New Delhi: Topis are everything. Just ask Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wore party caps to the Delhi Assembly session in 2018 — much to the chagrin of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which took it up with the Speaker. Or, more recently, the Samajwadi Party (SP), who turned around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “red topi wale” jibe about their instantly recognisable red caps to “yeh krantikari lal topi (that revolutionary red cap)” during last month’s assembly elections.
Or India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, whose Gandhi cap became synonymous with the man himself.
So much of an identifier is the cap that the BJP is now going out of its way to establish a new cap code for all its official functions.
The BJP’s new cap — an Uttarakhandi-style cap repurposed with the party colours and symbols — made its official debut at the national level at its 42nd Sthapana Divas (Foundation Day) function at the Parliament House Annexe Wednesday, where all MPs of the party were asked to wear it.
It was the same cap that Prime Minister Modi wore at an Ahmedabad roadshow last month to celebrate the party’s electoral victories in four states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa.
“The caps were distributed to all the MPs and ministers,” a senior BJP leader told ThePrint, adding, “Special energy bars were given to the MPs, too, and a picture of PM Modi was printed on the wrapper. To ensure all the MPs wore the same caps, a special order was placed and caps were procured and distributed.”
Some MPs even wore the cap for the BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting in Delhi Tuesday.
The cap was designed and produced in Gujarat’s Surat, a senior party leader said.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sported a similar cap during the Republic Day parade,” the leader said. “Those caps were brought from Uttarakhand to Gujarat after the state assembly elections.”
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The design
Although it retains the horizontal line that the Uttarakhandi cap is known for, changes were introduced to the original design to suit the party — it was made orange with the words ‘BJP’ written on it.
The cap also bears a lotus, the party’s election symbol, prominently on the front part, where a ‘Brahma Kamal’ — a rare Himalayan flower that’s a state symbol of Uttarakhand — would otherwise have been in the Uttarakhandi version, a party functionary said.
The cap is meant to function as a dress code, BJP national spokesperson R.P. Singh told ThePrint.
“Whenever there’s a party function or a programme, everyone will wear this cap,” he said.
The party has never had a uniform cap design before, he added.
“Some used to wear a saffron cap with ‘BJP’ written on it, while others would sport a cap with a lotus imprinted on it,” he said, adding, “The cap will now function like our identity.”
Sources in the party credit Gujarat BJP state president C.R. Patil for having had the cap produced on a mass scale and popularising it during Modi’s visit to his home state on 11 March. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was also seen wearing the cap at the Ahmedabad roadshow.
The sources say orders for more caps have been placed.
Party workers in a number of states including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have already started using the new cap for party programmes.
“The idea behind having a single cap design is to ensure that if a party worker is standing in a sea of people, he’s easily identifiable,” Harshad Patel, district president of the Gandhinagar BJP, told ThePrint. “At the same time, we wanted a design that is simultaneously trendy and traditional and would work with the next generation as well.”
However, another senior party leader pointed out that while MPs were asked to wear the cap during the Foundation Day, so far no directions have been given to sport it at all party functions.
“There is no such direction that has been issued by the party formally that this is the only cap design that one has to wear. If people want, they can certainly wear it,” said the leader.
(Edited By Uttara Ramaswamy)
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