We’ve been fed, almost force-fed, images and news of the much wronged-against residents of Campa Cola compound in Worli, Mumbai, who were living on illegally-built floors there. Debates at prime-time, photo-spreads of residents wearing Save Campa Cola t-shirts, pictures of them barricading the gates to not allow the demolition crews in — name it and we’ve seen it.

The “first phase” of the demolition of the Campa Cola compound –which began on June 23 after the residents finally “gave in” — is still in process. “It is taking time to cut the water pipelines as we have to tread carefully to ensure we cut only the ones supplying water to the illegal flats; also these pipes are hard to access making it more time-consuming”, said the deputy municipal commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Anand Wagaralkar.

In a span of two days, another demolition took place. That of a slum on the banks of the Yamuna in north-east Delhi on June 25. A demolition that has left almost 2,000 people homeless, including about 200 children. Yet, it has hardly been reported on by the media. And unlike its counterpart – the BMC – the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) did not face any difficulty in demolishing the slum. They were clinical – they came in at around 11am and by the time they left at around 1pm whatever pretensions the 2,000-odd people in the slum had of having roofs over their heads was well and truly gone.

“The DDA came in with bulldozers on June 25. We tried convincing them to give us some time at least, but they simply wouldn’t relent”, said Ravinder, who represents an NGO that has been helping run a school in the slum.  Residents claim that they were given no prior notice. “An eviction notice was given on December 13, but since that was just before the elections, a politician interfered and got it stayed”, said Jamal Ahmad, the pradhan of the slum.

The process for their counterparts in Mumbai has been much more unhurried. The BMC had first served a notice to the residents for Floor Space Index (FSI) violation way back in 2002. The Supreme Court’s first demolition order came 11 years later in February 2013, which allowed the residents five months to vacate. In November, the same year, the Supreme Court extended relief for another six months – which ended this month.  That effectively makes it 12 years of relief for what are fundamentally illegal constructions.

But how can one compare a residential colony in a posh south Mumbai neighbourhood to a slum in a relatively non-“posh” part of Delhi? And after all, the Campa Cola residents have earned the attention, as one of them pointed out in an impassioned open letter written in response to an Indian Express report. Too bad the slum dwellers can’t write letters to newspapers and ensure that they get published.

Also, it helps to garner sympathy – and more importantly media attention – when you have a public relations agency working tirelessly for your cause. That is exactly what Concept PR, a Mumbai-based PR firm, did in Campa Cola’s case. Concept PR, according to its website, believes “perception is that force that moves various publics to accept or reject a Corporate, Product and/or Brand…. Resulting in influencing the conversations about you across media environments”. And it sure did influence conversations across media environments.

According to a detailed case study available on its website the day after the “first phase” of demolition began, the brief was to “generate heightened media focus to carry their voice across the length and breadth of Mumbai and later the Nation and impact influencers”. And how would they achieve that?  Here goes:

• Create a war room like set-up that enabled 24X7 monitoring, dedicated senior resources operated as thought leaders.
• Young team put together for round the clock monitoring and to manage media across platforms – Electronic, Print, Social, Radio, Outdoor and Cinema Halls. Relevant and impactful content had to be developed on regular basis.
• Ensure quick turnaround for all media queries.

Additionally, a part of the strategy was also to provide a “continuous feed of content/headlines to media” and “ensuring media spotlight at all critical junctures”. One of the crucial junctures mentioned (according to the website) is when the residents moved the Supreme Court, seeking more time.  Which clearly was a very good move – considering the airtime it got during that period. The case study notes that phase as the “October Impact”. The October Impact enlists the following achievements:

• Massive media response, across local, regional and national channels (print and electronic)
• The continuous live coverage of the demolition deadline resulted in Supreme Court giving further reprieve till Nov. 12th, 2013.
• Senior leaders from across parties both National and Regional, became the face of the residents’ cause and added their weight behind them.

As is evident, the PR strategy paid off. A simple custom search in the websites of the leading news channels shows that the media was more than responsive.  NDTV’s website features 25 video reports and 26 articles on the subject. Times Now has 17 news reports in addition to a prime-time debate on the Newshour. A custom search on the CNN-IBN and Headlines Today websites throws up more than 30 results each. The latter even debated the issue in its primetime show last week.

A similar exercise when one changes the keywords to “North Delhi Slum Demolished” yielded very contrasting results, though. None of the aforementioned news channels ran a full report on the demolition of the slum in Delhi (some of them did run a ticker for a few fleeting seconds on June 25).  Among the national dailies, only The Times of India carried a substantial report.

Why were the slum dwellers in Delhi not extended the same leeway and time to vacate by municipal authorities as they were in Mumbai? A DDA official speaking to Newslaundry said encroachments such as the slum in question need not be given prior notice. “They have only settled there in the last year or so, so we don’t need to notify them. But I believe they were intimated a day or two before on humanitarian grounds”, she said.  There are also no rehabilitation schemes for settlements like this slum, as it does not figure on the list of 690 identified JJ clusters under the DDA’s purview. Which essentially means the slum and its inhabitants don’t even officially exist.

Residents of the slum, however, furiously contested that claim. “We have been living here for more than 20 years. Now that the elections are over, they claim we never existed”, grumbled an old man before letting out a whole range of expletives and exhibiting a documentary proof to support his claim. Most of the voter ID cards, ration cards and gas connection documents Newslaundry examined, date back to as far as 2001, and had the same address where the slum, or rather the remnants of it, now stood.

It speaks volumes about the administration of a state, that identification papers are given to people on an address that is considered illegal. But that’s a story for another day.

The pradhan Jamal Ahmad tried meeting Lt Governor Najeeb Jung last week, but was told by his secretary to come back later. The Campa Cola residents were slightly luckier. Newspapers reported that Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan has “showed willingness” to find a possible way to regularise the illegal flats to avoid “a possible backlash” during the forthcoming Assembly elections. It’s always good to see that our netas have the big picture in mind while acting on illegalities.

For the PR agency, it’s a definite job well done – which we’ve been told is the way of referring to a campaign that goes off smoothly. After all, all their key deliverables have been met. The idea to have the “entire national media present, giving minute to minute coverage of the dramatic action on d-day as BEST cut off power supply and bull dozers positioned themselves” was executed to perfection. The media played to Concept PR and the residents’ tune – and did exactly as they desired and wanted. Whether willingly or unwillingly, it matters not.

Even by the most moderate estimates, the number of people rendered homeless by the demolition in Delhi is around twice the number as in the Campa Cola compound.  Which is assuming that people will be “homeless” as a result of the eviction in the Campa Cola compound. Numbers, you’re taught in journalism school, are instrumental to a story. But clearly, it also helps to have a PR agency on-board to show the right numbers to the media for them to decide which demolition is newsworthy and which isn’t.