As far as ironies go in the political circus of the great Indian democracy, this has to be one of the frontrunners for being the biggest.
Even as the CPI (M) is battling for survival in West Bengal, which once used to be a Left bastion, the party’s mouthpiece, Ganashakti (Bengali) on Thursday carried an image of Narendra Modi all over its front page.
The government of India ad featured a large photograph of PM Modi (all throughout the length of the page) alongside a list of promises fulfillied by the BJP-led government on the occasion of its second anniversary.
Incidentally, Thursday is also the day when Mamata Banerjee takes oath as the CM of West Bengal for the second straight term.
The CPI (M), which had raised many an eyebrow by aligning with the Congress ahead of the recently concluded assembly elections, only managed only 29 seats, less than half of the seats they won when they were first ousted from power.
Government ads have been a subject of controversy recently and also in the past.
Only on Wednesday, there were reports criticising similar front page ads with the face of Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in many newspapers across the country.
Government ads are traditionally the primary revenue source of smaller newspapers in India as they don’t get corporate ads.