EC frowns at govt advertisements on Sardar Patel

The EC may add fuel to political controversy over legacy of Sardar Vallabbhai Patel as it was looking at seeking explanation from the Central and Gujarat governments over use of public money for politically laced advertisements. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Nov 1, 2013, 23:47:20 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Election Commission may add fuel to political controversy over legacy of Sardar Vallabbhai Patel as it was looking at seeking explanation from the Central and Gujarat governments over use of public money for politically laced advertisements.

Both the Central and Gujarat government had come out with advertisements before the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel eulogising his achievements and also trying to send a political message on his legacy. The advertisements were issued before inauguration of Vallabbhai Patel museum in Gujarat and before his birth anniversary.

The Centre claimed that Patel was working in building modern India and was a true nationalist. The Gujarat government, on the other hand, had been saying that Patel did not receive his due from the Central government.

These advertisements would have gone without notice if it would not have been politically charged atmosphere. These ads created a lot of buzz and became a talking point on social media.

That is not concern of the election commission. Officials say the commission is looking at whether public money was used for sending a political message during the time of elections in five states. The model code of conduct prohibits use of public money for political purpose by the party in power during elections.

"We are examining the issue and have sought details from our officials," a senior EC official said. Till recent times, legacy of Patel had not been debated as it had been since BJP announced Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi went to the extent of saying India regrets that Patel was not the first prime minister of India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had retorted by saying that Patel was a secular leader and he was proud to be a member of a political party with whom he was associated.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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