Gokhale had sought details of government spending on advertisements featuring or promoting the prime minister across all media platforms. The CBC’s response provided a year-wise break-up of expenditure incurred since 2020.
Calling the figures “shocking”, Gokhale claimed that the government spent nearly Rs 338 crore on print advertisements alone during 2025-26.
The RTI response also revealed that with only the first six months of the 2026-27 financial year completed, expenditure on advertisements has already reached Rs 2.76 crore.
However, the CBC declined to disclose the names of advertising agencies and media organisations that received the funds, citing “commercial confidence”. Criticising the decision, Gokhale said taxpayers had a right to know where the money was being spent.
“This is only one agency’s expenditure. It excludes spending by other ministries, public sector undertakings and political party advertisements. The actual figure is much higher,” he alleged.
Targeting the government, the TMC leader said the Centre was willing to spend “thousands of crores of public money” on the Prime Minister’s publicity while withholding details of the beneficiaries.
Gokhale further alleged that the BJP-led government uses government advertising as a tool to influence sections of the media. “When the reward for promoting Modi and the BJP is Rs 2,586 crore, are we surprised that much of the media remains compromised,” he asked.
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