The theme of the Union government for 2017 is Narendra Modi– shows calendars brought out by central government departments.
Modi has replaced the iconic image of Father of the Nation spinning charkha in a loincloth in the calendar issued by the Khadi Village Industries Commission this year, say reports. Instead, Modi wearing his trademark ‘kurta’, is pictured spinning the wheel, imitating Gandhi’s pose.
Employees of the commission are aghast at the development and are staging a silent protest march to the company’s headquarters wearing black bands on their mouths.
They would have seen it coming if they’d gone through the calendar issued by the DAVP (Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity) on behalf the Government of India for this year – where Modi is featured spinning the modern version of the charkha on the page marked ‘May 2017’.
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In the calendar brought out by the DAVP, Narendra Modi is spread across all 12 pages -- a first probably in the history of independent India where a Prime Minister is the theme.
The calendar for 2017 has the Prime Minister on every page (as did the 2016 version) and it has him in the process of promulgating the various ‘schemes’ by his government.
If he was promoting ‘skill development’ in January among school-children, he was assisting a disabled boy (or divyang as he likes to call them) in December. If he was distributing solar panels to tribal villagers in June as part of a rural electrification programme, he was feeding a member of the armed forces among giggles by other officers in August. You get the drift.
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The calendar issued by the government has a history of its own. When Outlook spoke to a former official in the DAVP, he said Modi becoming the theme of the calendar was something that was not in tune with history. The calendar, which is hung on the walls of all Central government funded institutions, is a means to tell the people of government schemes and what the government had achieved.
Coming up with the calendar is also a bit of an exercise. The ‘idea’ for a calendar is mooted about six months prior to it being published.
The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity under the I&B ministry seeks inputs from the public relations officers of the various ministries of plans and policies they would like to feature. This one though did however feature the Prime Minister in his various avatars promoting all their schemes.
Though the final call though rests with the I&B secretary, it is understood that it needs to have the approval of the minister, particularly when it is singing paeans for the Prime Minister.
The calendar has long been a medium for propagation (dare we say propaganda). Mussolini calendars have become a recent rage in Italy where neo-fascists have taken quite a liking to them. An Outlook report mentions how ‘calendar-wars’ have taken over strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir with the government featuring IAS toppers and ‘achievers’ on its pages and the separatist narrative has those who have gone ‘missing’.
