16 February,2009 07:55 AM IST | | B F Firos
The BJP is pulling all stops to showcase its next prime ministerial candidate to the world
Is Advani simply aping Obama's style of election campaigning, which saw a lot of online marketing happening? Also, will this ultimately translate into votes?
It may be recalled that online political campaign marketing in the US Presidential elections made a huge difference to the political fortunes of candidates. The BJP campaigners also feel the same.
Barack spent around $3.5 million to attract the 128 million Americans. According to blogs, Advani, along the lines of Obama, has spent a whopping Rs 250 crore.
Most of the blogs are in awe of Advani for launching this online marketing campaign as it is the best way to reach out to a wider audience. "You use Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn or social blogs, a good marketing plan would land you everywhere! Internet marketing helps grow your business spread popularity and turns your business into reality," says one blogger in support of Advani.
BJP's IT team has not just built the site but they are also marketing it on Google Adsense. "Congress too has its website, which is being kept updated except for the home page which is still congratulating Sonia Gandhi for 2004 elections win," says another blogger while ridiculing the Congress.
There are a few, like blogger Rajiv Dingra, who feels Advani is simply following the do-what-the-west-is-doing trend. The 81-year-old seasoned politician seems to be "aping Obama's strategy of leveraging online and social media for political campaigns," he says in one post.
Another blogger is quoting historian Ramachandra Guha, who disagreed with any comparison between Advani and Obama this way:
"That particular campaign style worked for Obama because he is a young, fresh-faced, charming man who promises change. But Advani has too much baggage, both good and bad, attached to him. It strains one's credulity to imagine the austere, unsmiling Advani being rebranded like Obama."
Referring to Obama's success in online campaigning, blogger Girish Kolari feels that it is not a bad idea to follow some success. He is only concerned as to whether this idea will work in India or not.
