How Sikh community in US wooed fellow Americans, ad for ad
have to be,” Singh recalled saying to each other. And thus was born a national campaign.
The first ads aired in April on CNN, and on MSNBC subsequently, following months of polling Americans on what they knew of Sikhs, scripting the message based on the findings, which were then tested on a larger cohort of Americans.
All of it was done by some of the biggest names in the world of consultancy, marketing and communication. Hart Research Associates, pollsters for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential bid, did the initial polling. AKPD, founded by President Obama’s adviser and chief strategist David Axelrod, did the strategising, and FP1, a firm that had worked with President George W Bush in 2000 and 2004, did the marketing.
They were paid, Singh said, but each of them went much beyond the limits of their contracts, especially Hart and AKPD. Content for their website came from Bill Clinton’s speechwriter, free.
The messaging, Singh said, was focussed on introducing Americans to a religion and a community that coexisted among them but without their understanding and empathy.
And it worked, to a considerable extent. A poll conducted in California’s Central Valley before and after a poll conducted earlier in 2014, captured the contrast — 59% said they know at least something about Sikhs in America, 68% saw Sikhs as good neighbours and 64% saw them as generous and kind. That’s progress but organisers are not giving up, and acknowledge the immensity of the challenge ahead as discrimination continues.
Seventeen-year-old medical aspirant Anita S decided to end her struggle on Friday, a few months after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by her and a few other students against the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET).
The Dalit girl from Ariyalur district, who believed that the newly launched entrance test was detrimental to the interests of students from rural areas, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her home early that morning.
Describing Anita as a “bright and hardworking student”, a relative told mediapersons that her dream was to become a doctor and serve disadvantaged people.
“She would have bagged a seat if the Tamil Nadu government’s admission policy was still being implemented. But the Centre’s move to make NEET compulsory for medical admissions worked against her, and many others too,” he said.
Though Anita had already obtained admission to an engineering college, she decided against taking it because she wanted to become a doctor.
The Dalit student had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 in the Plus Two examinations. However, she lost out on a medical seat because her NEET score was a paltry 86 out of 720 marks.
Her suicide sparked a few protests across Tamil Nadu by student organisations and representatives of Dalit parties.
In Chennai, several students were also taken in to custody over the protests and later released.
The daughter of a daily wage worker, Anita reportedly sank into depression after the Supreme Court dismissed the plea against NEET. Anita and the other petitioners had maintained that they be allowed to take admissions as per the Tamil Nadu government’s policy because students from rural schools will not be able to compete against their urban counterparts.
AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi blamed both the central and state governments for Anita’s suicide.