Political marketing: An Indian perspective

Abstract

Democracy, as an idea, had come to existence during the ancient Greek empire close to 6th century BC. Plato, the philosopher, professed an alternate form of government from the existing monarchy and oligarchy forms prevalent during those terms. Though this was the beginning, the ancient Greek1 form of democracy had two features: 1. Right to franchise lay in the hands of a limited number of ‘citizens’, 2. All citizens had to attend the assembly. Another serious claim for early democratic institutions comes from the independent "republics" of India, sanghas and ganas, which existed as early as the sixth century BC and persisted in some areas until the fourth century AD. The evidence is scattered and no pure historical source exists for that period. The more contemporary forms of democratic governments took shape during the 18th century, more specifically with the Declaration of Independence by United States and as an after effect the French Revolution in 1790s. The fall of the Imperial Nations post World War II led to formation of many new countries with democratic governments all over the world. The main features of a Democratic Government are captured by the statement: ‘By the people, for the people and from the people’. In essence, people have the right to elect the candidate or representative of their choice by exercising their vote. But how does one decide when there might be many to elect from? Here comes another fundamental feature of most democratic societies: The existence of Political Parties. In today’s scenario, these Parties play the most important role in assisting the citizen or the voter in making a choice. Barring a few exemplary individuals, most candidates are given a vote due to their alliance to a particular party and its ideals. India, being the largest democracy, has seen the existence of numerous political parties in its vibrant political culture. With varied ideologies, all of them proposed different solutions to common problems and issues faced by the common man. All of them want to be heard and noticed by the electorate and many of them resort to vote bank politics. The situation becomes all the more complex as many of these parties are active in particular regions and states and hence do not attempt to attract the voters pan-India. All of these parties portray a particular ideology, which more than often than not is unique in its cause and effect. Hence in this big cauldron of varied promises and affiliations, how does one maintain their relevance in the common voter’s mind? By the sheer no. of active parties, it can be safely assumed that most of them are trying to reach their target audience to garner support by various means of communication. The stage of National politics in India has been recently dominated by two opposites, the traditional reform oriented Congress party and the new-age radical rightist Bhartiya Janata Party. They are active in almost all states in the Union, with sinusoidal popularity trends with time. Also, with the growing clout of regional parties, it has become important to inculcate them to the national political scenario. This is mainly because more of often than not, in recent times, Central Governments have been formed and disbanded based on the support of such regional parties. Marketing is one of the most important activities followed by all parties, more so during the time of elections. Varied strategies are employed to reach out to the voters and gain their support along with votes. We changing demographic dynamics, these strategies have been modified to suit the target audience. Political marketing as a subject and practice has gained license among strategists. The advent of marketing activities in politics has been clearly identified in many western nations, primarily the US. Lot of literature is available for the same and some academicians have researched and formulated campaign strategies and marketing strategies based on the actual activities. Such documentation is currently absent in the Indian context. Through this research we aim to build a basic understanding of Political Marketing in the Indian context and its application as done by political parties during elections. The report begins with a view on the research objectives along with methodology adopted for the research. Following this would a brief section on the basics of Political Marketing, which would highlight both strategic and tactical aspects of it. Next would a section on Political Marketing as practiced in the USA, with specific analysis on Obama presidential campaign. After this, analysis of each general election since 1952 would follow, with detailed analysis of the last 3 General Elections. Lastly, there is a section on the Voter Survey Analysis which would be followed by the conclusions.