Even as the Election Commission has come down hard on their ad campaigns on TV, political parties have found a way in surrogate advertising to expose their rivals’ weaknesses on the screen. Six days ago, an ad campaign on news channels talked of the UTI scam. This was followed by another short TV spot on the rising unemployment in the country. The ad on unemployment showed a youth who was worried about his not finding a job. The protagonist in the ad talks about how he dreamt of becoming an engine driver, like his grandfather, and the ad ends with his refrain: ‘‘Where are the jobs?’’ Sources say that these ads, which have been credited to an organisation called ‘Sanjhi Virasat’, were aired to highlight the NDA Government’s failures. The take on unemployment is said to be a campaign by the Congress leadership which has focussed on ‘‘creating jobs’’ in its election manifesto. Not to be left behind, the BJP has also come out with a riposte. An ad, which has been aired on a Hindi news channel for the last two days, opens with the song, ‘‘kar chale hum fida jaanotan saathiyon’’, from the old Hindi film, Haqeeqat. As the song slowly lilts in the background, sepia-tinted images of the freedom struggle appear one by one. The black-and-white visuals of Subhash Chandra Bose, Lala Lajpat Rai’s clash with the British, Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, Sarojini Naidu and of Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India Movement follow one after the other. The spot ends with Jawaharlal Nehru unfurling the Tricolour at the Red Fort. Then comes the punchline: ‘‘Do you want to have a foreigner as your leader after all these people sacrificed their lives to oust foreigners?’’ Believed to be the brainchild of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, the ad has been credited to Kamakshi Educational Society. BJP sources boast that the ad did not even cost them Rs 5,000 as they just retrieved old films from the archives. ‘‘The party thought it was futile to react to the Congress campaign by complaining to the EC. We thought it was better to give it back quietly in the form of an ad,’’ says a senior BJP leader who is looking after the party’s campaign. While the Congress is planning for another riposte and has raised objections with the EC against the ‘‘foreign origin’’ ad, BJP leaders say they are ready for an EC crackdown on all these surrogate ads. ‘‘But everyone should be dealt with in equal footing. This is our only concern,’’ says a BJP leader.
