Public funds being used to build brand Kejriwal?

BJP wants TV advertisement withdrawn as it brands politicians, officials and media as villains

GN Bureau | June 20, 2015


#aap   #arvind kejriwal   #bjp   #congress   #television   #tv   #advertisement  

The Bharatiya Janata Party has termed the advertisement of the AAP-led Delhi government that is being broadcast on television channels as a "violation" of the supreme court's order and threatened to approach the apex court. The BJP wants it be withdrawn soon.

The advertisement campaign is a two-minute TV spot in which it makes claim that Kejriwal has money to spare for improving the life of people because of what he has saved by stopping corruption. The campaign is expected to run for a week and the slots have cost the state exchequer about Rs 1.5 crore.

Decrying "personality cult" as an anti-thesis of democracy, the SC had recently barred publication of photos of leaders in government advertisements except those of the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.

The BJP has objected to the implied meaning of the advertisement. BJP's national secretary R P Singh said even though chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's face is not seen, the way his name has been repeatedly taken as a 'messiah of poor' while leaders of other political parties, administrative officials and media have been projected as villains was a gross "violation" of apex court's order.

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit called the advertisement as ‘pathetic’ and said that it only glorified Kejriwal as an equal to god.

“I have never seen such an advertisement anywhere in India where a person is glorified almost to be equal to God perhaps that is what [Arvind] Kejriwal ji thinks he is. It is complete misuse of money and it is full of lies,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Swaraj Abhiyaan has termed the Delhi government's latest TV commercials as an example of "political corruption" and "highly regressive". Swaraj Abhiyaan leader Prashant Bhushan in a series of tweets said the ad amounted to a "crass" projection of Kejriwal apart from being "crude abuse" of funds, which was "against" a supreme court order.

"Apart from being a crass and crude abuse of funds the Kejriwal ad on TV is sexist and projects women as servants of their husbands. Shocking," Bhushan, a senior Supreme Court lawyer tweeted.

The group, of which Yogendra Yadav is also a member, also attacked the ad for being "misleading" as it came in the backdrop of "6 per cent rise in power tariffs."

"The heart of the problem, however, is that this TV commercial unashamedly abuses public funds to create a personality cult for Arvind Kejriwal. It sings paeans of the AAP leader and tries to project him as a messiah," added the statement.

Comments

 

Other News

MoEFCC and CAQM launch ‘The Breath of Change’

To tackle air pollution in Delhi-NCR through public participation and creative engagement, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) have jointly launched a strategic communication campaign titled The Breath of Change.

India well on way to becoming a global IP powerhouse

Intellectual Property (IP) has evolved into a critical component of innovation and global competitiveness in India’s economy. As businesses pivot toward intangible assets like data, algorithms and branding, IP protection is no longer a matter of formality—it is a strategic imperative. The last

War and Peace: The conundrum of conflict in West Asia

Israel and Palestine have been the harbinger of troubles for the last 80-odd years. It is an unending and persistent saga of conflict and attrition which has bloodied the political, societal and economic turf in West Asia for long. The scale of wars, which were more than skirmishes of the day, ranged from

Trump’s tariff ploy sparks resistance from Global South

In the history of BRICS, never has any joint statement issued after a leader-level summit contained any remarks—directly or indirectly, against the US. However, for the first time, during the 17th summit of BRICS in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, leaders voiced their concern about America’s impositi

How India can become a $30 tn economy by 2047: A blueprint

Viksit Bharat: India @2047  By Aditya Pittie Fingerprint Publishing This timely and meticulously

The saga of a language family that has shaped the world

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global By Laura Spinney Distributed in India by HarperCollins India, 352 pages, Rs 599

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now





Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter