India Shining was a marketing slogan referring to the overall feeling of economic optimism in India in 2004. The slogan was popularized by the then-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2004 Indian general elections.
The slogan initially developed as part of an Indian government campaign intended to promote India internationally. Advertising firm Grey Worldwide won the campaign account in 2003; the slogan and the associated campaign was developed by national creative director Prathap Suthan, in consultation with Finance Minister Jaswant Singh.[1][2] The government spent an estimated $20 million USD of government funds on national television advertisements and newspaper ads featuring the "India Shining" slogan.[3]
Some editorials also suggested that the India Shining campaign was one of the causes for the subsequent defeat of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the 2004 parliamentary elections, particularly in urban areas, the target audience of the campaign.[4][5][6][7]
The negative assessment of the India Shining campaign was echoed after the election by former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who described it as "valid," but "inappropriate for our election campaign... By making them verbal icons of our election campaign, we gave our political opponents an opportunity to highlight other aspects of India's contemporary reality... which questioned our claim."[8][9]
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There has been controversy over the India Shining advertisements as whether the governments, States or Centre are not permitted to use taxpayer’s money to promote any political gain. The BJP government has spent an approximate cost of Rs. 500 crores for the advertisements campaign during 2004 Parliament elections.[10][11]
The India Shining slogan drew criticism from various columnists[12][13][14] and political critics of the ruling National Democratic Alliance government[15][16] for glossing over a variety of social problems, including poverty and social inequality.
The slogan was then used as a central theme in the BJP's campaign for the 2004-05 national elections, a move criticized by the BJP's political opponents, who felt that public money was being used for partisan purposes. In response, the Indian Election Commission banned the slogan's broadcast until after the elections, although BJP politicians continued to use the slogan in other contexts.[2][17][18]
Technically the phrase "Incredible India" refers to the aspects of India which demonstrate its rich culture heritage, places of historical interest, and traditional way of life to foreign tourists. For example Elephanta Caves are "Incredible India" but Dharavi is not. Similarly Taj Mahal is part of "Incredible India" but the city of Agra in general is not Incredible India.
Incredible India is an abstract term for an India without problems, and a country which has not yet westernized itself. Most of Indian television, being repackaged American programming, is again not "Incredible India".
"Incredible India" also refers to the state of mind in which most modern or attempting-to-be-modern Indians consider themselves—Incredible India is without corruption, is an emerging superpower, and is a world player respected and loved everywhere.
India Shining can be commonly heard next to "Incredible India". India Shining stands for commercial development, modernization, and westernization of select pockets of population within India. Theoretically Incredible India and India Shining are not compatible but as we saw during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, some builders and contractors managed to construct new buildings near historical monuments, thus bringing new dispute over what counts as progress.[19]