With all the brouhaha in UP, there are also new ads on UP on NDTV. I say ads because there are a few, all very skillfully shot, featuring Amitabh Bachhan paying tribute to Uttar Pradesh. Along with making little of UP’s detractors, and pooh-poohing away the possibility of an increase in crime in UP, it also has Bachhan senior mouth the following line : “Agar punarjanm ho mera, to ho Yamuna ke tat par” (If I am reborn, let it be on the banks of the Yamuna).

And well he might, you could say, because he is from UP, isn’t he ? Son of the soil and all that. Who else but him to sally forth and protect UP’s crumbling reputation from it’s detractors ?

Yes, he is from Allahbad. And being from that city, it is to be hoped that he’d know well the condition of present-day Allahbad. And the lamentable condition of UP. He must know that what he seems to advertise in the ad is false. UP is no golden, glorious land. On my last visit to Allahbad, I remember overflowing heaps of trash stacked out in the streets of residential colonies, and when I played back the video of the riverside, it was so grimy, it was as if there was a perpetual fog of dirt everywhere.

It is not to criticize India, UP or Allahbad that I say this, but of genuine regret is this rant born. It is sorrow, how else should I say this ? When you come back to the cities where you were born but where you no longer live, hoping to see some of that desperate poverty alleviated, that stench of clogged nallahs gone, it is depressing to see what the Yadavs (and other politicians) are doing to the country. And then the bigger outrage, they pat themselves on the back for being not worse than the others ?

Coming at such a time, it is very obvious who the ad is targeted at. It’s an attempt to redirect flak, flak which is currently being directed at Mulayam Singh Yadav and Co. These ads remind me of the “Shining India” ads, not so long ago. Was there a shining India ? No. Is there a shining UP ? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Amitabh is now almost a legend. Age, numerous awards and felicitations, and that white beard he sports, have given him authority. We look at him with awe; all that he says must be true. He’s oozing charisma, and he’s very believable when he applauds UP, and berates everyone who dares throw a stone, when living in glass houses. And when you listen to him being so persuasive and so reasonable really, you seem to miss the bigger issue. Admittedly, other states are not models of good governance either, but a whole slew of ads, to just tell you that UP is not worse than the others ? This must be a whole new nadir of incompetency; not only do we give you filthy cities, bad governance, and pervading corruption, we dare advertise the fact that UP is not worse that the other hell-holes on earth ! For Amitabh to stoop to such depths, he must owe Amar Singh big-time.

Such ads. and other print ads. which appear in the media, are wrong becuase they appear only for the self-glorification of some individual or government, and are paid for by that political power/governement (read your taxes and your money). Such false advertising must contain information on the source of the information – who created it and who’s paying for it. This information must be bold and clear, front and center, loud and legible. That’d put Amitabh’s sweet poetry in perspective.