Medium is the message

With CDs replacing rallies, sms and e-mails taking on the job of posters, election campaigns are ringing in a new era. But, what about the rural areas.

The political writing’s no longer on the wall. The Election Commission had it taken down, remember? But this is modern India. And except for those in West Bengal, who’ve been breathing in the air of nostalgia (over Tagore, Bose and this year, election graffiti) for as long as the present generation can remember, Indian politicians are eagerly voting for some new techie campaign ploys. India’s electoral landscape may not be changing at the same speed with which mobile phone users discard their ringtones -- remember Lalu Prasad Yadav cycling to connect with his vote bank before the last Bihar assembly elections -- but some politicians, especially in literate Kerala, have moved with the times to find a more innovative way to get voters to register their messages: sms, e-mails, CDs, etc.

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That the not-so-youthful Atal Bihari Vajpayee (aided by Pramod Mahajan) is probably the face -- that is, the voice -- of this new shine in campaign techniques is something that many, who actually got up and stood to attention when hearing the then Prime Minister’s trademark baritone asking them to support him on their landlines and mobiles in the last parliamentary elections.

With CDs replacing rallies, sms and e-mails taking on the job of posters, election campaigns are ringing in a new era. One problem: what about those who live in rural areas, and for whom development doesn’t really mean purchasing mobile phones and computers as yet? Guess one underestimated Lalu Prasad’s political savvy.