How Politicians Keep Their Brand Alive

There are certain timeless topics (read issues) that make it easy for political parties/politicians to be in the news. There are at least five to six issues which are raked up at regular intervals — once in two-three years – which keep the politicians going. Take the case of Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka which has not been solved for decades. The issue has been deliberately kept on slow boil; once solved the politicians and their existence will be forgotten. Ditto the border issue between Maharashtra and Karnataka, or Naxalite menace. Here, the communal issue is a tool of the last resort. But, generally all politicians go in for low hanging fruits like corruption, bad roads or environment issues. Not surprisingly, the media will oblige with non-stop coverage.  Of course, the favourite whipping boy is the film industry. Sushant Singh Rajput’s death became almost a national issue. Likewise flags of revolt were raised over movies like Padmaavat or The Kashmir Files for misrepresenting history or showing religion in bad light. Then hijab issues keep surfacing from different corners of the country bringing the entire Muslim brotherhood together. The timing of the issues have also become predictable – it is either run-up to the elections or some serious issues rocking the government either at the Centre or State, and suddenly as part of the deflecting strategy these issues are raked up. Interestingly, all these issues die a quick death too.