Sikh religion is based on the core principle of universal ‘Brotherhood’. Pakistan that relished the dream of a religion based state has since been divided, unlike India which has survived intact. The truncated India, also called Bharat to appease the Hindutva lobby of Sangh parivaar, went on to pursue a hallowed tough path of ‘Secularism’ and has survived till today. But can India avoid another 1947, or Pakistan 1971, in the wake of Hindutva goal to make it a Hindu state? Can the sangh-parivaar or the politics of Hindu appeasement keep India united, through persuasion or by force? Many scholars are afraid that the truncated India is facing another 1947 moment.

Will India complete a century of self rule and remain a republic in current form till 2047? Your guess is as good as mine.  It depends upon the competence & performance of the majority natives. India that sacrificed a major part of its territory to the pursuit of religion based state to Pakistan is gasping for breath & struggling to keep the monster of Hindu aspirations and keep walking on the path of secular modern state.  Since Hindus form an overwhelming majority so the Hindu vote bank is most sought after group for the political parties to appease in order to grab the power. When was the first time that the President of USA reminded India of its Article 25? Barack Obama was on his second visit to India and had so much confidence in the strength of secular India that he called PM of India Dr Manmohan Singh as his idol while was on a visit to the Germany after his first visit to India.  Does the Hindu Media in India shared with Indians why the POTUS had to change his mind so drastically about India?

The Hindu supremacist RSS also known as the Sangh- parivaar have penetrated deep into most institution of India including the press & judiciary. Therefore it’s not uncommon to see the respect and acceptability given to the Hindutva ideology of sangh parivaar in truncated India that had decided to be a secular country not very long ago. It’s not the Hindutva lobby alone that dream of a religion/culture based state, Punjab also experienced the horrors when a political movement for the genuine rights of Punjab was turned into a struggle for the Sikh state of Khalistan during 80s. Escapism won’t help the Hindus, they have to decide if they want Hindutva based Bharat or work for a secular India. Both are 180 degrees apart antithetical to each other.

2014 Gen Elections: Politics of Anger Management

Bharat experienced slow economic & social progress, often described as a Hindu rate of growth, for most periods since 1947, when the British left India, until the present PM of India Dr Manmohan Singh, an economist, was discovered by distraught political leaders & handed over the critical task of managing economy.  Since 47, the caste-religion minded political class in India thought it imprudent to hand over the important ministries in union cabinet to professionals on merit alone without factoring in their social class.

The Chalta-hai & Aya-Ram-Gaya- Ram approach to politics in Bharat pushed it into turmoil by a staccato fix it style handling of economic policies. The trial & error attitude adopted by ruling elite led to chaos and brought it on the verge of exploding internally due to poverty, hunger & slow haphazard growth, as if the socio-political leaders had no choice available in front of them in operation in the West & Asia. Since the political elite were busy managing vote banks, the three other pillars of democracy decided to serve their own selfish interests than that of the citizens.

Bharat experienced rapid economic development much later than even south-Asian countries, due to reforms introduced by Dr Manmohan Singh & emulated by others. But this growth has tapered once again & may soon degenerate into pre-Manmohan- Singh- era level. Growth by itself is useless unless it is in right direction.  Cancerous growth looks amazing, in color pictures. A growth movement without direction does serious long term damage to a society because it can’t help one arrive at the desired destination.

The world has long accepted & imbibed the truth of best man for the job approach but Bharat continues to live by the rank opposite philosophy of any adult can do every job. That’s why you see exponents of yoga, a traditional physiotherapy regimen, lecture seasoned economists & industrialists on how to run economy & industry.  That is sure recipe for a long period of directionless Hindu rate of growth in Bharat.  Never been to school brand of swamis are not the major reason for chaos in Bharat. It’s the lack of right quantity of quality leaders that hurts most.

Though INC would have preferred to have another PM in 2009, in place of Dr Manmohan Singh, to balance various religious identities for compulsions of electoral politics, but Sonia Gandhi perhaps had limited choice to replace Dr Singh. But the second term as Prime Minister to a humble honest clean scholar from Sikh community has not helped political fortunes of Congress Party in mainly Hindu-heartland states in Bharat.

Political parties In Bharat seems to have divided along secular versus communal chasm. But this divide is facile as most political players keep trotting to either side as per convenience. The Congress party often calls its opponent BJP a communal party, but the majority population doesn't see much difference between the two. Bhajpa became a formidable political force by leveraging the Hindu pride. LK Advani led movement for construction of Hindu temple at the place of Mosque bore sweet fruits in India that prided itself of being a secular state different from religion based Pakistan & Nepal.  Advani & Vajpaye didn’t spend a single day in jail for leading the Hindu pride movement of Ram Temple and were rewarded by top leadership positions in the secular republic of Bharat. On the contrary, Shiromani Akali Dal, a party of Sikhs in Punjab, has not been lucky, as its leaders had to suffer a lot in the politics of Sikh pride.  

It is incorrect to credit BJP for resurrection of Hindu pride movement. The seeds of it were sown much earlier during the British raj. If triumvirate of Gandhi, Nehru & Patel had shown foresight by refusing to undertake construction of Somnath temple on priority in newly independent India and focused on economic matters alone perhaps India would have been a super power by now ahead of China? It confounds many why they took such a step when Europe & Asia were into thick of anti-religious sentiment fuelled by socialist revolution? Did India err in anger management of Hindus who were forced to live under non-Hindu empires for thousands of years?

Hindu supremacist organizations like RSS [Sangh] don’t condemn demolition of Babri mosque, Operation Bluestar, major riots of 84, 92 & 2002 etc in which minorities of Bharat suffered enormously. Most often such incidents are justified by Hindu political class as genuine acceptable reactions to atrocities inflicted on majority Hindus by minority Sikhs & Muslims. No Hindu politician has ever gone to jail for participating in such tragic carefully planned attacks on minorities in Bharat, though leaders & professionals from minorities have been routinely punished by various courts or mere suspicion alone. Chief Minister Punjab S Parkash Singh Badal has spent 17 years in jails as political prisoner, second only to Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela.

While India was busy managing the Hindu-angst, China raced ahead to become a global power of enormous magnitude. Despite huge population, equal to China, Bharat wins far few Olympic medals, Nobel awards and Oscars etc.  Wonder why don’t Bharat use available fora to stamp its strength on global scene?   The industry, with exception of few, still find it difficult to inculcate competencies required for success despite decades of protection, catalyzed further by liberalization ushered in by Dr Manmohan Singh. Failure of domestic industry majors, despite protections against global competition, in organized retail is clear proof of their lack of managerial strengths.

History is not created by those students who want stars on each page they write from every teacher no matter what. But by those who study very hard & work harder. Narendra Modi, CM Gujarat, a representative of RSS-BJP Hindu philosophy wants to be next PM of India in 2014 to, as he says so loudly and repeatedly, to rid India of economic mess created by Dr Manmohan Singh led government & put an end to pseudo-secular politics in India. He wants to make India like Gujarat that he claims is a model state in the world.

But is he the best man for the job or an average guy who will ask others to work for him & produce excellence? Can a good administrator be a great inventor or economist or engineer? Media has projected N Modi as a control freak, certainly not known for giving freedom to the team, a prerequisite for germination & nurture of excellence. Will Bharat once again opt for placating ‘outraged Hindus’ looking for suitable route for anger management by electing N. Modi? Could emergence of Aam Admi Party provide an alternative to India to vent its frustrations and take India forward towards a respectable image of a global democracy?  Perhaps the Congress party understands that India & Bharat are angry but it doesn't seem to appreciate who is more & why.