Mantra is the message

It's make-or-break year and BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu is a man imbued with a mission. Speaking to party spokespersons from all states and oth...

It8217;s make-or-break year and BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu is a man imbued with a mission. Speaking to party spokespersons from all states and other party functionaries dealing with the press a few days ago, the BJP chief exhorted them to craft a new media strategy. Because communication, he said, was crucial.

The very next day, to an audience of state leaders from poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi, Naidu 8216;clarified8217; the BJP8217;s message: the party will contest the assembly polls on the basis of 8212; it must no more be apologetic about 8212; its 8216;own8217; agenda.

For the hopelessly uninitiated, that means Article 370, uniform civil code and Ayodhya, not necessarily in that order. So, armed with a brand new communication strategy and a not-so-new message, the BJP is all set to sail into electoral battle8230;

Or so it would seem. Putting it plainly, the BJP8217;s media-managers have a tough year ahead. While communication is important, it is not entirely to be confused with spin. It8217;s a two-way street: from the other end will come demands for accountability, openness and honesty.

Demands, above all, for a clarity of message. And on that particular count, the BJP is saddled with a peculiar incoherence, further aggravated by Gujarat. Always a party caught uncomfortably between the past and the present, now it must also search for a new equilibrium between the state and the Centre.

There8217;s the temptation to win the state, a la Gujarat, by an aggressive assertion of Hindutva or Moditva. And, in the same moment, the compulsion to keep the NDA together at the Centre by tagging disclaimers to the same.

The BJP8217;s spin-doctors may face another problem as they try to, as Naidu tells them to, 8216;8216;bring the electronic and print media on the party8217;s line on various issues8230;8217;8217; The BJP has shown itself to be a party with an irresistible urge to target the messenger; resisting that temptation will be no mean task.

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English media houses, Naidu reportedly remarked in the course of the same lecture, were against the party because 8216;8216;they appear to be in tune with British colonialism8217;8217;. Somewhere down this year, the BJP will hopefully do a reality check. Hopefully, it will also realise that the media, in the last instance, is but the courier. The party would do better to concentrate more on addressing the people.