By Avik Chattopadhyay
On the 6th of May, the new monarch of England held up a sceptre.
On the 28th of May, the reigning prime minister of India raised one too.
Reminded me of a poem by Yeats aptly titled ‘The great day’ that goes…
Hurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot!
A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot.
Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again!
The beggars have changed places, but the lash goes on.
Symbolism is very important in communication and strategy. When employed, at every event planning meeting, the key question used to be, “What will be the showstopper?”. Basically, our bosses used to ask us how we would make the event memorable enough for the employees or network partners to make it a talking point, a differentiator and a motivator for them to carry on with the task for one more year. This used to be the toughest bit of the event as everything else was almost the same as any competitor would do. This is where creativity would play a role, along with the ability to execute it. On occasions, the proposals were so audacious that the bosses would ask us to ‘take it easy’. But on those rare moments when the boss smacked his/ her lips and asked us to go ahead, it did end up creating the desired impact right then and the ripple effect for long afterwards.
Event management is one of the toughest asks for anyone in marketing and brand management. That is why it has its own tribe of domain experts. Every event is contextual. There is an event purpose and an event objective. The two should never be mixed. The former is the long-term aim of the task while the latter has a more here-and-now role. The purpose of every annual dealer conference for an automaker is to relive, reinvigorate, recognise and recharge the network partners in the collective mission of maintaining market leadership. The objective for a specific year could be to improve service profitability, work on customer retention and focus on hybrids and CNG while the competition talks of electrification. The purpose is to carry forward the vision. The objective is to specifically focus and divert attention.
And the balance is crucial. One cannot be sacrificed at the altar of the other.
And that is what makes the raising of the sceptre so impactful in the context of Brand India.
We consciously gave up some symbols 75 years ago. And we deliberately did not want to incorporate some either. The Constitution was chosen as the symbol of a new brand called India. A symbol that painstakingly incorporated the best from the world to stand for a nation that was a new benchmark for a war-traumatised, colonial world for how to attain self-determination and independence while preserving one’s self-respect. The Preamble was not just the first page but the essence of this symbol that represented Brand India.
562 kings, nawabs and princes were brought under the single umbrella of Brand India in 1947-48. Nehru had declared in May 1947 that any ruler who did not join the Constituent Assembly will be considered an enemy of new India. Jodhpur negotiated for a ‘better deal’ with Pakistan. Junagadh had actually joined Pakistan but brought back. Kashmir and Hyderabad had decided to be independent. While the tiny Piploda, a total of 155 sq kms. in the Malwa region, took time till March 1948 to join. Finally, monarchy was formally out. The foreign as well as the local. Though the mindset of “hukum”, “maaibaap” and “ji huzoor” could not be wiped out, a conscious effort was made not to visually keep any symbols of monarchy especially when the nation chose ‘democracy’.
There have been good monarchs for sure in the annals of time but they have been so as exceptions. They chose to be good and so have been recorded in history as good. It was not by the choice of the people or even their circle of ministers. Ashok was ‘great’ because he chose to. So did Akbar and Rajaraja Chola. People did not demonstrate, carry a procession or submit a representation asking any of them to be benevolent despots. That is why in a 4000 year history of this land we have so few monarchs who have been collectively applauded by historians and sociologists as “great”. That is why as a new nation we consciously chose the “Dharma Chakra” from the Ashokan edict to be part of our national flag and the Lion Capital of Sarnath as our national emblem, both acts that I have always felt are improper and disrespectful of the Constitution.
Democracy has no room for choosing to be good. At least theoretically. The representative is expected to be good, trustworthy, ethical and beneficial for his / her constituency. And the electorate always has the last word. Democracy is a fundamental pillar of Brand India. It has no room for any trait of monarchy creeping in, either in person or a product. If the Constitution as the conscience keeper of the brand abhors it, it has to be complied with.
But even after 75 years of “independence”, we ‘rule’ and do not ‘govern’. The popular Sanskrit term used for the practice is “Raaj-niti” and not “Shaasan-niti”. Or not simply “Sushaasan”. Even the epitome of good rule has been termed and popularised as “Ram Rajya” and not the example of the Vajjika League of 6th century BC. The beggar has changed, as Yeats lamented, but the lashing continues.
So, after 75 years, when our last, and possibly most brutal, coloniser was having debates about the relevance of monarchy in today’s England, with some even openly protesting about the entire coronation circus, we, its crown jewel, whipped out a symbol of monarchy and brandished it before the country and the world as an act of reaffirmation of our civilizational heritage.
562 monarchs were removed in 1947 by the will power of a new democracy.
543 representatives of the same democracy brought monarchy back 75 years later.
As Tagore had described the British rule as, “Boniker mandondo pohale sarbari dyakha dilo raajdondo rupey.” [as the dark night ended, the trader’s weighing scale transformed into the ruler’s sceptre], we possibly are being part of some of the most exciting times in the timeline of Brand India, where showstoppers and symbols take centrestage to the joy of the event-hungry millions while a handful of sceptics look on!