State governments have to stop using pictures of political leaders while publicising their successes.
The Left parties were upset last week after the Indian Railways carried newspaper advertisements that contained a picture, which looked similar to Trinamool Congress’ election symbol. Now Mamata Banerjee heads the Trinamool Congress as also the railway ministry. And we all know how the Left views Mamata Banerjee and vice versa. It was no surprise, therefore, that the Left parties cried foul alleging that the railway minister was misusing the Indian Railways to promote her political party. The Indian Railways promptly responded to the outcry and it did not repeat the advertisement in other newspapers on subsequent days.
While the Indian Railways may have done the right thing, the practice of state governments and even central ministries issuing advertisements to promote their achievements to gain political mileage continues unabated. This may still be acceptable. After all, a state government has every right to tell the people about its achievements and the new goals it wants to set. But the problem starts when these advertisements are used to promote the political functionaries of the ruling party, who have nothing to do with the governments per se. A few examples would be useful.
On Monday, the Maharashtra government issued an advertisement in national newspapers to proclaim how the state made rapid strides in urbanisation by taking advantage of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, a flagship scheme of the Union government for projects in cities. The advertisement also carried pictures of five political leaders. One can understand why the pictures of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and the state’s deputy chief minister, Chhagan Bhujbal were carried in the advertisement.
One can even understand why the picture of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was carried. But why carry the pictures of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi? Political motives are bound to be attributed to the choice of pictures in such an advertisement, which gets carried barely a few weeks before the state of Maharashtra goes for the assembly election on October 13. This may not have violated any code of conduct of the Election Commission, but the purpose of the advertisement becomes too obvious for anyone not to conclude that political parties in power use the government’s funds to promote their political interests.
Similarly, the Delhi government issued an advertisement a few days ago on the completion of one of its new road projects in the capital city. Once again, the politicians made their presence felt in the advertisement. The pictures of the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the Delhi Minister for Public Works Department, Raj Kumar Chauhan, had some justification. But the use of pictures of Sonia Gandhi and Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal defied any explanation. Interestingly, the prime minister’s picture was not carried in this advertisement, which only showed that discretion alone was the criterion for using these pictures.
With ruling party politicians allowing their pictures to be used in advertisements, whose costs are borne by the exchequer, even chairmen of public sector undertakings are now encouraged to carry their large pictures in advertisements about their companies’ annual performance. There could be some justification for a PSU chairman using his picture along with the ad detailing his company’s financial performance. But what could be the justification for using the picture of the head of UPA in advertisements issued by central ministries or state governments? Similar questions would have arisen if the convener of the National Democratic Alliance or the President of BJP had allowed their pictures to be used in advertisements of state governments run by their political alliance.
Digvijay Singh, when he was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, had ordered that his picture should not be used in any state government-funded advertisements in newspapers or other publications. That order was followed by every ministry in the Madhya Pradesh government. It is perhaps time that Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi issued a simple diktat to the central ministries and the state governments, ruled by the Congress, that their pictures should not be used in any such advertisements. That may well have a salutary effect on other leaders in the party and alliance partners, who are, at present, merrily promoting themselves at the cost of the state exchequer.