By Manzar Bilal, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: This is election time in Bihar and it has brought good opportunity for Urdu dailies to make money as political parties find it easy and cheap way to attract Muslim voters through several types of advertisements in Urdu dailies.
It is contrary to general situation with Urdu dailies that complain for not receiving private or government advertisements in good quantity leading them to financial crisis. Even they cite it the main reason for their failure in producing quality of news and paper compared to English and other newspapers.
Advertisment by LJP in Urdu daily Qaumi Tanzeem
As Muslims in Bihar with above 17% population have always been crucial for political parties to come to power in the state, after the date of assembly elections announced the battle for Muslim votes began in which every party put its strength at work to take lead on other.
With the battle in the campaign field intensifying by day, the ad war to appease Muslims is also on. The competition is seen in advertisement published in Urdu dailies with bundles of tall promises for the welfare of Muslims by parties claiming to be friendly to Muslims. If one party buys quarter page in the newspaper for advertisement, another buys half page and even third buys full page. The parties participating in the battle include RJD of Lalu Prasad, LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan, JD-U of Nitish Kumar and Congress.
Advertisment by JD-U in Urdu daily Pindar
Interestingly, no such advertisements are published in English or Hindi newspapers. Question arises here as to why these parties choose Urdu dailies for pro-Muslims advertisement. The simple answer to the question is that in independent India Urdu is considered as language of Muslim community. Therefore, interest of the language has always been attached with the interest of Muslims. Consequently, as Muslims are discriminated in every aspect of life, Urdu is also treated in the same way.
Advertisment by RJD in Qaumi Tanzeem
This is the result of that very thought regarding Urdu that political parties consider Urdu dailies an easy tool to attract Muslims to win their votes. Sometimes they publish their advertisement on the behalf of parties’ minority cells and sometimes on the behalf of Muslim individuals familiar in the community or organizations.
Advertisment by Congress in Qaumi Tanzeem
The ad war in Urdu media shows how much important Muslim votes are for these political parties. But to find the answer to the question as to how much these advertisements impressed Muslim voters, we have to wait till 24th November — the day result of Bihar assembly election will be out.
Advertisment by JD-U in Roznama Rashtriya Sahara