Feel-good slogan raises questions

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />NEW DELHI: At first sight, the <a href="/articleshow/497514.cms">BJP</a> cannot be faulted for coming up with an <a href="/articleshow/497502.cms">election</a> slogan. In a country where candidates are still identified by symbols, a slogan is a powerful tool of communication.<br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="20.1%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/498631.cms" alt="/photo/498631.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">Atal Bihari Vajpayee</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">But ‘<a href="/articleshow/497439.cms">Feel Good’</a>? With no zingy Hindi translation as yet, the slogan can, at best, appeal to the urban middle class, and that too, a small section of them. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">By the government’s own count, some 25 per cent of the country’s population lives below the absolute poverty line which is very, very stark. Real poverty, in the sense of material, medical, educational and employment deprivation, afflicts at the most conservative estimate, another 25 per cent of the people. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Overwhelmingly, poverty is a rural phenomenon, compounded by the fact that despite overall economic growth, there has been virtually no growth in rural employment in recent years. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">So the danger of the ‘feel-good’ slogan is that soon a large proportion of the country is going to wonder why they are not feeling the warmth of the ‘feel-good’ factor. And as we know, there is nothing more dangerous than the feeling of some people who feel they were not invited to the party. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">The general elections are a one-person, one-vote affair, whether or not you are rich or poor, man or woman, and it is no secret that the ‘feel-good’ class tends to avoid this party. On the other hand, all available statistics show that the left-out class tends to vote in large numbers. The implications of going overboard with the slogan are obvious. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />But there is a more fundamental problem with the idea. Walter Benjamin, a German critic-philosopher, once wrote that the essence of the art of the critic was to coin slogans without betraying ideas. Indian politicians, since Indira Gandhi of the ‘Garibi Hatao’ fame, have adopted this art freely and, now, it seems so have the BJP mandarins marching with the ‘feel-good’ banner. <br /><br />The occasion for the slogan are clear: Impending elections, a monsoon-assisted boost to the economy and an upwardly mobile sensex, all genuine causes for cheer. But it seems that the creators of the slogan have confused it with the finance ministry’s ''India Shining'' campaign whose legitimate aim is to attract foreign investment in India. Somewhere in between, the two have fused into one. Now, it has become the equivalent of the tourism ministry selling Rajasthan as a travel destination to the Rajasthanis. <br /><br />In recent years, per capita incomes have risen, poverty has come down. Literacy, especially of women has grown and there is a palpable change in the business environment. <br /><br />But a government asking to be re-elected to office must talk of the future rather than the past. What is it going to do about rural unemployment, maternal mortality, the primary school drop-out rate and growing regional and urban-rural disparities? <br /><br />Or, in much more personal terms, about the rising crime against women, children and the aged? The biggest problem of ‘feel-good’ is that it tells us a lot about how we are supposed to feel, but very little about how the new NDA government plans to manage our future.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>