Ahead of Bihar election, Amit Shah issues call-to-arms to BJP's PR machinery

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s public image has arguably nosedived since last year when the Narendra Modi government rode high on the wave of media adulation. The ill-fated Monsoon Session of Parliament that saw the Vyapam case and Lalit Modi scandal take centrestage, did little to improve the party’s public perception.

Which is probably why BJP president Amit Shah sent a 12-page letter to the heads of various committees in the party last week, with instructions on how to improve the party’s public image and ‘eliminate any negative perceptions’.

It may also be recalled that through Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal, the BJP had reacted strongly to Shah’s widely-reported statement in July this year where he allegedly claimed that it would take 25 years to bring ‘acche din’ to India. Goyal, at the time, had said , “The statement… has been presented in a totally distorted and disjointed manner. Some sentences have been used which misrepresent what he had actually said. Some newspapers believe that they can spread misinformation”.

The Indian Express reports that Shah’s letter includes such guidelines as staying in constant touch with top editors and journalists, steering public debate in a favourable direction, and exerting a strong influence on social media. Read ‘exerting a strong influence’ as making sure that there is positivity about the party transmitted through social media while ‘negative campaigns’ are ‘countered effectively’. Further, the letter asks party members to “Respond to those who are lenient to party and those who are in debates with party… and ensure that the followers of the party leaders are increased”.

In terms of conventional media, the report in The Indian Express goes on to state that “(Shah) wants the party to monitor media constantly, prepare and distribute talking points, ensure that its spokespersons in TV debates are able to question points made against the party, and get articles that portray the government and party favourably published in newspapers and magazines”.

And this isn’t restricted to India, according to the letter, Shah also wants the relevant department of the BJP to interact with foreign diplomats and ‘ensure that the right image of the party is projected through them’.

This letter appears to be part of an overall strategy that also includes the Modi government’s plans to set up quick response teams (QRT) across department and ministry lines to ‘immediately step in with arguments to alter the nature of discourse’. The Sunday Express had reported on the plans for these QRTs and quoted a senior party official as saying that “the government did not manage the media well” during last month’s Patel agitation in Gujarat.

The report added that in a meeting called by the Cabinet Secretary, ministries and departments were asked to compile a list of experts, who could be summoned as required to argue the government’s view ‘on issues where the narrative turns critical’.

With the crucial Bihar Assembly Election right around the corner, the BJP undoubtedly realises the need for a positive public image. And from Shah’s letter and the QRT plans, it appears the party’s PR machinery is roaring to life at just the right time, in an effort to manage perceptions.

After all, as former US president George Bush Sr’s campaign manager Lee Atwater once said, “Perception is reality”.