The latest edition of India Today includes a 24-page yogi government advertising feature with no express disclaimer

The latest issue of India Today magazine, Aug. 2, is 98 pages with a thick 24-page ad section devoted to the miracle of the Yogi government. The run-up to the parliamentary elections in Uttar Pradesh will certainly put some pressure on the media organizations when it comes to advertising revenue.

The magazine does not make it clear, page by page, that the 24 pages are advertisements. The only disclaimer is that little box on the content page. You will also see the word “focus” in the upper right corner of Karma Yogi.

That being said, one would have to be a very discerning reader to notice the scriptural difference between India Today’s journalism and the ads for the UP government.

The advertising feature addresses Adityanath’s “commitment, commitment and vision” in the fight against the second wave of Covid. Not only that, as the whole nation prepares for a third wave, we are told that UP has “succeeded in neutralizing the third wave”.

If you want to get a feel for how Uttar Pradesh actually performed on testing, check out the detailed in-depth analysis by Vivek Kaul and Chintan Patel here. Kaul and Chintan conclude that Uttar Pradesh’s test result data fails the basic odor test.

But more about the India Today ad: We’ve been told that women are staying safe in the state thanks to anti-conversion laws. Oddly enough, the state’s Hindutva activists’ war against interfaith marriages found no place for pride in this segment. For a full list of yogi’s accomplishments, there is a nifty selective investigation into why Uttar Pradesh is Numero Uno. In our opinion, the greatest achievement is that UP has established itself as the “first country” in the tiny state of India.

For the record, UP isn’t the only state tending to spend taxpayers’ money to praise its accomplishments. There’s the Congressional government in Chhattisgarh which spent nearly Rs 200 billion on government advertising between January 2019 and June 2021. Arvind Kejriwal’s government has also been charged with spending Rs 800 billion on advertising and publicity over the past two years.