Reportage of a Water War Correspondent: From swirling Kaveri crisis

S.Narendra

(Former Information Adviser to PM, PIO of  Govt of India, 

and Official Spokesperson)

The hour hand on the clock in the meeting room was closing towards 9 pm. Hesitatingly I passed on a chit to PM Narasimha Rao : “Sir,my New Year party to media is about to start. Can I be excused?’ The ever gracious Rao surprised the ministers and officials attending the meeting with this remark: “Oh! Narendra, I am sorry....you come with me...No... You wait here...I will get you the files”. And then he handed over to me a thick bundle of files and said: “call me as soon as your party is over”. What happened subsequently is history. Read on PRapport exclusive:

The Iron Lady of TN

The year 1995 was about to end, with the Christmas and New Year holidays round the corner. A stormy parliament session had ended without transacting much business, a familiar experience (even now?!). Out of the blue, a political storm  originating in Tamil Nadu, had hit the government of P.V.Narasimha Rao. The Supreme Court was hearing a petition of Tamil Nadu government to direct Karnataka government to release 11 tmc of Kaveri water, as per the interim orders of the Kaveri Tribunal. Instead of adjudicating the petition, the apex court issued an order directing the Prime Minister to find a political solution, that too within a week, to the seasonal river water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In a way, the apex court had hoisted the politicians on their own petard, because politics had prevented a settlement of the dispute.

This was an unprecedented political tangle. The parliamentary elections were only a few months away and Rao as the congress party president was casting his net wide seeking poll allies. But suddenly he found himself between the blades of political scissors. On the one side was a tempestuous political ally, AIDMK’s Jayalalithaa as Tamil Nadu chief minister and on the other side was a potential ally from Janata party, H.D.Devegowda  of Karnataka. A few months earlier, when he was an  MP, Devegowda  had voted for Rao government in a ‘No Confidence’  motion moved by BJP in 1994.  As a state leader, with a reputation as a farmers’ champion, he wanted to appear as uncompromising as the iron lady from Chennai.

Truant Rainfall: In a nutshell, the problem was this. Whenever the North East monsoon (from September to December) plays truant, the two states fight over the depleted water available in Kaveri. Tamil Nadu historically has more acreage under Kaveri irrigation than Karnataka and depends upon the abundance of Kaveri water as well as the North East monsoon. This was one of those years  when the North East monsoon had been deficient, thus reducing the  quantity of river water. And Karnataka  had not  released 11 tmc of  water  to Tamil Nadu, claiming  that the river water was barely adequate to meet its own drinking water needs.

Midnight moves: Hectic parlays took place in PM’s house from December 25 with the ministers and officials of the water resources and agriculture ministries for assessing various options. In one such meeting that lasted right up to mid-night, the PM expressed his displeasure over the facts presented to him by the officials. According to the facts on paper, there should   not be any shortage of water for irrigating the crop acreage under cultivation in both the states. Suddenly, he turned to me and said: “Narendra, find out from your media friends what the problem on the ground is, and let me know in the morning”.

It was a tough challenge. My media friends in both the states obliged and I could give their assessment of the problem to Rao by 8 AM. The problem was that in both the states the acreage under water intensive crops like sugarcane that requires water for 18 months had substantially gone up and in Tamil Nadu in particular, the  Kaveri delta farmers were sowing  3 to 4  paddy crops in a year, irrespective of the vagaries of the monsoon.

Big Rounds of Meetings: In response to PM’s invitation, the Tamil Nadu chief minister arrived by a special place loaded with several suit cases and her counterpart came by a commercial plane. The media visuals played up the contrasting pictures. The prime minister met the two state leaders separately several times to thrash out a compromise formula that does not antagonise either of the contending parties. As the general election was near at hand, neither of the state leaders wanted to be perceived as weak and to be giving up the cause of their political constituencies.

The PM’s meetings with the CMs were going round and round, even as the calendar had moved to December 31^st.  Meanwhile, both the chief ministers’ offices   were leaking to the media their versions of the   parleys with PM that was complicating the latter’s role. I came to know that the Karnataka CM was planning a press conference. This news had travelled to Tamil Nadu side as well, and they were planning a proper response after hearing the Karnataka salvo. I immediately got in touch with the   offices of the two CMs aides and informed them that any discussions with the media of the likely formula for sharing of water would make the PM’s decision to go against them. I also held out the threat that if they went ahead, PM may go back to the court, reporting failure of negotiations and put the problem back before the judiciary.  Diplomatic that Rao was, he authrorised me to convey to each side that PM appreciated the particular state’s stand, and therefore, the final award could be in its favour.  

During the day of the New Year eve, the PM had discussed with me the various formulas he had suggested to the CMs and told me to give him a draft letter to the two CMs, along with a one page background. Rao told me that he would have one last meeting with the water ministry officials at 7 pm , after which he would hand over the papers. That particular meeting dragged on right up to 9 p.m. At this point I sent him a chit stating that my New Year party for media was to begin. The ever gracious Narasimha Rao, got up and said: “Narendra I am sorry. You take the files.”

Rao then took me to the residential part of 7 Race Course road, went to his bed room and brought out a huge bundle of files and said; “When  does your party end’. I said: Sir, around 2 AM. 

He said: Alright. Call me around 3... After you have gone through the files.

Cold Shower in December Night! I used to host a New Year eve parties for media friends in the lawns of my residence for media, their families including children, diplomats and colleagues in the government and ministers. About 800 invitations would be sent to attend the party between 9 pm and 2 a.m. This was within the knowledge PM. On this particular ‘Kaveri’ day I was late for my own party. The party lasted well past 2 a.m. I  took a  cold shower although it was a December night and began studying the files. Promptly at 3 AM, the PM called me to find out my progress in drafting the letter. I requested him to give me time until early morning and  Rao asked me to meet  him at 6 am and have a cup of tea. As I was fairly familiar with the subject, and the PM’s parleys, I prepared a rough hand written draft and called my personal assistant Ravichandran to my residence around 5 am for typing it on the computer. For some reason, the computer had gone out of order and we rushed to my office in Shastri Bhavan.

Kaveri flows in Shastri Bhavan: Literally, we felt that Kaveri had come to the gates of Shastri Bhavan. The entry to the building was barred with fire engines that had pumped a huge quantity of water to douse a fire in the building. Power had been switched off.

Accompanied by Ravi, I rushed to PMs residence  and managed to get the letter and the background note typed. The prime minister had obviously spent a sleepless night and was waiting for me. I said ‘Happy New Year’ and presented the draft. The prime minister expressed his satisfaction and told me that he would be having two more rounds of meetings with the chief minsters.

At this point, I suggested to him that his final   letter of water allocation to be sent to the concerned CMs should be faxed late in the night (January1st 1996), after the CMs had boarded the aircraft for home. The prime minister smiled.

Those were the days when Doordarshan and AIR ruled supreme and there were no mobile phones and no noise channels either! The fastest and latest mode of communication was through the trusted Fax.

By mid-day, I had a copy of the PM’s letter of water allocation. The whole day the media was bombarding me with calls to know the outcome of PM’s discussions with the CMs. I   got the news that the two CMs had boarded the aircraft after 7 pm. The PM’s letter was faxed to them around 10 pm (when their planes were about to land) and a little later I released the letter to media. The media was unable to get the CMs’ reaction (that was bound to be critical)  to the award. We wanted the award to be in media focus, not the adverse reaction of the quarrelling duo.

Much Ado: The award was a fair one, allocating 6 out of 11 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu. It

The Author
 (sunarendra@gmail.com)

was somewhat funny that the award should have involved such torturous and inconclusive negotiations. From the  beginning it was clear that politically the prime minister could not have allocated anything  but  a little more than half of 11 tmc demanded by Tamil Nadu. As part of his award, the prime minister set up a one-man  committee under Prof Y.K. Alagh to study the problem and come up with a feasible solution to the  dispute. He also decided to convene later a meeting of the National Water Council that had not met for decades to deliberate on unresolved inter-state river water disputes.     

The year 1996 had dawned with a clear hint of what the next 12 months held.  It was going to be politically turbulent, with regional players dominating the national scene and a nation adrift in troubled waters.

Girls under attack should go for a strong punch!

PUNE: PRCI and YCC organized a workshop on self-defence techniques for the students of PGDM- ABM at VAMNICOM (Vaikunth Metha National Institute of Co-operative Management), Pune, on June 25.

Mr. Swaraj Somvanshi who runs his own boxing academy (Dolphin International School Pune) for young aspiring kids guided the participants with self defense techniques. With the alarming growth of crimes against women, knowledge of self defence is extremely important, he told the students. He explained various techniques that can be applied during crisis. Dolphin International School students presented demonstration sessions in shadow boxing and basic stamina building exercises.

Speaking at the event, VAMNICON Director Mr. Sanjeeb Patjoshi (IPS/IG) urged to the students to learn the tricks and technique to lead a strong and healthy life. He recalled the old saying: “

A strong and healthy mind resides in a strong body.”

Youth to the fore! Bengaluru YCC Chapter celebrates Radio Day

By Geetha Shankar

(National Chairperson –YCC) 

Geetha Shankar

With the new academic year approaching, YCC is all set to start its activities afresh – with plenty of new blood to be infused!

YCC at the headquarter level is gearing up to meet the new opportunities.

We are fortunate to have this National Advisory Board for YCC:

• Mr. M.B. Jayaram, Founder YCC and Chief Mentor & Chairman Emeritus PRCI
• Mr. S. Narendra (past Adviser to PMs and ex-Spokesperson, Govt of India)
• Mr. N.D. Rajpal, Chairman PRCI Governing Council
• Mr.  B.N.Kumar, President PRCI National Executive (NE) 

Now, I am happy to announce that we have just appointed Mumbai-based young PR professional Ms Shreya Banda as the YCC National Secretary. Shreya is a PG from Manipal Institute of Communication and did her BMM from SIES College, Navi Mumbai. Currently she is with DBS Bank, Mumbai.

Radio Day celebrations in Bengaluru

BNK, our President –NE, informs us that he has already begun speaking to officials at Mumbai University and Amity University. Shreya will take these further and involve other colleges as well.

Mumbai is virtually the Mecca of mass communication studies with the city having over 80 colleges teaching BMM. I am sure that an enthusiastic Shreya will take up the challenge of spreading the YCC movement across with the help of PRCI Mumbai.

We request all PRCI chapters to come forward and involve the GenX in our professional activities in their respective cities.

Please refer to our website – www.publicrelationscouncilofindia.com – or write to me for further information.

To begin with, we can make use of the Guest Faculty pool which BNK has announced to depute senior PR and media professionals to various journalism and mass communication classes for imparting practical training.

We can look at organising seminars on issues of mutual interest and hold inter-collegiate competitions. For instance, Mumbai did a contest on Responsible Communication as a forerunner to the 8^th Global Communication Conclave and the winning teams participated in the youth session at the Conclave.

Pune, for instance, has been organising YCC activities on social media,

Young Communicators Club with PRCI Bangalore Chapter conducted a one day program in connection with Radio Day at VikasSoudha in association with Media Academy and Department of Information and Public Relations, Govt of Karnataka. “We celebrated it solely toreinforce the idea of radio as a medium of empowerment, awareness and of course entertainment”. The day was filled with interactive sessionsand panel discussions with experts from the radio industry.   

With so many colleges and student community, the sky is not the limit for expanding YCC.

Let us start planning right now. I request all senior members to send in their suggestions on involving the youth in our activities.

More exciting times and news to come.

We are together in this journey.

Let’s keep talking to each other.

Preparing a soft PM for hostile media conference!

By S.Narendra

(Former Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer

to Government of India and Spokesperson)

It was supposed to be a 90-minute press conference of Prime Minister Narsimha Rao. In less than half the allotted time, media had cleared out of the 1500-seat capacity Vigyan Bhavan. The Prime Minister, with folded hands and tears in his eyeswalked up to the edge of the VIP platform, and thanked the media.

An extraordinary year in recent Indian history was closing on this June 30, 1992. The government under P.V.Narasimha Rao  was completing one year in office, with an impressive record. No one could have guessed that an annus horribilis could be put behind by another annus horribilis. Speaking about the former, it was violent, politically unstable, economically grave and financially humiliating, with the nation’s gold reserve pledged to Bank of England. Naturally, the country’s morale was at its lowest ebb.

When the Union budget was presented in 1992, the face of the economy had unrecognisably changed, for the better. But it was not fully out of the woods. The Licence Raj had been unceremoniously flushed out. Suddenly, a “we-can-do-it, Kinda-do-it” mood had set in. On 2^nd  April, with the support of the Principal Secretary to PM, A.N.Verma, I persuaded Rao to agree to hold a first full-fledged press conference to mark the anniversary, 3 months ahead. It was not easy to make Rao agree to this, because he was quietly navigating turbulent politics of not having parliament majority and stiff opposition to economic reforms. Some in his own party were not in favour of reforms.

A group of industrialists, labelled as Bombay Club, were against globalizating the economy and opposed to India entering the World Trade Organisation. Both FM Dr,Manmohan Singh and  Commerce Minister P.Chidambaram were pushing for drastic  policy changes. A media-corporate war  on  for getting  exclusive rights for publishing  foreign newspapers like the Time, London Times and Financial Times in India raged on. Pressure was being put on  Rao  by India Today, Hindustan Times, Times of India against any policy change; PTI was upset as Rao had allowed finance ministry to permit Indian entities to get international financial news directly from Reuters and others, without PTI mediation. The language media wanted no foreign media entry.

Harshad Mehta Scam: Adding to the swirling controversies was the public sector banks-related  stock  market scam engineered by the broker Harshad Mehta. This stock market scam had occurred when the regulation of the  stock market ( there was no SEBI)  and also that of the banks were right under the finance ministry  and RBI Unfortunately, Dr.Manmohan Singh had made an unguarded remark that he would not lose sleep over the stock market prices suddenly zooming.

Anticipating Surprises: I   had requested PM to  give about 30 minutes to one hour, twice a week, for preparing him to answer questions on a wide range of subjects. Preparing a prime minister for a high profile press conference is a tough exercise. The government of India consists of 70 odd ministries and departments and a prime minister could not be expected to know everything that happens in several murky corridors of power. Yet at a press conference, the prime minister was (and is) expected to answer any and every question, that too with authority. If he answers ‘I don’t know’ to a question relating to subjects he is not directly dealing with, an impression is created that the prime minister has no grip over his government.

Officials passing notes to him or her, or whispering in his ears during a press conference obviously send wrong signals that the prime minister’s inadequacy to deal with questions. No press conference can be strictly restricted to the government’s business. Media loves to drag everything into politics and political controversies. So, the challenge was to keep focus on the central message.

Respect for Professional Advice:  When a prime minister addresses a press conference, he is the national political leader and his body language throughout the session conveys an unsaid message. Body language and stage manners in this age of visual media assume great importance and therefore, certain DOs and DON’Ts have to be notified. The PM cannot afford to squirm or be cagey or parry questions. Many political leader think that they  know the fine art and the rocket science of dealing with media, especially in a press conference situation and do not like to take professional advice. Fortunately for me, PM Rao sought and respected professional advice. For instance, he sought inputs for all his major speeches, and, instructed   me to listen to them during delivery and give him frank feedback.

I designed a plan for the sessions with the PM by dividing the government into broad sectors and asking my teams working with ministries/ departments to come up with  about 10 topical questions relating each sector policies and programmes. I wanted them to particularly focus not so much on achievements but on policy and action gaps, and controversial issues before each ministry.

It was clear from an analysis of media reports and commentaries that the reaction to economic reforms and liberalization was mixed. The stock market scam (involving about RS 8000 crore) had cast a big shadow on the government’s performance and reforms. The media and the opposition were accusing the government of going slow in its investigations. There were hints of involvement of government in the scam. There were demands for probe by a Joint Parliamentary committee or by a high level judicial investigation. It did not require any special knowledge to anticipate that the press conference would begin and end with questions on the scam.

Anything to Hide? In the first one or two rehearsal sessions, Rao tended to be distracted. But once a session was held about his  own portfolio-ministry of Industry- and I posed some tough questions for which there were no satisfactory answers, the prime minister began to appreciate the usefulness of such sessions. For example, in the session on his ministry, I asked him why he had kept the foreign direct investment board (FIPB) under himself  and not given this responsibility to Dr.Singh. Rao was taken aback.

The most critical session held related to the stock market scam. He had called senior PMO officials, finance and commerce ministers. I had sought PM’s permission to ask the questions in the rudest way - the same manner the media tends to shoot questions. Often people in positions of authority who are used to be treated deferentially tend to be offended by awkward questions. I wanted the PM to get used to some direct attacks.

In the preamble to the Press Conference, I drew attention to the raging controversy over the Harshad Mehta scam and the opposition demand in Parliament to hand over the investigation to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), and media hinting at PM and ministers’ link with scam.

Then I shot the question: ’Mr. Prime Minister; why are you running away from JPC probe? Has the government or any one in government anything to hide?’.

Some persons in the meeting were upset and said: “Narendra should not be allowed to ask such questions”.

PV Respected professional advise and addressing the media

Narasimha Rao just smiled and told them: “It is not Narendra who is asking this question. It is the public that is asking such questions…I don’t have anything to hide. If anyone else has anything to hide, I do not know. This is the time I should know”. He then turned to the ministers present.

The rattled ministers explained that the finance ministry had set up a probe  machinery in the Banking Department. This was headed by a very senior officials and he was not only trying to investigate the scam but attempting to get back the money lost by the banks.

One of them said: “Setting up a JPC or a judicial enquiry was considered but such a course would delay the investigation. Such delay could prevent recovery of the money lost. Also, earlier experience of JPC probes was very disappointing, as they tend to be political witch hunts with no results”.

PM turned to me and asked: “Narendra, How will this reply sound? Will your media friends be satisfied?’

I submitted that the reply was a technical one. Though it was a correct course of action, it lacked credibility. Then I said: “the media is recalling the Mundhra scandal ( Jayanti Shipping Corporation  in which LIC had invested, Firoze Gandhi, MP,(Indira’s late husband),  had spear-headed the attack on Nehru government in 1960s)  and Justice  M.C. Chagla enquiry (this had led to the downfall of finance minister T.T.Krishnamachari and his finance secretary H.M.Patel). If Nehru could set up a high level judicial enquiry, why is this government shying away.

“Sir, we need a political answer, not a technical one”. I added. 

Rao: “Please take it from me. I do not have anything to hide. If Parliament wants JPC enquiry or a judicial enquiry, the government will accept that.”

I pressed further with my questions: “Sir: will you sack any minister and any others if it s found that they are  involved in the scam?”

Rao: “If the enquiry finds any one guilty of involvement, no one,   no one,  will be spared.”

(It was my understanding that once the prime minister showed his intention to accept JPC, the finance minister gave him his resignation letter. The PM kept it with him, but never accepted it. Rao’s inclination towards JPC probe also caused Chidambaram to submit his resignation).

India destined to walk on the razor’s edge: The preparatory sessions were being held with utmost secrecy. The PM did not want me to even hint to media that he was thinking of holding a press conference. I was under strict instructions to issue the media invite only after his final clearance. As the government was completing its first year, I had prepared a brief about the government’s achievements which were impressive, especially the economic turnaround, and set out the challenges before it. Rao wanted an opening statement to be made at the press conference and he personally vetted both the documents. To the draft s opening statement, he added: “India is destined walk on the razor’s edge’.

On the morning of June 29^th, he asked me: “when do you have to issue the media invite”. Time was running out for me but appreciating his concern, I informed him that the invite must  go out by 6 pm. (those were the days when we did not have the luxury of emails and mobiles and invite had to be hand delivered to about 600 accredited media persons physically). Around 5 pm, I got his clearance to send out the invites.

The prime minister was a stickler for punctuality and he arrived on the dot. I had submitted to PM that no one other than himself (and myself slightly away from him for conducting the proceedings) should be on the dais. No official (including his security) should sit behind him. An exception was made in the case of I &B minister Ajit Panja, who had called me the previous day and asked me to seek PM’s permission to seat him with PM during the press conference.

Media Erupts: As anticipated the media almost erupted in unison to shoot the first question: “Hershad Mehta scam...government a silent spectator...Is your family involved... Opposition demand....JPC...Supreme Court  judge probe......Will you sack ......RBI..involved....Dr.Manmohan Singh said.....

The prime minister calmly said : “”I will answer all your questions on the scam. I am not running away, nor my government, from any kind of enquiry. If parliament wants JPC, the government will accept it. Neither  me nor my family is involved....’

“Sir,Sir..... Mr Prime Minister..Harshad Mehta....Finance Minister. said..Publc Sector banks...Communist party has....Advani has ..... “

I tried to intervene to bring some order into the deliberations.

Rao interrupted me: “Narendra, I have not finished my reply yet.” And he continued “Let me tell you. Please take it in a box. Neither me, nor my family is involved. If any of my ministers, any one is involved; they will not be spared.”

Most of the media persons rushed out of Vigyan Bhavan to file their stories.

Later, the PM remarked to me: “Narendra, your rehearsals made me know my own government departments much better than before”.

  

How to win International PR Awards - Ten Tips

By Vikram Kharvi

http://www.vikypedia.in/

Recently, I was fortunate to have attended PR Week Asia Awards in Hong Kong, where I had an opportunity to interact with various Asia Pacific PR leaders as well as the juries. From these interactions and a specific panel, discussing ‘what are the most important elements that makes a winning case’, I am putting forward 10 tips that can help you win an international honor.

Think campaign: while we routinely work towards meeting client’s communications objectives, we need to think from a campaign perspective right at the beginning of the year. Identify clients and specific area to focus around which a creative PR campaign can be developed. A good case cannot be created just before the awards submission. There has to be a concentrated thinking, focus and long term approach to build a really powerful case.
Strictly follow the rules: one of the most common frustrations of judges is that many entries just don’t follow the rules mentioned in the entry form, such as word count, formats of supporting materials etc. Many good campaigns get disqualified only for not following the rules.
Senior members of the team should dedicate their time in enhancing the quality of entries, writing a winning case requires a lot of experience, intelligence and creative bent of mind.
Clear objectives: Good entries should have well-crafted objectives and outcomes should reflect that they were really met
Budgeting: Even if you have worked on a shoe-string budget, your entries should reflect how well it was utilized
Focus on business results – entries that demonstrate achievement of unequivocal business results stand-out amongst others
Integrated approach: entries built solely on the strength of media relations, fall out as judges look at a more integrated, multi-faced campaigns that was successful in engaging all stakeholders

The Award Winning Team

Add a context: In the international arena, judges come from various countries and backgrounds and hence it becomes imperative to add a context to your campaign. For example: success of a local business through PR may not be of high significance to judges from developed countries or from the region where such businesses have been traditionally successful
Client Endorsement: entries that have been endorsement by clients’ scores as it reflects that your clients are happy with your work and it has made difference to their business.
Tell the truth: Be honest in your claims as you may be asked to submit proofs for your claims and not being able to submit one can bring a lot of embarrassment to you and your organizations.
So go ahead and participate, there are many international awards where you can send your entries, atleast let’s attempt. We may be doing much better work than our international counter parts but for some reasons we shy away from demonstrating our work to the outside world. Now is the time, let’s make India proud by dishing out quality work from our region and set a benchmark for the world.

- See more at: http://www.vikypedia.in/2015/06/10-tips-for-winning-international-pr-awards/#sthash.KG8abYzs.dpuf

Diwali fireworks & Ayodhya Ad that bombed!

It was a full page ad that reproduced the previous year’s agreement between VHP, mahants and the home minister, along with their signatures. Below was the government’s message stating that the government was fully committed to allow worship at Ayodhya as per this agreement.  I had personally over-seen the final version and given it to the chief of the creative team who was to get the pulls printed. Somehow at the printers end......Read on

By S Narendra

(Former Information adviser to PM. Spokesman of Government of India)

Every year, July–August months usher in the festival season that concludes around Deepavali. While Muslims and Hindus are in a festive mood and some may be praying in religious fervour (Chaturmasya, according to Hindu Panchangam), officials entrusted with the responsibility for ensuring security and public order spend sleepless nights and tense days. Their prayer is for this season to quickly pass off without any violent disturbance to public order. It was one such festival season in 1990, overly heated up by  Ram Janmabhoomi movement spearheaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader L.K.Advani. The latter had announced his Rath Yatra that was to enter Ayodhya in Faizabad district in UP around Dussera festival-also observed as Navratra.

To refresh our memories, BJP was extending outside support to the Janata coalition government headed by V.P.Singh. BJP, along with its supporting organisations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (Ashok Singhal), Bhajarang Dal, mahants of various Ayodhya temples  had vowed to begin construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya at the place  where Babri-Masjid  stood from the 16^th century.

This was fiercely opposed by the Babri Masjid Action committee. The dispute over its ownership and whether it was a Masjid or a Temple had reached the UP courts, including the Allahabad high court. The Central governments consistent stand for long has been that pending the courts’ verdict in the dispute, the two sides should respect the status quo. It was the constitutional responsibility of both the centre and UP government to ensure that no one was allowed to alter the status quo, as the matter was sub judice.

In fact, in 1989, the Ram Janma Bhoomi movement (had mobilised thousands of worshippers  or kar sevaks to bring ‘holy’ bricks from different parts of India to Ayodhya for starting the  construction of  Ram temple at the disputed Babri site. The Home Minister Buta Singh in the Rajiv Gandhi government had used his political skills to persuade the BJP and its supporting organisations to sign a document agreeing to offer worship and conduct a token temple construction (kar seva) away from the disputed site. The parties to the agreement had further committed themselves that they would not try to alter the status quo, as the matter was sub- judice. However, this time round in 1990 September –October, BJP and its supporters had decided to offer worship and undertake temple construction only at the disputed site, in violation of the previous year’s agreement. It was obvious that electoral politics, not so much religious fervour, was motivating L.K.Advani’s Rath Yatra.

Between Scylla and Charibdis: V.P Singh government was in a quandary. BJP was extending support from outside the government and any interference with Advani’s Rath Yatra was sure to result in its withdrawal of support. Negotiations with BJP and its allies to honour the previous year’s agreement ( not to enter the disputed site and conduct worship away from it ) that bore the signature of leaders of VHP ( Ashok Singhal) ,Bhajran dal, some mahants of Ayodhya and the Union Home Minister were unsuccessful.

BJP Ad Brinkmanship: BJP and its allies had begun to run a newspaper advertising campaign in support of their case for a temple at disputed site. A worried government wanted to counter this and tell the people that BJP and its allies were violating their own agreement of the previous year and could violate the court orders. The government could not oppose construction of Ram temple, nor could it alienate the minority community by allowing ‘kar seva’ at disputed site. And, it was decided to put the facts before the people in order to gain support for its stand. I was heading DAVP, the government’s advertising agency and was instructed to run a newspaper advertising campaign for the purpose

Counter Campaign: The government’s case to be put across through the Ads rested centrally on the Agreement, and the signatures of main people behind the temple agitation. The other message was that the government will be in contempt of the courts if it allowed   any ‘kar seva’ in the disputed area, but it was allowing ‘kar seva’ a little away from the site. The focus was on the legally untenable position of BJP, especially Advani, and to put the onus of the government going out of power on the  party. The time given to me for designing and running this campaign, like most such campaigns, was less than 24 hours! As the advertisements were dealing with a politically explosive subject that also touched on matters of faith and fervour, the contents of the Ads had to get political clearance at the highest level. Assisting the minister P. Upendra, the then I&B minister, I got the ad  design and messages  cleared by the prime minister late in the evening prior to Deepavali  festival day.

Advertising in Stone-age: Those were  the days before the PC era. The present generation in advertising  have no idea of how tortuous and time consuming was the job of Ad designs by hand and getting pulls (bromides) for manual dispatch to media. At the media end, it was equally a time consuming process to print the Ads. In the case of Urdu and small papers, DAVP had to get wooden blocks prepared (Now an Ad design can be prepared even on a smart phone and broadcast instantly to any number of media. Any number of iterations can be done in a jiffy). We had booked space in several hundred newspapers in various languages in several parts of the country. As the midnight hour approached, the newspapers began calling us frantically. I left office early morning, after seeing the final proof copy. My colleagues were entrusted with the job of getting the pulls from the press and dispatching them to newspapers.

What? Happy Deepavali?: I was woken up around 5.30 AM by a phone call. It was from P.Upendra, the minster. “Happy Deepavali, Sir”, I said. ”What bloody happy Deepavali. What have you done? Have you seen the newspapers? Do you know I cannot show my face to my colleague? Meet me at 8’O clock”, was the   minister’s   Deepavali greetings.

The newspapers had not yet come to my house. When they arrived later, I saw what had happened to our Ayodhya Ad campaign. It was a full page ad that reproduced the previous year’s agreement between VHP, mahants and the home minister, along with their signatures. Below was the government’s message stating that the government was fully committed to allow worship at Ayodhya as per this agreement.  I had personally over-seen the final version and given it to the chief of the creative team who was to get the pulls printed. Somehow at the printers end, the most vital part of the Ad, namely the signatures of the VHP, Mahants and of Home Minister appended at the bottom of the  agreement were missing. Without the vital signatures the Ad was a dud. Thus, the first round of our campaign had bombed.

As instructed I met the minister at this residence. The I&B secretary (late) Suresh Mathur was also present. Upendra was seething with anger and his voice showed: “What have you done about the mistake. Sack the officials responsible”. I submitted a hand written letter in which I had sought voluntary retirement, and spoke: “Sir: a grave mistake has occurred and embarrassed the government. I have let you down. I take full responsibility for this mishap. All my officials had worked very hard on the campaign and they are not responsible for the error’. Suresh Mathur, who was in no way involved in this also spoke: ’Sir, if Narendra is resigning, I will also put in my papers’. The minister was taken aback and his voice changed: ’Alright.  Alright. What can you do now to correct the mistake’? I informed him that I had already stopped the second round of the campaign and” I will personally go to the press to ensure .....”.

“Sir: Appeal for Peace and National Unity, and Go Out”

Advani’s Raht Yatra was stopped at Samastipur in Bihar by Laloo which led to violent clashes between the ‘kar sevaks’ accompanying the Yatra and the police in which several people died. Immediately, Atal Behari Vajpayee conveyed to the President that BJP had withdrawn support to V.P. Singh government. That meant the days of the government were numbered.

BJP began hitting back at the government with a new highly provocative display Ad campaign. The  full page Ads displaying  facts focused on how the governments were discriminating against the majority community, while favouring the minorities (‘appeasement’ to use BJP words). They focused on subsidies to Haj pilgrimage, official grants to minority institutions and similar facts. The Ads were meant to rally the majority and sure to divide people and spread disaffection among  them. A war room conference was held by the Janata leadership - V.P.Singh, M.M Syed, Upendra, Madhu Dandavate, George Fernandes, Ramakrishna Hegde. I was instructed to come up with a counter campaign, to be implemented from the  very next morning .I politely pointed out that the facts given in BJP Ads needed to be countered with facts and the government has to get me those facts .The Home Ministry officials were entrusted with the job of collecting those facts. In the mean while, R.K. Hegde offered to send me a well - known Ad agency representatives from Bombay to assist me in designing the ads.

The Author

(sunarendra@gmail.com)

Time was running out for me. To  make matters worse, the Home ministry admitted by the evening that the government had no facts to counter the BJP campaign.  Meanwhile, the private Ad agency had met Ramakrishna Hegde and the PM with their own campaign design that in no way touched upon the BJP facts. The design was replete with political messages attacking BJP and had content which could offend the majority community. As a government agency, I could not carry out an political campaign, and therefore, I came up with DAVP’s own messages emphasising the need for peace and communal harmony. It contained an appeal from the government leadership for cooling the political and social temperature. The minister Upendra took me to the PM, where other ministers had already assembled. I submitted that the moment was not conducive for further confrontation  through Ads. As the government was almost on the verge of demitting office, I said: “Sir: before going out of office,  It will be very dignified if the government issues an appeal for peace and national unity”.

Further, I suggested that the political campaign could be implemented through the party machinery. V.P. Singh quickly averred: ‘there is no need for any war in the media.”

In the next 24 hours, he left office!

Adfactors does India proud

Happy to share with you the news that Adfactors PR was adjudged as the PR Week’s South Asia Consultancy of the Year last night at a glittering event in Hong Kong, attended by PR agency and Corp Comm leaders from all over AsiaPAC. The agency also won three additional awards for Campaign excellence.

Team Adfactors receiving the PR Week Awards

These awards come in rapid succession in a series of such recognitions  for Adfactors PR in the last 18 months. In end 2013, Adfactors PR was adjudged the AsiaPAC Financial Consultancy of the Year by Holmes Report. In 2014, they received the Holmes Report India Consultancy of the Year, the Holmes Report Emerging Markets Consultancy of the Year (finalist) and the Campaign Magazine South Asia Consultancy of the Year.

PRCI congratulates Team Adfactors for these achievements.

Ab, Dilli door nahin! PRCI Delhi new Chapter takes off

Hearty Welcome to PRCI family!

This is to congratulate the new team at Delhi Chapter of Public Relations Council of India (PRCI).

Some of you may be getting mails and updates but for the benefit of all, let me, as president of National Executive-PRCI, say the following:

1. We are happy to have a new, rejuvenated and energetic team at Delhi Chapter of PRCI. Thank you all for your consent and agreeing to volunteer to be part of the PRCIU-Delhi Chapter.
2. Let me remind you: You as a team have a huge responsibility to reviving the PRCI activities
3. We at national level have succeeded in setting our web site. http://www.publicrelationscouncilofindia.com/ - with most of the relevant information.
4. We have also launched out e-mag in a unique format to incorporate updates on  24X7 basis. Please check: http://prapport.blogspot.in/
5. The e-mag has caught the imagination of not only PRCI members, but the communication community, judging from the immense popularity that it has attained during a very short period, PRapport enjoys page views exceeding 4,000.
6. Apart from all these, the most important development at PRCI is that we are going International with the launch of PRCI-I at Dubai on December 04, 2015.
7. We request all of you join us in the PRCI-I launch celebrations. Details of all that is to be done are available on PRapport. Do check and do not hesitate to contact me or Jayaram for further details.
8. Mr Kaul: This is our umpteenth request. Please provide us the mail IDs of our NHPC friends so that the table of Delhi chapter is complete and Mr Ganagnjit Singh can start the activities.
9. Let us all plan a launch activity in Delhi. Many of our PSU friends are keen to have a case study session. Suggest we take it up immediately.
10. We at PRCI HQ will be more than willing to coordinate it.Let us keep communications – because, Baat Karnay Se Hee Baat Bantee Hai!

 This is how the Delhi Chapter of PRCI looks:

Name	PRCI Designation	Company/Position	Contact
Mr Gaganjit Singh	Chairman	Executive Director, Institute of Marketing and Management	info@immindia.com
Mr Arun Arora	Vice Chairman	Cairn India	arunarora108@gmail.com
Mr V K Cherian	Vice Chairman	COAI	vkcherian@gmail.com
Mr Molijit Lal	Secretary	IMM	molilall@yahoo.com
Mr Chiranjit Chakraborty	Joint Secretary	Concept PR	chiranjit@conceptpr.com
Mr Ramesh Kumar	Treasurer	NHPC
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Mr R H Pathak	Member	Essar Group	rakeshharipathak@hotmail.com
Mr Sanjay Vashisht,	Member	ITPO	Vashistha2010@gmail.com
Mr J P Dhaundiyal	Member	Solar Energy Society of India	jp52d@yahoo.com
Mr Anoop Joshi	Member	SAIL	joshi.anoop@gmail.com
Ms Neelam Yadav	Member	Power Grid Corporation	powergridprny15 @gmail.com
Ms Neelam Jain	Member	Canadian Embassy	neelamjain99@gmail.com
Mr Gaurav Anand	Member	NHPC
Mr Ritukant Ojha	Member	PROact Brandom	ritukantojha@gmail.com
Ms Sonia Sarin	Member	Aim High Consultinbg	sarin21@gmail.com

​Additionally, Ms Renuka Salwan, Zonal Chairperson (North) and Mr S K Kaul and Mr S R Krishnan (Directors – NE) are the ex-officio members of the Committee.

Mr N D Rajpal (Chairman GC), Mrs Vijayalakshmi (Direcor GC) Mr S Narendra (Director NE and Advisor YCC) and Mr Deepak Jolly (Director NE) are the permanent invitees for the Chapter.​

​All of you as a team are requested to take the Delhi Chapter forward.​

I sincerely thank Jayaram, Rajpal, Vijaylakshmi, Renuka, SR Krishnan and Mr Kaul for all their unstinted support.

Let us plan a grand event for the relaunch, without saying it in so many words.

I am available on 24x7 basis!