Nepali FM aids poll campaigns The Asian Age, Patna April 11: For people in Bihar’s districts along the Indo-Nepal border, links with the Himalayan republic have been for generations what they call a beti-roti relationship — a deep-rooted rapport based on family ties and livelihood. Now the airwaves of Nepal’s mushrooming FM radio stations are taking these links forward when Bihar is in the throes of the Lok Sabha polls.
FM radio stations in Nepal have come in handy for politicians in Bihar’s border constituencies contesting in the Lok Sabha polls to broadcast their advertisements and ensure their message reaches the voters in these backward places. Such advertising is relatively cheaper for the political parties and voters find them entertaining too. Nearly all major parties in Supaul, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Darbhanga and East Champaran have started using the Nepali FM radio stations for election advertising primarily beca-use of the vast popularity of the radio programmes in these constituencies. Nepali FM stations routinely broadcast programmes in the local languages of these constituencies — Maithili, Vaj-ika and Bhojpuri — apart from their staple Nepali. What’s more, unlike Indian FM radio, Nepali FM stations also broadcast news and they often have stories about Indian affairs. The Nepal government had allowed the country’s FM radio stations to broadcast news in December 2005. A typical election advertisement on the Nepali FM radio stations is in both Maithili and Bhojpuri languages and in the form of a humour-filled conversation often between two sisters-in-law or an old man and a politically aware youth.
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