The BJP government’s preferred icon

BY SAI VINOD| IN Special Reports | 04/02/2016

Cartoon: Nituparna Rajbongshi

Who was the tallest among the founding fathers of the Indian Republic? If measured by the volume of government advertising allocated for commemorating his anniversary, Sardar Patel towers far above the other two, with B R Ambedkar coming a distant second. Jawaharlal Nehru barely figures in the state sanctioned memorializing spree.

In 2015 all three leaders had anniversaries of significance. The year marked the 140^th anniversary of Sardar Patel’s birth, and the 125^th anniversary for both B R Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru. Perhaps to compensate for the excesses of past Congress governments which advertised  copiously on the anniversaries of all Nehru-Gandhis to the diminution of other national leaders , the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been rubbing it in that Jawaharlal Nehru ranks at the bottom in its  commemoration priorities.

The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) put in 1500-odd advertisement insertions worth Rs 8 crore for Patel’s anniversary. It spent Rs 5.3 lakh on Nehru for a grand total of four advertisements in English and Hindi dailies on November 14, 2015. But given the BJP’s efforts to appropriate Ambedkar for political mileage, the author  of the Indian Constitution fared far better than Nehru. There were 156 full page colour insertions in newspapers across the country to observe his 125^th anniversary, as we have noted in an earlier story. Also, on December 6 last year the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment issued a full page colour advertisement to mark the 60^thMahaparinirvan Diwas of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

The government also chose to divest Children’s Day of its customary association with the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru. On November 14, 2015   223 half-page black and white advertisements were issued to newspapers across the country by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, announcing presentation of Child Day awards on November 14 on the occasion of Children’s Day “which is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru”.   Nehru’s image did not figure though. Those of the prime minister and president, and of children, did. Total cost, Rs 62.53 lakh.

Comparative insertion of advertisements 

140th  BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF SARDAR PATEL

Details of advertisements

Total black and white adverts: 1,237
Total color adverts: 288

Periodicity and number of advertisements published

Total number of advertisements in dailies

Total number of advertisements in periodicals

B R AMBEDKAR'S 125th  BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

Details of advertisements

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU’S 125th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

Details of advertisements

How reliable is information given under RTI?  For the four advertisements which DAVP placed on Nehru’s birth anniversary the size given in the reply by DAVP was that they were of quarter page size.  But double checking with newspapers shows that they were actually half page advertisements.

On the number of advertisements issued on Nehru’s anniversary the first reply from the ministry of information and broadcasting said no specific advertisement had been released on Nehru’s birthday “through Campaign Div-II”  for Nehru’s birth anniversary except for the ads released about the Child Day awards. This was carried in the first story we did. But a separate and subsequent reply gave information about the four advertisements issued by DAVP commemorating Nehru.

Though three RTI queries were filed at the same time on the three leaders, the information on Sardar Patel was finally given only after an appeal.