AAP, BJP, Cong take a dig at each other through ad jingles

The AAP’s ad has a recorded voice of the party chief and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who has accused the present Central government of working like the former Congress-led UPA. 

Kejriwal targeted both the BJP and the Congress over the issue of gas price rise, power tariff, rail fare hike and other issues.

‘... agar railways mein corruption kam kiya jata to kiraya badhane ki kya jarurat thi. Is sarkaar ne bhi wahi kaam kiya jo pichli sarkaar ne kiya tha. Bhrashtachaar per lagaam lagan eke bajay kiraya badha diya. (If they have curbed the corruption in the railways, there was no need of a fare hike. This government has done what the earlier government used to do),’ Kejriwal said in its advertisement.

The Congress’ add accuses the BJP for massive outages in Delhi and water scarcity. 

Making a mockery of BJP’s jingles before elections ‘Acche Din Aane Wale Hain’ (Good days are ahead), the Congress said in the ad, ‘Lo ji dekh lo bijli ki halat, aa gaye acche din (Look at the condition of power supply. Good days have come).’

Even though modern aspects of FM stations and change in the genre of programmes might have influenced the decisions of political parties reaching out to the voters, the usage of radio as a means of political communication is nothing new. Records show that radio was used by freedom fighters in the pre-Independence India. Messages were broadcast for those involved in the freedom struggle of the country and those who were sympathetic to it. In the US, radios were used by political parties for communication during their election campaigns as early as 1924.

Covering a long journey since then, radio has transformed everywhere. In India, it has both government and private players vying for ears of listeners today. 

With so many FM stations, political parties are definitely having their pick. But what remains to be seen is whether they capture the imagination of the voters and win their hearts as well.