By Edward Luce in New Delhi 

India's opposition Congress party is planning an aggressive campaign to counter a New Delhi publicity blitz called "India Shining" that it says is overtly biased in advance of national elections in April.

Opposition politicians estimate the government of India has spent about $20m (€16.2m, £11.2m) on print, television and radio advertisements in the past five weeks on a controversial campaign whose logo is: "India is shining and you've never had a better time to shine brighter."

The publicity features Indians from all walks of life enjoying the fruits of economic growth. A typical television slot shows a farmer on amotorbike travelling along a new national highway using his mobile telephone.

"These ads are selling the idea that everyone is better off," said Suhel Seth, head of Equus Red Cell, an advertising company. "It is hard to see how they are communicating public information to the citizen."

The drive, which advertising executives say is the largest publicly funded blitz they have seen, is set to spend roughly the same again in the next three weeks in an effort to reach rural areas where most Indians live.

Under election rules, New Delhi will be compelled to end all publicity once the formal polling campaign begins after parliament is dissolved. This is expected to be early February.

"This is a blatant political use of taxpayers' money," said a senior Congress party official. "But we think that people will see through it."

Government officials deny the India Shining campaign is politically motivated and say the costs are well below $10m. They also say the drive is intended to inform Indian citizens of their economic rights.

"This is a publicity campaign which tells people that now is a good time to invest, now is a good time to take out a housing loan and so on," said Deepak Sandhu at the ministry of finance, which is overseeing the campaign. "It is wrong and it is cynical to see it as political."

Media executives say the cost of the campaign is misleading since the government's advertising bureau, the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity, imposes rates between a fifth and a sixth of market levels.

Opposition politicians believe the BJP-led coalition government has become far too complacent about its prospects of re-election in April, which many analysts assume is all but certain. The BJP has trumpeted India's higher growth rates and the sense of growing confidence among consumers and investors.

But large swathes of rural India are experiencing higher food prices. "Most of India lives in the villages and for them life is not shining," said Jairam Ramesh, a senior Congress politician.

Source: Financial Times