Delhi, J&k, Rajasthan and MP have recently gone through the process of electing state assemblies. Although the later part of electioneering had been clouded by the dastardly violence in Mumbai, but its impact on the voting behavior remains a point of discussion. The results would be out on December 08, 2008.
I had the opportunity to advice an unique gentlemen in an unique constituency in the state of Rajasthan. Besides i kept a close watch on the use of marketing by politicians and parties to conduct their campaigns. Unfortunately once again it were the same old story. Political marketing is still confined to seeking to influence & persuade the voters through by applying marketing tools and concepts.
The parties stubbornly stuck to believing that marketing can go no further. Most parties still depend upon their core members, government agencies and mass media to judge the 'mood' of the electorate. Moreover in most places they refuse to accept that voters can break the caste, and culture barrier,even if the parties put up trustworthy leaders and present credible governance.
Political parties fail to adopt a 'market orientation' by democratising the agenda setting by the electorate. It would be proper if parties could use some grassroot marketing search to understand the mood of the public. When the parties themselves decide the agenda for the electorate,this leads to confusion in the mind of the people who are forced to choose a caste, religion or culture issue for selecting a party to vote for. Politicians must find out what people want and then set out to fulfill their promises if they wish to remain in power for long. Just use some real marketing research.
Just concluded elections were wit out much marketing innovations. If there were any like use of camel for transport it were restricted to introduce novelty without the ability to satisfy the desires of the voters from elections.
Another point worth noting is that politicians and parties firmly believe that Indian electorate can not break the barriers of caste religion. It is not true Mr politician. Go out and make a win-win proposition to your segment of voters, success would come running to you!
December 6, 2008
December 1, 2008
Check corruption to deal with terrorism
India, once again, is writhing from the pain inflicted by the scourge of terrorism. Once more innocent blood has been spilled. Another time India watched helplessly. Who will rid us of this hopelessness? What can India do to stop this terrorism?
Some nationalist parties say that the terrorism can be tackled by attacking a neighboring country as that has been the fountainhead of these uncivilized activities. Even if India exercises the option of strategic strikes inside another country it may lead to full blown war. But are we afraid of war? Certainly not, but India need to know what objectives can we met by going for war against another country. Going to war may only harden their resolve to sponsor more terrorist activities against us. What options are we left with?
The most feverish argument thrown by mass media has been that if USA has had only one strike in last 8 years, why we cannot achieve the same results? Well, India is not USA. On the other side Israel has been at war with its neighbors since long, are they living in peace? And Israel has support of the West which we don’t have. Surely Israel would wish to end the war at the earliest.
India is vulnerable and helpless against terrorism not because we have problem with our neighboring countries. We are let down by endemic corruption and nepotism prevalent within. The enemy within is the total absence of the rule of law. Law does not discriminate between Hindu, Sikh or Muslim but the enforcing agencies and the political parties never apply it uniformly. So called pseudo-nationalist and pseudo religious outfits do not allow a government agency to investigate allegations of terrorism against their own ilk.
The terrorism shall stop when India learns to curb corruption and nepotism. When no one can get a false id card, ration card, phone connection, a university degree, a government and corporate job without having valid eligibility then you surely could catch any terrorist much before they execute their nefarious plan. Citizens in India do not trust our courts, police, politicians and each other how we can feel secure.
How can incompetent assure us security? When India learns to honor talent, competence, strength of character and do not discriminate on the basis of religion, caste, region and language we will have complete security. Armed forces are competent to wage a war against the external enemy we have to fight the enemy within.
India has a strong armed force and enough fire power to take on an enemy but still we suffer. Once we have genuine people in responsible positions no one could defeat us. Therefore let us make India an impregnable fortress with our strength of character; respect for the rule of law, secular and civilized behavior. Believe me no one would be able to dare touch us.
Some nationalist parties say that the terrorism can be tackled by attacking a neighboring country as that has been the fountainhead of these uncivilized activities. Even if India exercises the option of strategic strikes inside another country it may lead to full blown war. But are we afraid of war? Certainly not, but India need to know what objectives can we met by going for war against another country. Going to war may only harden their resolve to sponsor more terrorist activities against us. What options are we left with?
The most feverish argument thrown by mass media has been that if USA has had only one strike in last 8 years, why we cannot achieve the same results? Well, India is not USA. On the other side Israel has been at war with its neighbors since long, are they living in peace? And Israel has support of the West which we don’t have. Surely Israel would wish to end the war at the earliest.
India is vulnerable and helpless against terrorism not because we have problem with our neighboring countries. We are let down by endemic corruption and nepotism prevalent within. The enemy within is the total absence of the rule of law. Law does not discriminate between Hindu, Sikh or Muslim but the enforcing agencies and the political parties never apply it uniformly. So called pseudo-nationalist and pseudo religious outfits do not allow a government agency to investigate allegations of terrorism against their own ilk.
The terrorism shall stop when India learns to curb corruption and nepotism. When no one can get a false id card, ration card, phone connection, a university degree, a government and corporate job without having valid eligibility then you surely could catch any terrorist much before they execute their nefarious plan. Citizens in India do not trust our courts, police, politicians and each other how we can feel secure.
How can incompetent assure us security? When India learns to honor talent, competence, strength of character and do not discriminate on the basis of religion, caste, region and language we will have complete security. Armed forces are competent to wage a war against the external enemy we have to fight the enemy within.
India has a strong armed force and enough fire power to take on an enemy but still we suffer. Once we have genuine people in responsible positions no one could defeat us. Therefore let us make India an impregnable fortress with our strength of character; respect for the rule of law, secular and civilized behavior. Believe me no one would be able to dare touch us.
November 12, 2008
Marketing in the current global slowdown
During the past one month, Entrepreneurs from the region around Chandigarh, have inquired about what could be an appropriate response for their firm to the current contraction in demand. Well, classically, during a slowdown most companies tend to prune their market spends. This could prove to be a wise tactic for a b2b firm sometimes, but most certainly the FMCG sector could better stay away from even toying with such an imprudent step. Organizations in the durable space have no clear cut alternatives and would have to take a position depending upon their place in the market. But the SME sector has to be most careful in designing a suitable action plan.
Exports from India have also registered a downward trend. Inventories are piling up in the durable and auto sector. A major Indian auto company has been forced to declare production interruption at their plants. So what could one do in such a scenario?
Let me share with you the strategy for the next quarter put in action with two of my clients in the SME domain. They have advised their teams to use the opportunity to focus away from new sales and invest more time in generating customer goodwill by settling outstanding issues. This could be combined with paying more attention to settling outstanding payments cases on priority. This would lead to satisfactory cash flows and positive bonding with customers by settling the contentious issues.
I certainly do not recommend offloading the inventory into the market at the distribution points. Although some companies can surely exert their marketing might to influence the resellers to carry high inventories. You could do it by discounting prices or offering attractive margins to the trade etc. But this certainly affect your image once the markets come out of slowdown phase that may last for 9-12 months as reflected in the major indices.
Mass media advertising does not help in such a scenario because the consumer is not an upbeat mood. It would be proper if the companies shift their market spend to the point of purchase, in store events and other below the line media. I strongly recommend the use of events and in theatre advertisements in the present scenario as it is necessary to motivate a buyer before she can open her purse strings. SMEs have to seek customized solutions depending upon their unique position in the market
November 6, 2008
Obama lessons for India
What lessons can we draw from Barack’s selection by the majority of people of the USA as their 44th President? Both India & USA are democratic & multiracial societies. We both have experienced deep divisions amongst our people, although divisions in India are definitely run into several layers. And we have suffered terrorism. But how can we prepare for a better future?
We can prepare for future only if we focus in that direction! Unfortunately we still long for the long lost golden past. You would agree that human beings can be happy despite whatever culture and religion they are born into. It is time for us to think on geo-economic lines rather geo-political factors. Providing reasonable living standards for every Indian shall be the guiding principle for us to conduct our politics and social life in place of counting the numbers in our tribe.
We would be a happy nation if we judge people by the merit of their character rather than how/which god they pray to, which part of country they live in or which caste they belong to. What kind of india we would have in future if we cast our vote along caste, language, religion lines? Ability and strength of character should be only criteria to select people to lead the country on the path to progress. Let us vow not to vote on the basis of caste, religion, region and other such unimportant factors and select our leaders on the basis of strength of their character and ability.
How can we expect to be reasonable place to live in, if we can not provide jobs and rule of law in India? Why should we use religious and cultural symbolism to unite/divide us? It is a futile exercise. Iraq and Iran have fought many wars even when they belong to same religion. Europe also have fought amongst themselves several times despite their allegiance to a particular way of life. And India has also experienced the madness of small Rajas belonging to same religion fighting with each other. Why seek pride in things like caste, religion etc when those things can not make us happy and living on earth more meaningful.Wake up India and become a happy country. Let us choose happiness over pride
It is better to be happy than proud!
We can prepare for future only if we focus in that direction! Unfortunately we still long for the long lost golden past. You would agree that human beings can be happy despite whatever culture and religion they are born into. It is time for us to think on geo-economic lines rather geo-political factors. Providing reasonable living standards for every Indian shall be the guiding principle for us to conduct our politics and social life in place of counting the numbers in our tribe.
We would be a happy nation if we judge people by the merit of their character rather than how/which god they pray to, which part of country they live in or which caste they belong to. What kind of india we would have in future if we cast our vote along caste, language, religion lines? Ability and strength of character should be only criteria to select people to lead the country on the path to progress. Let us vow not to vote on the basis of caste, religion, region and other such unimportant factors and select our leaders on the basis of strength of their character and ability.
How can we expect to be reasonable place to live in, if we can not provide jobs and rule of law in India? Why should we use religious and cultural symbolism to unite/divide us? It is a futile exercise. Iraq and Iran have fought many wars even when they belong to same religion. Europe also have fought amongst themselves several times despite their allegiance to a particular way of life. And India has also experienced the madness of small Rajas belonging to same religion fighting with each other. Why seek pride in things like caste, religion etc when those things can not make us happy and living on earth more meaningful.Wake up India and become a happy country. Let us choose happiness over pride
It is better to be happy than proud!
October 3, 2008
NewClear India!
Thank God, The deal is done. We are a recognized nuclear state, or shall we say a newclear power? INC has been saying that it would help us seek more high technology collaborations with the rest of the world besides providing a clean source of energy. Left parties are doing their harmless regular stuff. The BJP is in a fix, so it is talking about the restrictions on tests. But how much this deal would impact the fortunes of Congress party in the coming election the jury is still out?
India is warming up for another national election in early 2009. So you see the politicians and parties making suitable poses & noises to allure the voters to select them for the plush jobs in the government. Some of them have announced their candidature too without waiting for the vacancy advertisement. Why does Mr Advani thinks he is most eligible for the job of the PM this time around?
Going into elections the BJP or NDA may consider that since he has worked for long period, and have aspired for even longer, so why not let a senior leader to fulfill his desire. Do the majority of the workers in BJP approve of his candidature? And what if the voters did not approve of his candidature? Wouldn’t that be really embarrassing situation to be in for him post elections? After all he has been a fighter, or shall we say a Rath Yatri, all his life.
But well into 21st century now would it be good for us to have a leader as PM who loves Chairman Mao style homegrown cultural revolution in India? China has long moved on from Cultural Revolution to economic revolution why should we not? What would India do with a PM who knows more about cultural and religious matters than the fundamentals of economy? Surely BJP has many leaders like Modi, Jaitley, Jaswant etc who while talking about the religio-cultural harangue never lose focus from the economic agenda for our poor country?
Let us forget about the last NDA finance minister who had starting jumping wildly in his chair shouting India Shining, India Shining, when all we had got was a faint hope of prosperity that we may achieve with our persistent efforts in another 30-40 years. Our India needs, like other countries like China, Russia, Brazil, Malaysia have got, a hard working, growth minded, unassuming, silent worker as a PM who should keep working tirelessly without getting carried away by small victories on our hard road to economic development that we all need badly. How can India become great if Indians do not have enough to eat?
Let Nirvik singh of Grey India go gung ho about India Shining because he made the moolah by crafting a communication strategy without qualms about advertising ethics. Nirvik can surely defend his position by saying that if he had not done it someone else would have, but a political party should be careful about its credibility and must not take us for granted. Let us be clear that once BJP have used that shining thing what would they do in the next elections? Without doubt, Nirvik would definitely find new accounts.
India is warming up for another national election in early 2009. So you see the politicians and parties making suitable poses & noises to allure the voters to select them for the plush jobs in the government. Some of them have announced their candidature too without waiting for the vacancy advertisement. Why does Mr Advani thinks he is most eligible for the job of the PM this time around?
Going into elections the BJP or NDA may consider that since he has worked for long period, and have aspired for even longer, so why not let a senior leader to fulfill his desire. Do the majority of the workers in BJP approve of his candidature? And what if the voters did not approve of his candidature? Wouldn’t that be really embarrassing situation to be in for him post elections? After all he has been a fighter, or shall we say a Rath Yatri, all his life.
But well into 21st century now would it be good for us to have a leader as PM who loves Chairman Mao style homegrown cultural revolution in India? China has long moved on from Cultural Revolution to economic revolution why should we not? What would India do with a PM who knows more about cultural and religious matters than the fundamentals of economy? Surely BJP has many leaders like Modi, Jaitley, Jaswant etc who while talking about the religio-cultural harangue never lose focus from the economic agenda for our poor country?
Let us forget about the last NDA finance minister who had starting jumping wildly in his chair shouting India Shining, India Shining, when all we had got was a faint hope of prosperity that we may achieve with our persistent efforts in another 30-40 years. Our India needs, like other countries like China, Russia, Brazil, Malaysia have got, a hard working, growth minded, unassuming, silent worker as a PM who should keep working tirelessly without getting carried away by small victories on our hard road to economic development that we all need badly. How can India become great if Indians do not have enough to eat?
Let Nirvik singh of Grey India go gung ho about India Shining because he made the moolah by crafting a communication strategy without qualms about advertising ethics. Nirvik can surely defend his position by saying that if he had not done it someone else would have, but a political party should be careful about its credibility and must not take us for granted. Let us be clear that once BJP have used that shining thing what would they do in the next elections? Without doubt, Nirvik would definitely find new accounts.
August 3, 2008
Nutrition, Taste, Health and/or pleasure of Foods!
We eat to live. Well most of us definitely do. Hence the food must make us healthy and increase our life span. As consumers are becoming more demanding the food companies have to work overtime to convince the buyers to depend on them for offering nutrition combined with pleasure. Therefore food companies are taking fatty foods off the shelves and replacing them with the healthier foods.
You may segment the food along four benefits; Nutrition, Taste, Health and Pleasure. What are the alternatives with the Cola majors like Pepsi & Coke? Would they be able to sustain a strategic attack on their consumption? Could they survive by asking consumers to go for cola drinks for pure pleasure? Or could they pass off as the tastier water available? They would find it very scary to go for a pleasure tag. Certainly they would never imagine killing their market by hawking Cola as a health drink. How the future is going to play out is a million dollar question.
Snack food market in India is dominated by the unorganized sector. But the future may be different. The organized retail revolution unleashed in India would change the contours in no time. Most retailers have or are in the process of launching their own snack food brands. The local small snack food players would be edged out from the market and would remain in business as vendors of the large stores. The evolution of biotechnology would also upgrade the snack food portfolio.
The sweet snack food segment dominated by biscuits is experiencing real tremors with entry of new competition from within and global market. Players in biscuit market are planning to launch biscuits as a healthy snack food. We are all convinced with cereals and dalia etc as a healthy food. But a snack is a snack. How can you force fit a biscuit to pass of as a health food? Surely a snack food product positioned on health benefit segmentation is in nothing but a horrendous idea. Hope no snack food player would like to present their products on the lines of Chawanprass or some Churan. If they do how would the packaging look like? Would it look like a health product, a medicine or some happy pleasurable packaging?
How many snack food players have we got in the Punjab region? Not many! Why is it so when there is huge market available in the region? When you shop for a snacks all you see if Fritolay, Haldiram, and 2-3 local players. We know that being a developing country that has recently come out of a total regulatory regime, our entrepreneurs are more comfortable with production than being adept in marketing their produce.
Every big small town in the region has 1-2 famous snack food player. How we all miss the great retail effort undertook by Lovely Sweets from Jalandhar. Gopal from Patiala has also flexed its muscles but have not taken a real shot at becoming an established player. Dhoda sweets may have shifted base to Ludhiana but their product line is woeful short.Cremica has opened up into this domain but they seem to be satisfied with organic growth only.
When would we see a snack food brand leveraging the worldwide appeal of PUNJABI DHABHA and SHER-E-PUNJAB? Is someone listening!
You may segment the food along four benefits; Nutrition, Taste, Health and Pleasure. What are the alternatives with the Cola majors like Pepsi & Coke? Would they be able to sustain a strategic attack on their consumption? Could they survive by asking consumers to go for cola drinks for pure pleasure? Or could they pass off as the tastier water available? They would find it very scary to go for a pleasure tag. Certainly they would never imagine killing their market by hawking Cola as a health drink. How the future is going to play out is a million dollar question.
Snack food market in India is dominated by the unorganized sector. But the future may be different. The organized retail revolution unleashed in India would change the contours in no time. Most retailers have or are in the process of launching their own snack food brands. The local small snack food players would be edged out from the market and would remain in business as vendors of the large stores. The evolution of biotechnology would also upgrade the snack food portfolio.
The sweet snack food segment dominated by biscuits is experiencing real tremors with entry of new competition from within and global market. Players in biscuit market are planning to launch biscuits as a healthy snack food. We are all convinced with cereals and dalia etc as a healthy food. But a snack is a snack. How can you force fit a biscuit to pass of as a health food? Surely a snack food product positioned on health benefit segmentation is in nothing but a horrendous idea. Hope no snack food player would like to present their products on the lines of Chawanprass or some Churan. If they do how would the packaging look like? Would it look like a health product, a medicine or some happy pleasurable packaging?
How many snack food players have we got in the Punjab region? Not many! Why is it so when there is huge market available in the region? When you shop for a snacks all you see if Fritolay, Haldiram, and 2-3 local players. We know that being a developing country that has recently come out of a total regulatory regime, our entrepreneurs are more comfortable with production than being adept in marketing their produce.
Every big small town in the region has 1-2 famous snack food player. How we all miss the great retail effort undertook by Lovely Sweets from Jalandhar. Gopal from Patiala has also flexed its muscles but have not taken a real shot at becoming an established player. Dhoda sweets may have shifted base to Ludhiana but their product line is woeful short.Cremica has opened up into this domain but they seem to be satisfied with organic growth only.
When would we see a snack food brand leveraging the worldwide appeal of PUNJABI DHABHA and SHER-E-PUNJAB? Is someone listening!
July 18, 2008
Election issues in India
Which would be the most important issues that people would vote for in the upcoming parliament poll in India? Well the election date would soon be known after the vote in parliament scheduled for July 22. The political parties in India generally depend upon and go by the ‘wisdom & judgment ’ of their in-house political pundits and those so-called senior journalists, who spin doctor as a fulltime profession for the parties they are working for without ever bothering for the professional ethics. Simultaneously the political parties also commission some market research to find out about the mood of the electorate. And the findings of these research agencies are generally ignored because the political leaders generally like to believe that they know the masses well enough at all times.
The masses, beyond the party workers, do not claim to know their leaders at all the times. That’s why they keep changing their opinion about electing them to power periodically. Political parties would benefit a lot if they could get some professional organization to research into the mood of the electorate so that they could make ‘promises’ on the correct lines at least. Let us try to list the most talked about election issues in the media.
Nuclear deal between US-INDIA has become a prominent issue. The Congress would go to people projecting it as a deal in the national interest and of the ‘AAM ADMI’, (Children in India believe that they only could be the ‘aam admi’ as mango is their favorite fruit). Though rural India suffers more from power cuts than the urban but its influence on voting may be more in the urban areas. BJP lead NDA would find it difficult to convince the people about their opposition to the deal.
I do not find anything wrong with getting close to the most powerful nation on earth. US have close relations with Europe, Japan, and Malaysia etc too. Would the opponents of the pact like India get close to poorer and least developed countries? India needs to feed its scary population. India needs to grow faster to be able to find jobs for its people. India needs energy. One could grow by being in the company of the developed. How could you keep company of the underdeveloped and expect to grow fast? Nations, like Men, are known by their company.
Let us shed that hollow & false pride to concentrate on working with international community to develop India into a place where everyone can find food, clothing and shelter. How can India be great when half the population goes empty stomach? Get real if you love India. India is its people. Have pity on the Indians, cut that jingoistic rhetoric away for sometime and let India develops economically. If you want India to strong and proud let us all work hard and find food, shelter and normal living conditions for most of us. Healthy body has healthy mind. Let us make India healthy first.
Inflation would be NDA’s most potent weapon. Recent price escalation that’s threatening to touch 12 percent on July 18, 2008 could work wonders in the urban areas for BJP. Other NDA constituents may not benefit much from this phenomenon because they do not much following in the urban India. Well the Congress would like to project that the rise in crude price is beyond their control and blame the inflation on the foreign hand. But masses in India have shown repeatedly that price increase is not forgiven. Congress would have to work hard to convince the masses to control the damage.
Governance has remained a pretty prominent election issue for a long time. Congress used to project itself as the only party that could rule India and offer stable government. It has been proven wrong. Several non-congress governments have ruled India. NDA government lasted full 6 years at the helm. This issues now figures prominently in speeches of LK Advani. BJP has very smartly marketed this issue in its modified version as good-governance. Well done. India needs good governance more than the stability. We need corruption free governance. Effectiveness of government could improve only when corruption is taken out of the system.
No political party promises a corruption free government. If any one of the Congress and BJP could promise a corruption free government it can sweep the elections on this one issue alone. Indians are fed up with corruption. There can be no really good or stable governance when nothing moves without greasing some palms.
Hindutva would remain a major election issue for BJP led alliance. BJP would be using it in some form like Amarnath, Death sentence to Muslim accused in parliament attack, Sonia gandhi’s origins etc. Hindutva has become necessity of the BJP to keep its flock of party workers together. The issue has lost appeal for the average educated Indian.
Unprecedented economic growth in India in last 4-5 years would become the major plank to convince voters to side with the party. It would also project the clean image of Manmohan Singh. Lallu’s great innings with railways is another powerful issue. Overall UPA & Congress would do well to project their achievements. NDA/BJP would counter it by projecting the inflation.
UPA and Congress have to be careful about their media plan to convey the message of great governance. I would recommend that they should take best media planners on board in its war-room to strategise to formulate a media plan and fine tune its targeting of the various sections of electorate. NDA last-time had a great campaign in Shining India, but they completely failed in crafting a media plan.
There have been constant complain campaign by BJP about many power centers in UPA, dilution of the prestige of the office of PM, and the charge that Manmohan is a weak PM. Well Congress may counter them with record of its government. I have reservations about demand for a strong PM. Does India need a PM like Modi? A parliamentary democracy would do well to have a PM who is more of a Coordinator than a typical one-man show. Half of the India is poor, uneducated, religious, ethnic and caste conscious, and densely populated, its possible to arouse their sentiments and push them into unfortunate battles over trivial issues. A dictator like PM is not required in India. We have rejected the emergency last time too. India needs a consensus seeking, soft spoken, educated person like Manmohan, Nrayanmurthy, Rattan Tata, APJ, Sachin Pilot, Arun Jaitley etc to lead us into better times.
There may be several other important issues that could be found out through research. I hope political parties go beyond using marketing tools & concepts and give a market orientation to the party itself. A real democracy should ask people what they want and give them what they really need. All political parties have to develop a new market orientation to get the trust of the people they claim to represent.
The masses, beyond the party workers, do not claim to know their leaders at all the times. That’s why they keep changing their opinion about electing them to power periodically. Political parties would benefit a lot if they could get some professional organization to research into the mood of the electorate so that they could make ‘promises’ on the correct lines at least. Let us try to list the most talked about election issues in the media.
Nuclear deal between US-INDIA has become a prominent issue. The Congress would go to people projecting it as a deal in the national interest and of the ‘AAM ADMI’, (Children in India believe that they only could be the ‘aam admi’ as mango is their favorite fruit). Though rural India suffers more from power cuts than the urban but its influence on voting may be more in the urban areas. BJP lead NDA would find it difficult to convince the people about their opposition to the deal.
I do not find anything wrong with getting close to the most powerful nation on earth. US have close relations with Europe, Japan, and Malaysia etc too. Would the opponents of the pact like India get close to poorer and least developed countries? India needs to feed its scary population. India needs to grow faster to be able to find jobs for its people. India needs energy. One could grow by being in the company of the developed. How could you keep company of the underdeveloped and expect to grow fast? Nations, like Men, are known by their company.
Let us shed that hollow & false pride to concentrate on working with international community to develop India into a place where everyone can find food, clothing and shelter. How can India be great when half the population goes empty stomach? Get real if you love India. India is its people. Have pity on the Indians, cut that jingoistic rhetoric away for sometime and let India develops economically. If you want India to strong and proud let us all work hard and find food, shelter and normal living conditions for most of us. Healthy body has healthy mind. Let us make India healthy first.
Inflation would be NDA’s most potent weapon. Recent price escalation that’s threatening to touch 12 percent on July 18, 2008 could work wonders in the urban areas for BJP. Other NDA constituents may not benefit much from this phenomenon because they do not much following in the urban India. Well the Congress would like to project that the rise in crude price is beyond their control and blame the inflation on the foreign hand. But masses in India have shown repeatedly that price increase is not forgiven. Congress would have to work hard to convince the masses to control the damage.
Governance has remained a pretty prominent election issue for a long time. Congress used to project itself as the only party that could rule India and offer stable government. It has been proven wrong. Several non-congress governments have ruled India. NDA government lasted full 6 years at the helm. This issues now figures prominently in speeches of LK Advani. BJP has very smartly marketed this issue in its modified version as good-governance. Well done. India needs good governance more than the stability. We need corruption free governance. Effectiveness of government could improve only when corruption is taken out of the system.
No political party promises a corruption free government. If any one of the Congress and BJP could promise a corruption free government it can sweep the elections on this one issue alone. Indians are fed up with corruption. There can be no really good or stable governance when nothing moves without greasing some palms.
Hindutva would remain a major election issue for BJP led alliance. BJP would be using it in some form like Amarnath, Death sentence to Muslim accused in parliament attack, Sonia gandhi’s origins etc. Hindutva has become necessity of the BJP to keep its flock of party workers together. The issue has lost appeal for the average educated Indian.
Unprecedented economic growth in India in last 4-5 years would become the major plank to convince voters to side with the party. It would also project the clean image of Manmohan Singh. Lallu’s great innings with railways is another powerful issue. Overall UPA & Congress would do well to project their achievements. NDA/BJP would counter it by projecting the inflation.
UPA and Congress have to be careful about their media plan to convey the message of great governance. I would recommend that they should take best media planners on board in its war-room to strategise to formulate a media plan and fine tune its targeting of the various sections of electorate. NDA last-time had a great campaign in Shining India, but they completely failed in crafting a media plan.
There have been constant complain campaign by BJP about many power centers in UPA, dilution of the prestige of the office of PM, and the charge that Manmohan is a weak PM. Well Congress may counter them with record of its government. I have reservations about demand for a strong PM. Does India need a PM like Modi? A parliamentary democracy would do well to have a PM who is more of a Coordinator than a typical one-man show. Half of the India is poor, uneducated, religious, ethnic and caste conscious, and densely populated, its possible to arouse their sentiments and push them into unfortunate battles over trivial issues. A dictator like PM is not required in India. We have rejected the emergency last time too. India needs a consensus seeking, soft spoken, educated person like Manmohan, Nrayanmurthy, Rattan Tata, APJ, Sachin Pilot, Arun Jaitley etc to lead us into better times.
There may be several other important issues that could be found out through research. I hope political parties go beyond using marketing tools & concepts and give a market orientation to the party itself. A real democracy should ask people what they want and give them what they really need. All political parties have to develop a new market orientation to get the trust of the people they claim to represent.
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