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BJP wants TV advertisement withdrawn as it brands politicians, officials and media as villains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 The BJP wants it be withdrawn soon.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

Wired for good: Building sustainable cities with AI

The First Industrial Revolution in the 18th-19th centuries ushered in a paradigm shift in how cities were imagined. Fueled by railways, factories and grids, and obsessed with speed and scale, it was an ode to efficiency, which spurred unprecedented economic growth. Now, as the Fourth Industrial Revolutio

How social media is reshaping elections

Since Brazil’s return to direct presidential elections in 1985, no candidate who finished second in the first round of polling had ever won the presidency. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now 81, has just done it. What explains the comeback, and what changed in Brazilian politics to make it possi

Cabinet approves Dearness Allowance, Dearness Relief

The union cabinet chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from 01.07.2026 representing an increase of 3% over the existing rates of 6

Cyclone Arnab strikes Andhra as warming oceans amplify storm risks

Cyclone Arnab made landfall along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts in the early hours of Wednesday as a very severe cyclonic storm, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 125–135 kmph and gusts reaching 150 kmph. Its rapid intensification has raised concerns about how warmer oceans, global warmin

Counting matters but which ones?

The first instinct of public policy is to count. Its harder task is to count what counts. We have become remarkably good at measuring the reach of the welfare state vis-à-vis beneficiaries covered, rupees transferred, houses built, connections installed and services delivered. But some of the most

Inching closer to a trade deal with America

The cooperation between India and the United States goes back quite a time. We need to relegate that era to the backburner when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited US in the times of president Dwight Eisenhower and called the American let-off of 10 million dollars in defence aid to Pakistan as a “gun w

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter