As the Assembly election campaigns are about to reach its zenith, passing through the streets has become a unique experience. Not just posters, but interactive and unique sloganeering, placed at the right time at the right place, provides you with a bird’s-eye view of all the political parties trying to one-up each other.
Try walking through the Statue junction in Thiruvananthapuram. On the pavement, one will find a graffiti of an enlarged foot with the writing — ‘Please look up to find who stole the gold.’ A curious mind would follow the text and would find a popular politician smiling at him/her from another huge hoarding, which in itself is a campaigning material for another party in the same fray.
Such deft and quirky snippets, both print and visual, are part of the campaigning this time for the Assembly polls, cutting across all parties.
Vivek Vijayakumar, son of deceased legislator and Congressman B Vijayakumar, finds it all amusing yet very pertinent.
“When my father fought elections in the 1990s, there were just posters and door-to-door campaigning. While these cannot be discounted, there is a need for change. Hence, there are hoardings and social media reels along with art programmes that move with the campaign teams,” says the lawyer who is in the campaigning team of Sabarinadhan, UDF’s Nemom candidate.
Slogans, all the way
A huge head-turner is the use of snappy slogans, most of which are satirical takes on issues that were the talk of the town over the past few years.
A few noteworthy candidates that defined the polls in recent times are ‘LDF Varum, Ellam Sheri Aakum’ in 2016 and ‘Urappanu LDF’, in 2021.
The recent ones — ‘Mattarundu LDF allaathe’, ‘Swarnam Kattathu Aarappa’, and ‘Keralam Jayikkum, UDF Nayikkum’ to BJP’s ‘Marathathu Ini Maarum’ — have further generated interest along with trolls and memes.
The power of sloganeering can be felt everywhere. The pre-campaign slogans appeared in some newspapers had UDF chanting ‘Ee Durbharanam Maaraan Ini 25 Divasam Maathram’, flagging controversial Sabarimala, corruption, and man-animal conflict issues.
The process
“Slogans now reflect public emotions and sentiments rather than merely being evocative,” says Deepu Karunakaran, who steers Congress’s campaign designs.
“We source our content for slogans from our cadre and after general discussions with common people. It’s about touching the nerve of the public, much like how advertisement campaigns are designed. However, here, the topic is about politics that will go on to play a huge role in society’s development,” he says.
According to him, the UDF slogans are whetted at the state-level by top leaders and sourced from grassroots.
The other two fronts also invest much into slogans. The LDF uses statewide-relevant slogans after being whetted at the state committee. The BJP’s slogans require the final approval from the national headquarters. And all three fronts employ external agencies in varying measures, with most of the campaign design handled in-house.
“LDF uses external agencies mostly for editing of its digital materials,” explains Anoop Roy, who manages the front’s campaigning along with a team of media experts.
“We also allow the candidates to make their own slogans in some constituencies. For example, K K Shailaja’s ‘Peraavoorum Munnerum Keralathinoppam’ in Peravoor or P Rajeeve’s ‘Oppamund’ in Kalamassery. Otherwise, the decisions are usually made as a team,” he notes.
Role of social media
UDF is also planning to bank on the reachability of personal accounts, says Deepu. “We have kept it for the day after April 7, when all the campaigning rush ends. People will then be reminded through social media about who they should consider to be their representatives. This is a very effective way to reach out because while a rally can address just hundreds at best, here the count could be in thousands,” he adds.
Up close & personal
Though astute planning fuels campaign strategies, the elements that form campaign materials are derived hugely from the real-life encounters of the candidates who move from one locality to another seeking votes.
“Like when Nemom candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar, when visiting a locality where the road remained in shambles, interacted with people about it. Our social media team shot it and put it out as a story. Another one was when he visited an athlete in Niramankara who had kept a garland of beads ready for a long time to gift it to the leader. These are part of our campaign materials, but captured live from real-life incidents,” says Pradeep Rajasekharan, BJP state media core convenor.
He adds that campaigns now balance the modern and the traditional, where digital advancements are used in tandem with folk art elements such as Karagattom, Kalaripayattu, Theyyam, etc., to reach out.
The LDF claims ‘going local’ has been their mainstay strategy, even as it uses social media.
“We have brought out regional-level manifestos. Add this to the five rounds of house visits. The digital side, too, is brought out with a unique local flavour to suit the candidates,” says K S Arun, who is managing the party’s campaign at Kunnathunad in Ernakulam. Mega road shows, with gala events such as DJ and Ganamela, are another hallmark of the election campaign this time.
Public interest
The campaign teams of all the parties are a rich mix with professionals from all walks of life, the leaders claim.
“Why should it not be so when common folks themselves get professional? Politics reflects society. Those who work in the campaigns have served in professional sectors and consider politics as a tool for change. So, when they bring their skills along, we have creative campaigns that reflect the mood and the mind of the public,” says Deepu, pointing to the All India Professionals’ Congress, affiliated to the INC, that engages professionals, experts and entrepreneurs from diverse fields in active politics.
So, for the common folk, the summer heat coupled with exciting poll times is an occasion to let their spirits soar, grin from ear to ear at snappy slogans, or swing to upbeat songs of a campaign coterie.
The entire new-age electioneering is alluringly casual, yet impeccably professional, making the contest quite a thriller, where creative titans clash as much as the candidates.