A while ago, Ripples had complained of the Hindu’s indifferent editorial on the elections results in an attempt to be its usual neutral self. As if to make up, The Hindu today carries a special eight page supplement on Verdict 2004, an analysis of all the factors that contributed to this extraordinary verdict.
Was the verdict truly extraordinary? Discounting the sudden turn-around of Congress fortunes in the recent few months, was this verdict totally unexpected? Going through the analysis of the performance of parties at a national level and various regional levels, it is clear that roti-kapda-makaan remains the one most important and vote-determining issue.
Over market growth, over communal forces, over dreams of technology and trickle-down benefits…. and over everything that is shining, including India.
Brand Equity went to town yesterday with an analysis of why India Shining was a disastrous campaign for the BJP. The article had a lot of peppy quotes from heads of other ad agencies who must have suffered from sever heart-burn when Grey Worldwide managed to clinch the account a few months ago. Apart from making for amusing reading, the BE article and the more serious Hindu analysis drive home the point that the India Shining campaign only served to highlight the short-comings of the Government. It only reminded the voter that there was something he was missing out on….. if India is shining, then why is my life not?
It is all very well for the cities to shine, but the glitter rarely trickles all the way down to the villages where the vote-banks are…. Naidu’s defeat at the polls is only a case in point (though I am very very sorry to see him go)….
Reforms with a Human Face… Sounds interesting and optimistic…