New Delhi: “Safai karmchariyon ka poora dhyaan, BJP ne dilaya haq aur samman (the BJP took care of sanitation staff, gave them due respect and proper)”.
“Corona mein poori nishtha se kiya kaam (labored with full dedication through the Covid pandemic)”.
These are a few the Bharatiya Janata Occasion’s (BJP) marketing campaign slogans for the Municipal Company of Delhi (MCD) elections, scheduled to be held subsequent month. Are they speaking about work achieved by the civic physique, which the social gathering has helmed for 15 years? Not precisely — they’re really referring to the Union authorities’s work underneath Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
That is turning out to be the central theme of the BJP marketing campaign, even because it appears unlikely that the PM will marketing campaign in a municipal election.
Whereas the opposition has accused the BJP of focussing on Modi as a result of a scarcity of achievements on the native stage, Vikram Mittal, from the Delhi BJP’s media relations division, instructed ThePrint that it was pure for the state unit to incorporate the PM in all its marketing campaign materials.
“Modi ji is the face of the social gathering. The choices he took on the Union stage have additionally affected Delhi, so we naturally want to spotlight that through the campaigning as properly. The ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makaan (wherever there’s a jhuggi we could have a constructing there)’ was an initiative by the Centre, so the PM’s face needs to be there,” he stated.
Mittal’s phrases had been echoed by Virendra Sachdeva, vice chairman of the social gathering’s Delhi unit, who referred to as Modi the BJP’s “model ambassador”.
“He’s a particularly in style chief and we take satisfaction in showcasing him within the marketing campaign. We would like his mannequin to achieve increasingly folks. The est of us are karyakartas (staff); the BJP has just one chief and he’s Narendra Modi,” stated Sachdeva.
The BJP has been in energy within the MCD since 2007. This consists of its rule over the three separate firms into which the civic physique was cut up between 2012 and 2022.
It was the Congress authorities in Delhi, underneath former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, which had trifurcated the MCD in 2012, into the North Delhi Municipal Company (NDMC), the South Delhi Municipal Company (SDMC) and the East Delhi Municipal Company (EDMC). The three had been re-unified by the BJP-led Union authorities earlier this yr.
This yr’s battle for the MCD appears to be pitched between the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP), with the previous leaving no stone unturned to achieve a march over its rival.
Whereas AAP has used Delhi CM and social gathering nationwide convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s face on its posters, the Congress is reminiscent of the work of the Sheila Dikshit authorities within the nationwide capital. Dikshit was Delhi CM from 1998 to 2013.
Additionally learn: Modi’s brainchild, BJP’s Pasmanda Muslim ‘experiment’ faces check in Delhi civic polls
Poster-boy Modi
Whereas the BJP has acquired social gathering chief ministers from throughout many states to marketing campaign for the MCD elections, Modi stays the poster boy even in these campaigns.
On Sunday, at the least 4 BJP chief ministers — Himanta Biswa Sarma of Assam, Manohar Lal Khattar of Haryana, Jairam Thakur of Himachal Pradesh and Pushkar Singh Dhami of Uttarakhand — campaigned for social gathering candidates in Delhi. Extra senior leaders are anticipated to affix the marketing campaign within the coming days, in line with BJP leaders.
However posters put up by the social gathering characteristic three faces — that of Modi, BJP nationwide president J.P. Nadda, and Adesh Gupta, president of the social gathering’s Delhi unit. The PM’s face is displayed extra prominently than the opposite two.
The BJP’s vachan patra (manifesto) for the MCD polls options not simply Modi’s photograph, however particulars of his flagship ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makaan‘,” scheme. Different Union authorities schemes believed to have benefitted the folks of Delhi (such because the cleansing of the Yamuna) are additionally being publicised as a part of the marketing campaign.
Modi’s identify options greater than 50 occasions within the social gathering’s marketing campaign track. Compared, the names of Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, former president Manoj Tiwari and MP Gautam Gambhir seem about a few occasions every within the six-minute video.
Modi’s overseas visits, his presence at varied inauguration ceremonies, the PM washing the toes of sanitation staff in 2019 — as “Modi ka dharam hello seva hai (service is Modi’s faith)” performs within the background — are some highlights of the video. A line within the marketing campaign track additionally credit the PM for the distribution of Covid vaccines.
The marketing campaign additionally offers credit score to the Union authorities and former Lieutenant Common (L-G) of Delhi Anil Baijal for the cleansing of a 3-km stretch of the Yamuna, and the distribution of rations through the Covid-induced lockdown.
Vans that had been a part of 14 roadshows held within the nationwide capital underneath Nadda Sunday, carried massive hoardings with the PM’s face together with the tagline “sewa hello vichaar, nahi khokhle prachaar (service is the one thought, not empty guarantees)”.
The social gathering can be planning nukkad nataks, flash mobs and performances by native rock bands to achieve younger voters, stated Impreet Singh Bakshi, a Delhi BJP chief.. The content material will give attention to exposing the alleged shortcomings of the AAP authorities in Delhi, he added.
In line with the chief, 63 drama corporations had been auditioned up to now months and 28 had been chosen to carry out over 2,500 performs on eight-ten totally different governance-related themes within the 250 wards of Delhi.
The performers are aged between 18 and 30 years, he added.
“These will give attention to the MCD’s achievements, the companies that the MCD has offered in previous years and what extra it will do for the folks of Delhi. Seventy per cent of the content material will give attention to Delhi BJP’s achievements within the MCD, the remaining 30 per cent will give attention to Kejriwal and the rampant corruption within the Delhi authorities and its schemes,” claimed Bakshi.
The performances — performs, rock band exhibits and flash mobs — are scheduled to begin Wednesday, he stated.
‘No native achievements’
On Monday, BJP Delhi basic secretary Dinesh Pratap Singh was seen driving a motorcycle adorned with a cutout of Modi’s face in entrance throughout a rally in Ghonda, North-East Delhi.
Whereas Congress leaders have alleged that the BJP has been focussing on Modi as a result of it doesn’t have any achievements on the native stage to point out, Delhi BJP spokesperson Pooja Suri stated, “We’re all working unanimously for the betterment of the folks of Delhi. There are a lot of succesful leaders within the state”.
She added that Modi’s insurance policies are all insurance policies for improvement, and his face must be utilized in any a part of the nation, not simply in MCD elections. “We wish to inform the world how good his insurance policies have been, and promote the truth that we try to implement his insurance policies on floor.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Anil Kumar Chaudhary questioned, nevertheless, “whether or not Modi ji (will) stay the PM of the nation or develop into MCD mayor”.
“They had been within the MCD for the previous 15 years. They’ve remodeled it into the ‘most corrupt division’. Now they do press conferences on points that don’t have any relation with the MCD,” stated Chaudhary.
He added: “We’re utilizing the photograph of our revered leaders who made Delhi what it’s right now,” referring to Dikshit.
The BJP had beforehand used the PM’s face in its marketing campaign for the 2017 MCD elections. After the social gathering emerged triumphant , House Minister Amit Shah credited Modi for the victory and stated it had solely reaffirmed the extent of acceptance for the PM’s management.
AAP chief Gopal Rai echoed the Congress’s allegations Monday, telling ThePrint on the sidelines of a rally in Maujpur-Babarpur that “the BJP’s MCD mayors don’t have any achievements to their credit score, so that they should ask for votes displaying photos of Modi”.
He added: “If that they had really achieved some work, they might not have to do that shoshebaazi (drama).”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Additionally learn: ‘Liquor rip-off, bribes’ — how BJP’s Santhosh plotted ‘anti-graft’ MCD ballot marketing campaign towards AAP