I overheard an interesting conversation while travelling to work in the mumbai local train today. The topic was Anna Hazare and the India Against Corruption. One person was vehemently defending his argument that the IAC campaign was actually a well planned propaganda campaign, essentially to build public opinion, influence and get the public to ratify that a new political party needed to be launched to fight corruption. What do you say?
It is not uncommon for PR plans to span over a year’s time, as in the case of IAC campaign. But before taking a stand on if it was indeed a planned course of action to start a political party, it would be crucial to look at the social context in which much of these events happened.
ReplyDeleteIn India, we suffer from an alarming sense of political apathy. The number of scams and scandals that have unfolded over the last few years have just contributed to a sense of distrust about politicians. In such an environment, if a national level political party is to be launched the first problem they would face is the lack of credibility associated with politicians in general. Such a political party would have prove a differentiating factor in their political ideology by appealing to the general public’s logic and emotions through a face that is credible and is untarnished by scandals of any sort. This is where Anna Hazare becoming the face of the campaign comes into play.
Being a war veteran and an activist who has already been in the limelight for his work prior to the Jan Lokpal bill, his credibility was unparalleled. Media stories that labelled him as a ‘Gandhian’ further asserted this credibility. Kiran Bedi’s involvement gave the campaign a sense of (pseudo) balance when an ex-government officer joined what seemed to be an anti-establishment campaign. This sort of media reinforcement of his image, backed up by prime time coverage almost every day set the agenda for the public that this campaign was something that needs to be given thought to. The media thus effectively told them what to think about, if not what to think.
Another common trend in the media is picking personalities over issues. The IAC campaign campaigned for the passing of legislation that is inherently a dry debate. But by giving it a face for people to support (Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal etc.) and a face to oppose (the UPA government), IAC was successful in driving media to echo their agenda in the voice they gave it. This led to an increasingly volatile spiral of silence where anyone who was against IAC was automatically seen as ‘pro-corruption’. In order to avoid isolation from the mainstream, people choose to support the campaign without much thought. Further more as Lasswell discovered, people are more likely to vote for a particular party if their closest opinion leaders believe in that party. IAC not only managed to broadcast their message through mass media platforms, but also narrowcast it by appealing to people on an individual level (sahriday).
There were also visible traces of propaganda in IAC communications. While they constantly promoted the amount of money the nation has lost in scams since independence, there have been hardly any mentions of the progress the country has made. By giving only one side of the story, IAC not only managed to create a sense of distrust against the elected government but also create a sense of trust in IAC. These sort of loaded messages have created public opinion that is pro-IAC.
All that said, was this all pre-planned effort to cultivate consent for a new political party? Theoretically speaking, it does seem very likely. However, even in the case that is was a planned course of action; the end result is still not what IAC may have desired as there is still a sense of scepticism in the masses when there is a mention of a ‘new political party’.
Inflation was already a reason of hatred in the minds of people and the India against Corruption movement made it stronger. I feel more than propaganda, Persuasion was used to spread the movement across the country in its initial stage as it was not a contradicting but logical situation and common man was harrowed by it. Later to keep the movement alive and fresh in the minds of people propaganda was used. Propaganda would benefit team Anna as they could form their party and enter politics. He knew people were tired of inflation, corruption so to make his career in politics he had to take public support through anti corruption medium. He wasn’t a known personality. People didn’t know much about him. There was uncertainty in everybody’s mind. To reduce this uncertainty, people through active, passive and interactive strategies started finding out about Anna Hazare and his past life. He had done a lot for his village and that gave people the reason to believe him and build up the faith in him. This played a very important reason for people across the country joined hand with Anna Hazare and he received tremendous support. Social networking sites played an important role in wide spreading the movement and ice breaking with Anna Hazare.
ReplyDeleteIn history many leaders around the globe have done the same. Played with people’s emotions and ruled but the result was disaster e.g. Hitler. He killed the Jews for his selfish intention through the medium of propaganda. He made people believe that what he was doing was right, but in the end what has happened we all know. Muammar Gaddafi is also no less. He influenced public opinion and portrayed himself in positive manner as a freedom fighter. However, later this image completely changed and we came up as a dictator. Anna Hazare is a crusading personality in terms of politics now days. He achieved that by analyzing the important issue, which is affecting the society. In addition, he got the support from public. He prepared the lokpal bill, which even he knew the government would not expect. Therefore, he planned it accordingly. The movement then went on for days. Anna Hazare then went on hungry strike creating sympathy for himself among the people. I feel he is playing with people’s emotions to enter politics and to rule over the country or a state. Therefore, his attempt to fight corruption seems selfish for his own career to enter politics and become famous. Perlocutionary acts were used to influence the people. I feel he wanted to stage a coup to overthrow the government. This is slow propaganda, which will go on until the next election. There are chances we have a political party coming up named team Anna who wins the elections.
People are still confused (cognitive dissonance) about whether Anna Hazare is a genuine person or even his intentions are just to harass and play with human emotions. He started the IAC movement in 2011 when he knew the elections are in 2013. He though people will support him and force him to stand up for the election, which is anyways happening. It’s a full planned strategy. Politics have become a business more than anything else in India. It is very difficult to analysis anybody’s intention. When the IAC movement was spread all over the country there were people who did not support it and remained aloof from it so that they are not isolated from the society (Elisabeth Noelle Neumann spiral of silence theory.) They believed all this was just a stunt to attract attention. A kind of surrogate advertising, but here you don’t know what are their intention. A common man should be smart and not fall in such traps. To eliminate corruption we need a new system not a new leader.
I would conclude by saying I agree Anna Hazare is not just fighting for corruption, but wants to set up his own political party and make his career in politics. There are loopholes in our system that’s why every leader who comes into power manipulates it and corrupts it.
India Against System ?
ReplyDeleteSince the last year number of NGO's gather under the banner of India Against Corruption to fight against scams and scandals happening in country mostly by political leaders. The last year in 2011 when India won the world cup after that there was empty space in media at the same time there was campaign by this group of NGO's started in Jantar Mantar to amend Lokpal Bill. Delhi based news channels give exclusive and wide coverage to their protest , surprisingly after the ,media exposure supporters drastically increased and the movement went become mass movement ,there are some more points to look out
1) Electronic Media's helping hand -
After the media exclusive coverage and time to time update about the movement it became "event" were some people came just to get opportunity to screen on TV, there were food stalls ,people came in freedom fighter's attire, celebrity turning up on the stage shouting slogans against corruption , By seeing this drama many people posted this video on social networking sites ,discussing started over it this all happened because of electronic media's attention.
2)Anti Politician Attitude
Generally we are told in India politics is last stop of all gunda's so many people just hate politics and politicians , they dont vote and completely negative approach towards he system unfortunately that class is middle class and upper middle class .IAC put forwards this thought only in different tone of Lokpal and asking government to change the system
3)Organizers’ failure
The movement did not have clear cut ideology or program to give to their supporters .The only demand was for Lokpal bill and to punish corrupt politicians but movement did not talk about corruption in the other fields may be to secure their funds .Failure of these resulted in violence against media who showed faults of the movement from the battle ground ,many considered shouting slogan or candle march will work to amend lokpal and to punish the corrupt politicians but it did not worked . Organisers and leaders were only busy in gathering more and more people and gaining media attention and to remain in lime light , they fail to give ideological , long lasting structural base to the movement which will keep the spirit even if movement stops.
4)Political Party
After constant criticism on the system by the agitators , many asked them to come in the system and change then gave them challenge and it was necessary after the point when IAC was possessing extreme cynicism about the system .Many of the leaders want to work as a pressure group which will not join politics but look after the politics and take center stage to guide the common people and raised voice as a watchdog or whistle blower. Mostly senior members like anna , justice hedge , kiran bedi were not ready for electoral politics.The young blood in the organisation want to challenge established politicians by bringing so called common man in electoral politics , Kejrial by that time became important leader of the IAC .Many of political activist advised him instead of working as mere pressure group they need to join politics and give their supporters option in election in order to bring reform they want to. Forming political was never on the agenda of the movement agenda was amending lokpal to reduce corruption .
5)future
However kejriwal cant go in Indian Public with India Against Corruption name , they are working on the name till date.Kejriwal started his by party without announcing its name how strange it sounds !Kejriwal is now putting corruption charges on dominant and influential leaders in many parties.The name decides border for their party that is party will only to fight corruption its has not spoken its take on other matter such as social and religious issues .Only grabbing media attention can give them eyeballs not strong base , ideology ,structure to run a party
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ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic yet again after the dynamic feedback that people gave to Anna’s unending fast at Jantar Mantar. Citing the campaign, led by Anna Hazare, as an example of the impact of WikiLeaks cables, Julian Assange, the chief of the whistle-blower WikiLeaks said what was happening in India was “Something that has not happened since the time of Gandhi.”
ReplyDeleteThe IAC (India Against Corruption) campaign was aimed to gather more of support for making a strong Lokpal Bill basically referred to as “Jan Lokpal Bil”. People of the entire nation came together to fight for corruption and people started marching on streets all over the nation on a call to stop corruption. Moreover instead of talking about the progress India has made, the IAC always came up with issues of scams and everything that hampered the growth of the country.
The fact that Anna and his team are fighting against corruption makes people think that they are set free from half of their problems related to corruption. They feel people have sooner or later realized that it’s high time to get the country developing but on the contrary common people fail to understand as to why was this team formed?
What are the motives of the team in making a party, etc. The motto of the IAC campaign was to gain support from people across the nation and form a party to abolish corruption and also formulate the Lokpal Bill. Common people fail to understand that these are fake manipulators with their hidden agendas who would show their true colours and how corrupt they are when they form their political parties. Here we can talk about Agenda Setting and this example clearly sites the impact that agenda setting has on common people. The agenda that was set by the Anna‘s team was followed by the people of the entire country. Also there is persuasion that comes into picture where this topic is concerned. People are persuaded to listen and follow the news and believe that the Anna team is right and whatever the team does is for the betterment of the country.
It looks like Anna and his team has no intention and courage to fight against corruption and India’s corrupt system and as we all know, corruption can’t be stopped in a country like India where leaders and political parties survive on black money. The intention of the team is just to be in news and grab attention. People went mad at Anna’s initiative at first but later everything was back to square one. The support for Anna was seen the way people uploaded their face book statuses, tweets , people on streets, people talking about it in local trains, people wearing the Anna cap and what not. But the situation of abolishing corruption remains the same. As it was, it is even now!
Corruption prevails even now! The only thing that Anna and his team have done is gained publicity with introducing “a missed call for supporting Anna” and has also gained grounds on the social networking sites where the IAC page on facebook got 2,88, 491 likes which again influences people and cultivates ideas that what they are doing is very apt and this would bring change in the system which never happens. The IAC is formed just to influence people and make a party of their own so that they could make money like other parties have kept doing.
IAC has communicated through all available channels on communication except for radio other than the RJ updating on the happenings in an around the state. To start with the anti corruption rally at delhi where all news channels stood with them for their news coverage. No idea how much the news channels stood for the anti corruption rally. They did rallies for days together to make every individual understand that with the growing inflation, prices and growing expenses. For Anna and IAC team it might have been in their knowledge from the beginning that without forming a political party they will not be able to do any new to fight corruption. But within the party there were difference of opinions which was brought into light by various messages like Anna will fight against corruption but will not be part of the new political party that is to be yet to be formed. With these messages it gave every individual a question to themselves as to forming a party will be any beneficial to them or just one more political party added to either the UPA or NDA which was upto a time was seemed likely to happen unless Arvind Kejriwal not bringing the BJP chief Nitin Gadkari liable for his corruption. With so much of propaganda to form a party, its still unsure if it will be able to make it to the parliament for getting the actual message. Anna and its IAC team working on the corruption done by the political party members accounting to lakhs and crores of rupees. But with the present situation where Anna has been shown a back seat or let’s say with the IACs new style of working “It’s my way or the Highway” for which Anna has preferred taking the highway, with which Arvind K and other IAC members still continuing the to form a party. But in the current situation where IAC was formed with support of top leaders, ex / former government personalities, it does not stand together for its main cause. Thus giving the individual a different perspective towards its leaders who wants to be elected but not knowing to whose benefit it will be. Anna presently has been travelling within every state to communicate the people about the corruptions going in the country and its IAC team members doing rallies in the capital against the government. The IAC has been collecting various documents has been showing on all the news channel, but never given to any agency or even to any print media the documents they have which actually have been keeping with them. The party propaganda has been not been too strong as the IAC has been collecting data of the each politician one at a time.
ReplyDeleteThe Communication process used in this has been not strong enough to impress the individual or any political party or political member joining them to have India Free Corruption.
The question can actually be answered with four different perspectives: firstly, the person who was talking, secondly, the IAC movement, thirdly, the media that covered the issue and lastly, the public.
ReplyDeleteThis is a type of group communication wherein the person in the train was putting his side of the argument and vehemently defending it. Therefore, his proposition of ideas in such a manner can be related to Van Eemeren’s Argumentation theory.
The India Against Corruption movement was taken up at the right time, both by the activists and the media. The iron was struck when it was hot. Many factors can be seen contributing to the success. With the news media (especially TV) broadcasting news which went against the Government as well as most opposing parties, unrest was built up in the minds of the people. On top of that, with the growing inflation and decreasing security in the country, the people felt more and more angry. This anger had bottled up for long inside the minds common people of India. At this delicate moment in the Indian political and social scenario, the launch of IAC movement proves that there propaganda was impeccable. Hence, a wise propaganda to woo the agitated public to support their cause is apparent.
Besides, Indians have shown a long history of following someone; they need a hero to look up to. The generation of a Hero was well picked up by the media in the country. The Indian media always knows its own power; it did not fail to notice the potential power of IAC and equally skillfully recognized the want of a source of venting out their anger of the citizens. Taking this into consideration, the Agenda Setting Theory becomes evident here. The extensive coverage of Anna Hazare and his campaign by all media left no choice with the public but to absorb it. The agenda was to expose the masses to the movement so much that they would not be able to turn a deaf ear.
As for the people, before the IAC came into limelight, the people were bound by what Elizabeth Noelle-Newmann proposes, the Spiral of Silence. The common man was agitated, but fear of isolation was stopping him from expressing his anger in public. With IAC being exposed continuously by all the media, a Mass Society was being created. People were viewing the media individually, but the message that was shown was for the “Mass”. It had created a generic sentiment that further helped to build up the support for the IAC movement.
A corrupt person is termed immoral, dishonest and unscrupulous in his dealings. His disregard for honesty, righteousness and truth results in his alienation from society. He is treated with contempt. But as erosion of values leads to decadence, remedies for the social malaise remain elusive, and so no amount of contempt can eradicate corruption which is a symptom of decadence.
DeleteCorruption is the most virulent when crises everywhere threaten the very existence of the society. It has always been there like tie leech, but when the system grows weaker and the boat flounders, it gets bolder and drains its victims of the last drops of their blood.
The older the system the weaker it grows and fails to solve the riddles that grows more complex every day. So men lose faith in it and let it drift down.Corruption starts at the top and percolates down to the whole society. Such corruption cannot be confined to the towns alone. It is as widespread in the villages where the dishonest officials and the traders carry the germs of the disease.
According to me ..Yes, it was a planned propaganda campaign in which Anna Hazare tried hard to use agenda setting theory , in which creating political party was his agenda from the day one, so that he could influence people the way he want them towards his goal and also wanted the people themselves to ask him to create a political party under his very own leadership but when the second time he was active in Delhi and the people and media did not respond him well,i feel Anna himself was not sure that people will support him as a political leader wherein Arvind Kejriwal came forward for the same..
Anna is playing safe..but not smart enough !!
2012 Indian anti-corruption movement is a series of demonstrations and protests across India intended to establish strong legislation and enforcement against endemic political corruption.2012 Indian anti-corruption movement is the successor of 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement which ended on the last day of Winter session of Rajya Sabha. The Movement is to be started again with the first mass gathering at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 25-March-2012 and Anna Hazare to fast. This fast will witness the starting of 2012 Indian anti-corruption movement. Team Anna and Public of India is again ready to protest against Corruption. In this regards thousands of volunteers are working in grassroots. Everybody attached with this movement is expecting the Govt. of India to take some strong actions on Corruption. The motto of this mass movement is only to create a big pressure among Government to take some strong decision related to demolishing Corruption in India.
ReplyDeleteFor me, Anna's campaigns were not at all a planned propaganda so as to gain any political or social power , instead was merely a strategy to eradicate corruption in this severely corrupted country, where politicians try to safeguard their own pockets at first and then mind for the country.
well this is a tough one. His intentions are right but overall I think he chose a wrong path. Its unfortunate that we are mixing it with Gandhiji's situation. Keeping that in mind, that time, Gandhiji had no option to sit and talk with them. But today Anna has an option to talk and settle things down.
Delete"Hazare and his group of self-righteous middle-class moralists are, of course, justified in fighting corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. It would perhaps make people aware of the issue and throw out corrupt politicians. They, however, cannot do much about career bureaucrats. Also, their efforts are hampered because all political parties have corrupt people. It is like throwing a crook and bringing in another.
The problem with Anna Hazare is more serious — he wants to bypass all democratic channels. If Parliament is bypassed and NGOs — they may be honest with learned people — want to draft the country’s laws, it raises serious questions about the legitimacy of democratic practices.
It is a legitimate moral weapon to keep politicians under pressure, but moral blackmail is not. And Hazare is doing just that. But he is not the first. Jayaprakash Narayan used the same tactic in the 1970s and took the country to the brink of anarchy while giving Indira Gandhi a reason to impose Emergency."
The IAC movement is a well planned and executed propaganda led by Arvind Kejriwal and co-members. The anonymous train man raises a very important argument instead of blindly following the herd. The movement started with great leaders like Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi joining it and approaching the citizens of India to raise their voice against corruption and to wipe it out from India. Not to forget that Arvind Kejriwal is a former IRS officer and Joint Commissioner of income tax department, so in a way he knew the loopholes in India’s economic system.
ReplyDeleteThe movement started by building a propaganda and persuading the citizens of India to stand against corruption. The scenario of India (Scams were exposed; CWG, 2G, etc.) was such that the message directly got absorbed into our brains. The magic bullet theory/hypodermic needle theory explains us how a message is directly injected into our brains and there is no escaping.
The media too thought it as the next big thing and gave it a 24*7 live coverage. One can easily raise the question where was the social responsibility of the fourth pillar of society? This leads us to the social responsibility theory of media working in a democracy. The media too at the start by giving the coverage set the agenda and thus making the people think in a narrow way. The next thing was the use of the new media, the internet. It was used to promote the propaganda. It was used like a new public sphere (still debatable as the interface is very much close to virtual), but were the people who interacted through this medium came on roads to support the movement is questionable?
Anna Hazare and some other prominent faces were used as a tool to promote the propaganda and to persuade the people. Till they realized that the main motive of the movement was starting a political party, it was late and hence many quit from the political party thought. This idea of need of a political party was given to us in small doses over a period of one year. This leads to another very interesting theory, the sleeper effect.
So, if we trace down the complete movement we will see that the whole idea of need of forming a political party was there from the beginning but was given to us in capsules and without giving a second thought we consumed it.
*IAC-India Against Corruption
*IRS-Indian Revenue Service
Izaz Ansari.
I would like to paraphrase my argument in strict communication/mass media perspective. The best way to form an inclusive understanding of the entire communication process in the campaign, the best course of action would be to understand the nature and working of each facet of communication as given in Harold Lasswell’s linear model of communication:
ReplyDeleteThe communicator (who): Much of the communication was done directly through the face of the movement (Anna Hazare, Arwind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi etc.) as opposed to press releases or communication under the bracket name of IAC. Aristotle’s rhetoric tells us how the seeming credibility of the speaker influences the level to which the receiver of the communication gets persuaded by the message. This facilitates the prominence of personalities over issue.
Message (says what): Jan Lokpal bill is a policy discussion. Strictly speaking in legal terms, anti-corruption is not the only theme this bill represents. The larger theme is political, government and administrative accountability. However the communication made by and on behalf of IAC only concentrated on the anti-corruption facet which formed an emotional appeal to people, which Aristotle called ethos. It was because of this appeal that IAC’s message penetrated like a hypodermic needle.
Medium (in which channel): IAC used a number of traditional and new media platforms to propagate its message. However, the use of Internet as a medium has been particularly interesting. During the period of the campaign IAC made sever 1-2 minute YouTube videos concentrating on the theme of corruption that was distributed via social media. An Afaqs report cited that the IAC fan page received over 71,000 'likes' and 13,000 comments for mere 170 posts updated in the month of August. The same report also asserts that the #isupportannahazare was the most discussed topic on August 17 with over 8000 tweets mentioned or used this hashtag. The internet has for long been seen a modern day public sphere and their campaign effectively used to broadcast their message while simultaneously being able to reach audiences at a personal level because of the inherent nature of internet and social media. This is a classic example of how the medium shaped the message.
Receiver (to whom): According to a research by McKinsey Global about 62% of the Indian population belong to the middle class. The fact that this was the target audience shaped the discourse to be about corruption while in actuality the passing of a Jan Lokpal bill is a legislative discourse. Thus the target audience influenced their communication.
Effect: The numbers present at IAC rally’s are a testament to the efficiency of communication. With the advent of discussions about internet censorship in India a group called ‘The Anonymous’ tried to create a mass movement against censorship by meticulous promotion on internet platforms and even bold statements like hacking the congress website. Despite this The Anonymous rally in Mumbai saw a crowd of no more than 50 people while the facebook RSVP and group showed numbers in thousands. The essential difference in both campaigns is the fact that IAC’s campaign had recognizable faces associated with, Anonymous as the name suggests had no face, just a internet web page. Thus the human face to a legislative issue, integrated marketing communication and a message that is tailored to bring about audience gratification tends to be more effective.
If the aim of this exercise is to understand the communication process, IAC possible ulterior motives of entering national level politics is may just be a conspiracy theory. What we can however say confidently is that it wasn’t a campaign that simply unfolded, it was something that was planned, and meticulously at that.
The whole communication between the group of people in the train on the Anna Hazare and India Against Corruption. The person in the train would be influence by media 24*7 news and he was defending his point. Here Cultivation theory could be come in action. As those who are heavy user of the media get influence by it. At that time various scam unearth and at same time this movement started.
ReplyDeleteAs electronic media had strongly influence the mass by giving 24*7 live time to time update about the movement and people started joining to this movement. According to me here persuasion theory would apply because both media and movement goes hand in hand and both uses each other very well and both persuade the masses.
The movement did not have clear ideology. The only demand was for Lokpal bill and to punish corrupt politicians but movement did not talk about corruption in the other fields such as NGO and other Corporate scam. The movement started by building propaganda and persuading the citizens of India to stand against corruption.
We called media as fourth pillar of our country and it is a great status given to media but media does not follow status given to them and they are not following the social responsibility. They are just injecting the news in our brain by adding color to it. Media also shoot bullet directly in the mind of the reader and here magic bullet theory can be apply. Here new media social networking site is use very tactfully by IAC and Anna team.
This complete movement has one ideology to form a political party and nothing else and Anna Hazare got aside by it and people who follow him got one side and people who thinking political is needed they joint Arvind Kejriwal.
Let us corrupt our nation! There is a sarcasm touched in this statement. But don't you think this has been the only motive of our chosen politicians? No doubt that people were well aware about corruption, but Anna hazare created strong awareness about corruption and then people started with the punch "I am Anna". There has to be a change’
ReplyDeleteThe audiences are very vulnerable. Today if the media shows the good works of Anna, the public is with him and when shown the flaws they would even agree to those.
But Anna hazare was smart enough to plan a proper communication strategy which would create a huge impact on people. Who all are involved in the campaign is the basic factor that people would like to know, Team Anna consisted of eminent personalities like Arvind kejriwala who is a famous social activist, an eminent supreme court lawyer Prashant Bhushan and Kiran bedi a retired IPS officer. he choose a perfect venue for his first andolan and with the media support it went nationwide.
i would like to refer the Harold Lasswell's communication model, who states that a convenient way to describe an act of communication is to answer the following questions
-- Who?
-- Says what?
-- In what channel?
-- To whom?
-- With what effect?
So here 'who' is Team Anna which says about the corruption happening in the nation and how we al can stop it with various ways etc.
The mediums used to convey the message were - Social media like twitter, facebook, youtube, propaganda, advertisements, banners etc also there were chain of messages, and BBM campaigns at regular intervals were well managed. There were merchandized t-shirts were available.
The messages were for the common man, the citizens of India to realize the effect of corruption ruining the country and ruining people indirectly. He creaed awareness about the campaign.
Team Anna had planned their communication strategies very well and were sure what to do when, there were regular rallies taking place not just in the cities but also small town all over India. The crowd that got together were beyond anyone’s imagination. People joined the rally for 2 reasons; a) Eminent personalities supporting the movement. B) people realized they can contribute to make a difference.
No doubt that the IA campaign was a well planned propaganda campaign, it brought a lot of change in people (perhaps it was just a phase), the campaign created awareness and influenced a lot of people , though the intention was just to create awareness and make few changes in the constitution of India but not with the intention of a new political party. It may have created such a n awareness because of so many scams getting disclosed umnder the ruling government and hence people could form a governemtn. But I agree that it made a subtle change in people’s thought.
In the situation, we clearly see Argumentation Theory in action in the Public sphere where a person is seen to be vehemently arguing his point in order to reach a mutual judgement; the ultimate goal of the Public Sphere. Now, when we see the history of IAC on a broader perspective, we also see Harold Lasswell's Model of Communication being followed where Team IAC(Who) passed on the message that the government & the entire political system is corrupt(Says what) via the media & social gatherings(In which channel) to the people(To whom) & how(To what effect)!!! The fact that the man had to convince the other passengers is proof of the success of the message. Unarguably, Team IAC has accomplished what it set out to. In fact, in today's times, Team IAC is a bigger & far more credible name than any other Political Party of the country. And in the process to reach where they have, they also used various Propaganda & Persuasion techniques to influence the masses. Anna Hazare was used more as a 'Brand' than a Leader. The fact that Anna Hazare was a war-veteran & had a 'clean' image to go along with his name, made the entire operation even more credible. Semiotics too, were in action. The 'Anna Topi' became the Sign which signified 'The Fight For A Corruption-Free India'. In addition, the Agenda Setting Theory came into action with the Media emphasizing entirely on the 'IAC vs. The Government' Clash. However, as time passed by, Media's focus shifted from the campaign to other 'scoops' coming from Team IAC; be it Swami Agnivesh or Arvind Kejriwal's political ambitions, everything made headlines. This resulted in the later gatherings being no more than a 'flop' show. Add to it the differences between Anna & Arvind, it just made matters worse. However, as far as the man in the train is concerned, he's going to leave the train whenever his station arrives. Attrition Framework, you see?
ReplyDeleteThe first thing which comes in my mind while talking about IAC is why Jan Lokpal bill, which was first proposed in 1968 and later in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008, suddenly became a major point of discussion in 2011. The agenda was set that the major pending political issue will be introduced when a vast range of opportunity is foreseen. The issue was timely brought in when the country was amidst exposure of various scams like CWG and 2G.
ReplyDeleteThe Jan Lokpal bill issue was brought in and the issue was led by Anna Hazare. Here we can see that there was a credibility in the source and later the participation of Kiran Bedi, an ex government employee, made the source more credible. The importance of the source being credible is explained in Aristotle’s theory. Again the art of convincing people emotionally was also taken care with Anna Hazare deciding for indefinite fast aimed at persuading the Indian government to introduce and enact the Jan Lokpal Bill in place.
IAC started pointing out various issues existing in the current system and also explained the people how their new ideas and plans will bring things under control. So the people were bombarded with so called impartial information, mainly to influence an audience. This is what exactly the propaganda theory explains, providing information aimed at influencing the attitude of the people. The common man was unable to see the actual agenda set by IAC.
Then later in 2012 Team Anna said that there was a need for a political alternative so as to sort this issue.
So in a nutshell, the IAC introduced the existing issue at the right time by right people. The issue was communicated to common man by using both emotional and logical methods. Then information was passed in such a way that the attitude of the people for the existing government must change, for their own benefits. The major benefit was to make a stage ready for the announcement of new party. So if we have a look at the series of events in a chronological way then one may come to a conclusion that IAC campaign was actually a well planned propaganda campaign.
Due to the involvement of Anna Hazare and Kejriwal in the success of the RTI act, media started giving more coverage to IAC campaign. Due to more number of news channels and increasing use of social networking, people participated actively and/or passively according to their convenience.
ReplyDeleteAgenda Setting plays a very important role in the growth this movement. People started participating in mass numbers just because media had started showing people what to think about. 24 x 7 coverage was offered. Newspapers were full of articles debating about pro & anti Anna stand. So people were left with no other option but to see, consume and hear about Anna’s movement.
In IAC campaign the white Propaganda model was used with open sources asking people to join the movement for a corruption free India. Emotional Messages were use to attract older generation with the use of statements like, “You had suffered the heat of corruption. Do you want your child to suffer the same?” and “An old man is on agitation for your children’s future.” The looks and attire of Anna Hazare was also used to compare him with Mahatma Gandhi; by tagline ‘Anna Nahi Andhi Hai Desh ka Dursa Gandhi hai!’ this was done intentionally to ignite the attract youth towards this movement as they are likely to believe that by participating in this movement, they are serving the nation.
People were provoked to participate in the movement through signing for campaign, candle light marches, social networking fan pages only because they got inspired by their friends or family members. Supporter of this movement believed that every word said by Anna was true, without verifying the truth behind it or making any effort of understanding the opposition’s argument. Social proof, authority and liking play a very important role in persuading people to participate in this movement.
The Spiral of Silence can also be observed in IAC. All the Media houses started supporting Anna’s cause. So, those newspapers and channels which were talking about loop holes of Anna’s draft of bill initially changed their agenda and started supporting the movement.
But as the movement started diluting by that time in the media the Anna fever had subsided. Media started criticizing the loop holes and unnecessary demands of IAC committee. All this helped to create the public sphere. People started to look at the movement critically. Newer ideas were discussed upon in media debates. IAC leader Arvind Kejriwal created the picture that to fight against the dirty politics they would have to start a new political party. Most of the people started believing that the Gandhian protest would not help them & they would have to fight corruption by electing correct political leader like Kejriwal.
All forms of media (TV, Print, Social networking) was used for publicity. After media’s withdrawal of support for Anna’s Gandhian cause people were left with only one option, in that, supporting the opinion of forming a new political party.
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ReplyDeleteI think what Arvind Kejriwal is using Propaganda to set up his own Political Party. With the help of media he himself created as corruption removal in society. Behind him a good PR person who knows what is next to reveal. Whatever scam, money etc.
ReplyDeleteFriendship with Anna Hajare: On first Anshan Anna did at ramlila maidan in Dehi. He gave total support to his fast. Then Anna failed to come up with Lokpal bill in constituency. Later he fought with Anna make a new political party.
Proper PR: From day one his India Against Corruption movt. managed very well. He took fast on for more than 20 days on 3rd March, 2011 the day after India won One day World Cup. He knew that if we are did in before WC 2011 then nobody bothers about our campaign.
Himself Corrupt: After he resigned from his post Kejriwal not paid penalty of 7 lac rupees. Later all drama came to an end he paid it
Foreign powers behind Arvind Kejriwal because he saying no to all development projects. What is the opposite of it? He is not giving solution on making trouble for himself.
Kisan Baburao Hazare, popularly known as Anna Hazare is one of the most famous person that we know today. What really made Anna stand out in just couple of days and rise to not just national but international fame. That too when this man already had a strong heroic like life history. Anna was in Indian military, already an activist, honored with awards like Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri back in early 90s for his contribution of development and building the Ralbegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar, and yet we hardly heard the name of Kisan Baburao Hazare back then. Then what took this village's hero to become a national hero! It was of course the subject that he took - corruption, but more important were his ways of approach. Anna and his team targeted every media possible and especially those which appeal to the youth the most i.e. Internet and SMSs. Anna has his own website, blog, numerable Facebook and twitter pages and the list is endless. Similarly, we all remember, when a year back in April, when his campaign started, the updates and campaign motos reached us through SMSs asking to give a missed call to support the Lokpal Bill. Corruption was undoubtedly the problem that every citizen was facing be it in any sector. Anna had not just supported the fight against corruption but by using well planned and well formed tactics, he became nation's voice. We cannot simply name this as a cause and a mere fight against corruption, but it has been a successful PR approach, a propaganda and persuasion. My further example is a personal observation that happened while watching Anna's hunger strike's coverage on a news channel in April, 2011. On the Ram Lila ground in Delhi where the strike happened, there were a radio channels huge umbrella's provide shed to the supporters and i did not see any other umbrellas except of that very radio channel. Now, my point of giving this example is, if not planned and publicized, where did these umbrellas come from and why just one radio channel? And such a provision for the people coming to support the hunger strike? I strongly believe Anna has did massive propaganda of his fight against corruption and that too with strong PR backup but i refuse to the thought that he will go ahead and form a political party out of IAC. Anna recently on his blog has showed a non support to the claim of forming a political party and has also refused to support Arvind's views of the same. He also says that the money collected by IAC were not under his intentions. And even if Anna would form a political party, he may soon lose his supporters like many of the parties have. For eg. MNS. Raj thackerey too formed his party by similar promises and allegations on other ministers, but today, none other than his party people are seen supporting him and neither his promises proved to be right. The same will happen with Anna's political party too. Because an Indian citizen would believe in an activist, but never a politician and his party.
ReplyDeletewhen i hear or read about IAC,i feel that the particular campaign's idea was very strong and powerful when it started.I remember when initially anna hazare started fasting,all over India,people marched along to support the cause.marches,banners,millions of people raising their voices and what not. But today, the boiled blood has faded.And if today anna hazare sits for a fast,i am sure he wont get any support from the common man.The effect with which the campaign started,has faded now. And i can totally relate this to the sleeper effect.where a particular news has so much influence on the lives of people,and after a span of time the effect dies.as in case of IAC.
ReplyDeleteThis happened because anna hazare's initial purpose diverted from jan lokpal bill to "politics".people initially thought this man would do something for the society.but slowly with the real face of anna hazare,people's enthusiasm towards the whole campaign died.jan lokpal or the IAC is nothing but a political gossip for people now.
i believe jan lokpal's initial idea was politics
but it was brought in with a social purpose deliberately so that the name would stay for long,but the purose changes.
shalini shreedharan
“Like every coin has two sides” every situation has its own pros and cons. When two people differ in their opinion their perspective about any issue specially when it is related to politics or anything related to one’s ideology it gives rise to argument supporting “Argumentation theory” .And when it comes to the “Great Indian Politics” the argument never stops and specially when it is issues like corruption or inflation it rings an sentimental bell. And when we observe Anna Hazare and IAC movment against corrupt politicians minister and bureaucracy we even come across Harold Lasswell’s Theory of Communication where the message of non tolerance towards corruption was strongly passed by them to the receiver i.e. masses. Well, whatever the motive be whether politically aspiring or be it genuine feeling towards corruption. It did not harm anyone it just made us more aware and motivated to do something against corruption. The receivers (masses) overwhelming received the message, well It required lot of persuasion by influencing the masses by using brand names like Anna Hazare who is perceived as a clean slate man as well as strong personalities like Kiran Bedi. Media played a huge role in creating and influencing the masses. IAC was looked up by masses as opinion leader .The IAC used media as a very strong tool to set their agendas and creating much more hype for the movement relating to the hypodermic needle theory as well as their agenda which also in process highlights the Agenda Setting Theory of communication theory .Whether the IAC was politically aspired or not it just made us to take some action against prolonged illness of corruption.
ReplyDeleteThe IAC Injection-:
ReplyDeleteIndia Against Corruption(IAC) is a grassroots movement formed to demand comprehensive reform of anti corruption system in India and the enactment of the Jan Lokpal Bill.
India Against Corruption is the group of the Indian common people who become against corruption. Anna Hazare and Arvind Kezariwal was the key leader of India against corruption team.
The movement of Anna Hazare has started with propaganda theory because the people was want to put up his opinion at that time people was suffering from distress like price rising ,corruption etc. Public was very hungry to fight with such type of distress. And they had gated a platform like IAC. It was also a persuasion and sleeper effect because over time, however, their newly formed attitudes seem to gravitate back toward the position held prior to receiving the message, almost as if they were never exposed to the communication in the first place.
The people was totally adapted against corruption according to the adaptive atructuration theory . The social media also supported to this movement. People had started to support the IAC with phone calls, video confessing, internet , email, chat rooms according to the media richness theory.
Agenda-Setting Theory states that the news media had a large influence on public because the media was with IAC. This ability to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda has come to be called the agenda setting role of the news media.
The IAC had started with very enthusiasm but after some time It had been decreasing day by day because there was no any political organization . There was should be a political party some people thought to make a political party but Anna was totally against to the political party that why the influence of movement had decrease ’ the team had divided in to two parts. Spiral of Silence had came when some people ware in the favor of political party but due to the Anna decisions they ware cant say a word. According to the dividetion Arvind kejariwal had make his political party.
Over all we can say that the movement was very good media had also supported very good but Anna become against to make the political party and media withdraw their support.
The IAC has clearly used Hypodermic needle theory, where the message is conveyed in such a way that it has lots of impact on the peoples mind. In this situation people think what Anna Hazare says is right. When we see Anna Hazare moment we come across the model of communication theory by Harold Laswell where the sender that is team Aana and IAC who clearly sends the message of India against corruption by different medium like electronic and press media to the receivers that is us the masses and these messages has great effect on the receivers mind. As the issue is regarding the Indian politics and corruption there is always argumentation between the politicians and the socialist. Anna Hazare has always used propaganda as a powerful tool to influence the mind and decision of the masses. Anna has also used nonverbal type of communication by not talking (keeping maun) to show disagreement to the decision of the government. IAC has also used agenda setting theory by setting agenda against corrupt government and Politician to influence or to bring the changes in the Lokpal bill. Anna Hazare has cleverly used forth waves of communication entertainment i.e by attending the show called SA RE GA MA on Zee TV as the guest through which he clearly convey his message against corruption.
ReplyDeleteThe hypothesis that Anna Hazare’s IAC campaign was a gimmick to launch a new political party seems to hold ground. It’s absolutely pellucid that media had a major role in promoting the ideals of
ReplyDeleteAnna Hazare. Also, there seems to be an adequate amount of PR strategy involved in promoting the
campaign.
The propaganda was carefully set and executed. Many theories were involved in promoting the propaganda upto the extent of it becoming a success. The agenda setting was made in such a manner that it appealed to the common man. It was carefully grafted so that Anna (a Gandhian)
should appear to appeal the common man, as a movement for his rights. He went on hunger strike on 05 April 2011 and his fast ended on 09 April 2011. On a fast which lasted four days, he gained popularity amongst the masses. Also, since the Indian Cricket team’s victory had already seen
people stepping out of their houses, Anna used this phenomenon to his benefit. He used the art of persuasion by convincing people to step out of their houses in support of Lokpal bill. People did
exactly the same as demanded by Anna, and protested in thousand everywhere across the nation.
He also used the hypodermic needle theory by using media optimally to his benefit. This allowed him to communicate his message without any resistance.
All political leaders started similarly like a good, honest , & fighting for the sake of poor , after few years of well settled then they become Raja, Kalmadi, Lalu...........etc....... so is the way of
Kejriwal...... will soon get elected and will also be one of a big multicore.... The IAC campaign was started in a small scale just Anna and few members the propaganda was so well planned that it
dragged almost whole country on the street demonstrating , people even didn’t went to office.
The people who initially participated in this propaganda were so influenced that they persuaded their friend to participate in the tourch light rally , which transformed the whole country as they
were fighting for freedom .. Media played a vital role in support to this demonstration , they gave Anna the status of Gandhiji .. slogans like “ Anna nahi aandhi hai desh ka naya Gandhi hai “ .Media
moulded its message flow in a multicultural society with multiple audiences like lasswell model of communication..