Surfing the net today is crazy.

Wherever there is ADsense, there seems to be ADvani, promoting/projecting himself as the next PM. Whatever site I go to has Advani’s picts, messages, domain name plastered on it.

Advani / the BJP are the actually the first in India to cash in on a burgeoning media called the internet. Hate ‘em, Love ‘em, you have to see them at least once before you block ‘em. Sites ranging from the tacky to the pure click-through have recorded Advani’s footprints. Sites related, non related, contextual or not, are seeing the results of what is probably the BIGGEST keyword purchase from India for quite a while. Why, even Paki sites promote Advani as PM.

And why not? I remember reading someplace that Rs. 230 Cr. have been earmarked for the Advani as PM ad campaign. Safely assuming that 10% of this is spent on online advtg, its is a WHOPPING Rs 23 Cr campaign. Or roughly, $5M USD spend. And obviously, adsense is going berserk in deciding where you’re coming from, before showing you ads earmarked locationally for you.

All links lead to lkadvani.in, a cleverly designed joomla implementation. The team that has designed this and the content team thats handling regular updation and interactivity seems to be doing a pretty good job. Also the site is doing pretty well in terms of eyeballs, posts and so on. What’s more, the site reveals a well networked presence into YouTube, FB and Orkut and of course Advani’s own Blog.

The flip side is that the orkut interface is cartoonish, and shows a frog and a beetle. Also, The BJP’s site falls FLAT in terms of design, content and interactivity when compared to Advani’s site.

It seems to everyone, that this is just an aping of Obama’s online campaign, where he managed to garner HUGE funds and support. Sadly, I find that the campaign managers here, have not really looked at various aspects that Obama’s team did.

India Elections 2009, Future PM of India, Advani, and even Advani for PM refuse to throw up the site in Google. And terms like Prime Ministerial Candidate return not the site, but a sub-domain, thats Advani’s Blog.

The bottomlime

Advani is 81, as of last November. Come this Nov, he’ll be 82. And while his enthusiasm energy and ambition are laudable, one ponders whether one would want a Prime Minister so far advanced in years. And more importantly, when a mandatory retirement age is fixed at 60 for Govt Services, HOW can our constituion ever uphold anyone beyond that age becoming even a MINISTER, leave alone a Prime Minister?

The AD spends are fine, probably, “the wider seen is the more subscribed to” funda that drives adverts might work out in Advani’s favour. But I don’t think his age will. Its time for him to actually rest and mentor youth in the BJP, and not to push himself to the forefront. Its time for him to draft plans, policies, strategies that only he can in terms of the capability that his experience has gotten him.

Ad-vaani or no, I say NO to Advani as PM. I say YES to a Jetley or a Sushma Swaraj.