In 2004, the Indian men's cricket team toured Pakistan after 15 years. It was a momentous tour, and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is said to have told Sourav Ganguly not just to win games but also win hearts.

The Indian team did both. They won the test and ODI series. On their return home, some of them had to be ushered out of the airport secretly because of the teeming crowds outside.

Sport and politics are closely related in the subcontinent. That tour was conducted to create a feel-good factor of sorts before the general elections. A few months before, the BJP had won state elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh and was on a high. Prime Minister Vajpayee was the only one skeptical of the 'feel-good factor'.

"Jaswant Singh looked at me and said 'there goes your campaign'."

Prathap Suthan, then the National Creative Director of Grey advertising, led the campaign. He says the 'India Shining' campaign was designed for urban India and people with money to spend. It wasn't a campaign for the masses. He narrates an interesting cricket match-related incident: India was playing Australia in an ODI series, and Sehwag was going hammer and tongs. The camera turned to a person in the crowd. And what was he holding? An India Shining ad written by him. In the commentary box, Sunil Gavaskar said (paraphrasing) India is shining, alluding to the campaign slogan. It felt as if everyone in the country was caught up in the fervor.

With wins in three states in the assembly elections, the party made an error. Then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani wanted the India Shining campaign to become the election campaign. This was the beginning of the end. Jaswant Singh, then the external affairs minister, looked at Prathap and said 'there goes your campaign' because he knew it wasn't created for the masses.

"It became a Frankenstein no one could control."

It's hard to control a juggernaut, even if it is heading in the wrong direction. When the Deputy Prime Minister issues an order, it's hard to say no, and the India Shining campaign became the election campaign - something it wasn't intended for. Then came the Aam Aadmi campaign created by Jayshree's team at Leo Burnett which sucked the wind out of the India Shining campaign.

"People were blaming me for the loss."

The BJP made tactical blunders ahead of the polls, beginning with preponing them by six months. The decision to go with a campaign not created for the masses was another blunder. But it's easy to blame the person who created the campaign instead of those in power, and Prathap was at the receiving end of this.

"We believed in the campaigns when working on them.

Both Jayshree and Prathap said they believed in the campaigns fully when working on them. Both of them have been at the receiving end of trolls, and Prathap said he also received threats when working on the campaign. When I asked them if it is important to believe in a political party's ideology before working for them, both said it's important to see it professionally and not get emotionally caught up. Jayshree says even if the BJP had called her, she would have worked on the campaign with a full heart.

Today, Prathap no longer works on political campaigns as he finds it too murky.