Knowledge at work 4

Media source: Election campaign videos of Congress and BJP
Links: BJP video ad
Congress video ad

The Congress Campaign video, titled 'Jai Ho' - Leaders, takes its name from the song 'Jai Ho' by A.R Rahman, which was in the film "Slumdog Millionaire", which won the Oscars. Since an Indian film winning the oscars is a cause of pride in some Indians (urban Indians - who know about the Oscars), this could be one of the reasons chose this song - to use the emotion of pride to their advantage. The video however, focuses on the "aam aadmi" or common man, and highlights the achievements of past Congress leaders, and how they benefitted the common man. The video shows rural men and women at work, students in a classroom, scientists carrying out experiments, space scientists launching a satellite (with particular reference to the Chandranayan launch) , and a soldier in uniform, among other people. The video later shows four major Congress leaders of the past – Nehru, Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and glorifies them in different ways. The use of History, which is often biased in favour of politicians who were once part of the Independence movement like Nehru, is used so that knowers can generalize that “since past Congress leaders were nationalists, the Congress is a nationalist party”.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign video is also accompanied by music. Like the Congress video, this video also appeals to the emotions of the knower. The emotion of national pride made to be perceived by the viewer – by the constant depiction of soldiers, army vehicles, and the Pokhran nuclear tests which took place during the rule of the BJP. However, since the Congress is the party in power, various negative emotions are also depicted. In fact, the video begins with a view of slums and the suffering of people during a flood, which instill a sense of sympathy. The family members of those dead in terrorist attacks are shown crying. The music also helps in bringing out the emotions. The words used in the song, which are translated as “What has happened to this country” and “The country that I had thought it(India) was has been lost”, which are accompanied with crying rural people and various people coming for jobs, seeing a “No vacancy” sign. Just like the Congress advertisement in which “Jai Ho” and praises of past leaders in the lyrics of the song are used to emotionally influence the knower, the BJP advertisement too uses language in music to play upon the emotions of the knower.
In an election, the voter has to choose between parties, and this choice is based on the voters’ perception of what each party is capable of doing. The purpose of these videos is undoubtedly to improve the perception of their party in the eyes of the voter, who is the knower. Their reasons behind it is to win the trust of the voter, so that they can gain power. For the voter, the most rational thing to do is vote for the party which they think is willing and able to work for their welfare. However, the fact that the politicians are appealing to emotions is diluting the effect of reason in the decision making process.
In these advertisements, the parties take credit for various national achievements such as India’s first mission to the moon, the Pokhran nuclear test, scientific development, etc. From an ethical perspective, I am forced to question whether they have the right to take credit for such achievements, merely because it occurred during their rule. For example, although ISRO receives funds from the government, the space scientist are carrying out continuous research to launch new satellites. Simply because the launch occurred during a parties rule does not allow the party to take credit for it as it was not directly planned by the government. Demonstrating it in advertisements only influences the emotions of the voter, reducing the role of reason, which in turn leads him to lead a blind eye to the failures or scams of a government.
Using negative advertising to a large extent, especially in the issue of loss of lives due to terrorism, has a similar effect on the knower(voter) , causing him to vote for opposition only because of the weaknesses of the current govt, irrespective of whether the opposition is more capable or less capable of solving their problems (which reason can play a role in finding out) . Thus, Indian democracy will benefit when voters are less easily swayed by emotions, and make their decisions more rationally.