FLex Banner is the epitome of this plastic age of politics. The content, its use and message – everything about Flex is emblematic of the changing nature of our public lives. I call this the flexibility of Indian politics.
As you walk across the country in the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY), you cannot help but notice the ubiquity of flex banners, or ‘flax’ in most Indian languages. The sides of the roads are littered with flakes of all shapes and sizes. BJY has contributed to the growing flex economy. But Flex isn’t limited to this trip, or politics in general. Small towns and even rural areas are flooded with advertisements for coaching classes, schools, townships (around NCR), jewelry (in Kerala), garments and what have you. Every shop, even your local barber now has a flex inviting you in.
Flex is cheap, convenient
Politics keeps shaking at every step. Just as kings mark their victories with a monument, political leaders mark their daily routine with flex. Every small inauguration, ceremony or meeting or even a birthday celebration has a flex in the background. You learn about the party hierarchy through a flexible arrangement of images of party leaders. Political ideology must fit into a flexible text. A political leader is his flex image. The English dialect ‘flexing’, as it appears, captures the essence of politics. It’s all about an outside look.
Flex was invented to suit all the requirements of the new political market. It is very cheap at Rs 10 per sq ft or even less. It is faster and more durable than the old style cotton banners. It is cheaper and less cumbersome than metal or fiberglass billboards. It can be dealt with quicker and easier than writing on the wall. It doesn’t stare at you from the wall to remind you of your political affiliation or position last year. Until then your old flex has been recycled as the poor man’s wallpaper or floor mat, to remind him of the usefulness of politics. As the name suggests, a flex provides just the flexibility that Indian politics needs today. No wonder Flex has trounced all its competitors in a way that might be the envy of the BJP.
Flex’s supermarket offers a wide variety. Small, hanging 4″X6″ banners are a thing of the past. We are in the age of giant billboards. Old-style rectangular frames are giving way to flower-shaped flexes. The cut-outs, inspired by South Indian film promotions, are a genre in themselves: single, double, embedded multiples. You get various lighting options, as do textures. If you don’t like gaudy, shiny stuff, you can always go for the matte finish. As is often the case in a supermarket, or in the market place of politeness, you have so much to choose from that you begin to wonder whether the choice matters at all, if there is any real difference between the various products.
Read also: Has the Bharat Jodo Yatra reduced communal anger or is it naive optimism? my take
the messenger is the message
In search of meaning you may look in vain at this garden of flax. The problem is not with flex but with you. After all, meaning lies in the eye of the beholder. In this age of fleeting attention, Flex speaks politics in 10 seconds. Naturally, there is an economy of the text. It’s about the images. the most common form is a painter: Collage of photos. I once counted over 200 photos in one flex! You may wonder if it’s time to reverse the common adage and say that a thousand pictures are worth a word.
it’s because you don’t read the subtle message painter, It follows the iconography of the Hindu calendar art. The presiding deities are carefully arranged in small icons on the top. If you read the sequence of images, you understand the political message of personal and factional loyalty. The protagonist – Rahul Gandhi in the case of most BJU flexes – is large and placed in the centre. The devotees are placed at the bottom with a strategic location for the one who pays for the flex. The embedded cut-out (local leader cut-out inserted inside Deepender Singh Hooda inside Rahul Gandhi) sets out a chain of command. Sometimes, you’ll find signs that attempt to convey a political message. But more often than not, the messenger is the message.
If you wonder whether these flakes serve a purpose other than internal signaling, consider this. In an era when public activity is increasingly confined to TV screens, there are few ways to occupy the public sphere if not mobiles. Flex is a way of announcing your presence on a public platform. A flex is an expression of interest, an application for upcoming elections, a statement of political and factional affiliation. When there’s no party organization that puts your work on the ground, Flex is proof that you exist in politics. A flex is a greeting card, a thank you note, a pamphlet, a notice of action. A flex on the shiny and thin surface of public life bears the inscription of the mighty that is politics in today’s India.
Yogendra Yadav is one of the founders of Jai Kisan Andolan and Swaraj India. He tweeted @_YogendraYadav. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)