Gujarat Day becomes media blitz for Modi model

Gujarats foundation day became a media blitzkrieg for pushing Chief Minister Narendra Modis model of development to India. The state Information Department gave out full page print advertisements across regional and national dailies customising the message to fit the state or region,to celebrate Gujarats birthday Wednesday.

The ads,all of them carrying pictures of Modi,spanned across dailies right from Chandigarh in the north,through West Bengal,Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan,Kerala besides other states. Sample this: Andhra Bhoomi and Surya,both popular Telugu dailies headquartered in Hyderabad with multiple editions had the slogan Gujarat: collective efforts,inclusive growth. Glimpses of progress contributing to Indias growth in English. It charted out how Gujarat had 5 per cent of the countrys population but contributed to 17 per cent of the industrial production value and 7.3 per of the national GDP,and so forth. Another Telugu daily,Sakshi,said,Gujarat,where development is a way of life. Focussing on this coastal state,it talks about the sagarkhedu yojana for fishermen launched in Gujarat.

A daily,Chhindwara,in Madhya Pradesh by the Bhaskar group goes with the slogan: Gujarat: A unique example of prosperity and culture in Hindi and chronicles the green revolution,womens empowerment,the Vanbandhu kalyan yojana for tribals,and so forth. The ads have penetrated even dailies like Ananda Bazaar Patrika in Kolkata.

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Mathrubhoomi,a Malayalam daily had the,Gujarat: Collective Efforts,Inclusive Growth ad. The information department of Gujarat government came out with at least four different advertisements tailored to send out messages to readers in different states. Many of the advertisements in English went with the slogan: Seeing is Believing and chose to market Modi. One of them said how dropout rate in primary schools was 20.93 per cent in 2000-2001,which had come down to 2.09 per cent in 2010.

They list the schemes of the state including round-the-clock power supply in the 18,000 villages under the Jyotigram Yojana,Garib Kalyan Melas,Mission Mangalam for empowering women and the worlds first canal-top solar project.