Why old-world political campaigning is a dying art

Towards the end of PV Narasimha Rao’s tenure, with the Congress embroiled in leadership tussles, dissensions and corruption scandals, the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) came up with videos of the government’s achievements. Rao himself appeared in the videos, inviting criticism from Opposition parties.

The videos were beamed on private channels along with Doordarshan - the major propaganda tool for the Congress during the 1996 elections. The government also made use of the cable networks, which by then had made mass inroads. In the election, however, the party failed to retain power, and the BJP under Atal Behari Vajpayee, came to power, albeit for only 13 days. The collapse of the Vajpayee government set off a two-year phase of coalitions under the United Front with Prime Ministers HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral.

The United Front, a coalition of regional forces, was not as adept as the Congress in leveraging Doordarshan and Akashvani for propaganda purposes. Fixed time slots may have been allotted on DD and AIR for all parties during the campaign, but the Congress, when in power, gamed the system to its advantage.

Political camapaigns also made it to alternative channels such as postcards, posters and hoardings. “The Congress, under Rajiv Gandhi, first sought professional help in campaigns. In 1984, the party engaged Rediffusion ad agency to anchor its campaign. These professionals reach out to voters in innovative ways - distributing cassettes with songs praising late Indira Gandhi,” says veteran journalist P Raman.

The BJP initially criticised this, but itself engaged professional help in 1996. Raman recalls that the BJP parodied a hit song from the 1990s and mocked Congress corruption with the lines ‘ suitcase ke peeche kya hai ’. It proved successful, with the BJP wining 161 seats in 1996.

When the Election Commission placed a curb on old-world pamphleteering materials, the richer parties switched to mobile phones and computers. The IT boom also played an enabling role, and today, this has become the mainstay of political campaigns – although parties haven’t given up on traditional methods such as rallies and door-to-door outreach. “Technology has reached such a level that from mass-messaging, political parties have started micro targeting of voters,” says Joseph C Mathew, an activist of the free software movement and IT advisor to former Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan.

During the 2004 elections, millions of mobile phone users received a recorded voice message – from Vajpayee, in his own voice! That was the brain child of Pramod Mahajan, the BJP’s chief election strategist.

“Interactive voice response has since become a major feature in campaigns,” says Abbin Theeppura an independent political strategist. Theeppura notes that Facebook, Twitter and WhatasApp have all been deployed in the political war to target rivals.

One limitation of social media-based political communication is language, he notes, but applications such as Share Chat are addressing this issue. “This app will be a major tool in the 2019 elections,” Theeppura adds.

R and Python, the software programmes used in data mining, have become buzzwords in the backrooms of parties. “Using data provided by social media platforms, a political party, with the use of filtering technology, can assess the opinion of an individual voter or a group. Tools of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are being widely used to tune a voter,” says Animesh Pande, a technocrat.

Both Pande and Theeppura acknowledge that campaigns cannot dispense with rallies, pamphlets and posters. “Synchronisation of new and old methods is important,” says Pande. The BJP roadshows ahead of 2014, with 3D hologram images of Narendra Modi, were a big hit.

Mathew reckons that such targeted campaigns are a “threat” to democracy. “The Cambridge Analytica experience proves that data sale is the business model of these platforms. The result is mass surveillance,” he adds.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury reasons that the richer parties are gaming a distorted system. “You don't allow us to do wall writing or to put up posters. But there is no restriction on the use of electronic media or on spending crores of rupees to hire aeroplanes to criss-cross the country,” he says. “Candidates are restricted, but not political parties. Unless you correct these things, money power will distort your democracy,” he warns.

Financial resources play an important in technology-driven campaigns. The BJP harnesses technology even in membership drives. The Congress has been slower off the blocks, although it recently launched the ‘Shakti’ app to communicate with frontline workers. But it is still a laggard in this space. based on submissions made by the parties before the Election Commssion in respect of contributions in excess of ₹20,000, a report from the Association of Democratic Report (ADR) says that the BJP got ₹437.04 crore from 2,977 donations from individuals and corporates, while the Congress received ₹26.658 crore from 777 donations in 2017-18.