New Delhi: The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to make changes to its publicity campaign for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, with the focus now mainly on the digital campaign.
To ensure that the party’s virtual and e-rallies reach a maximum number of people, the party has decided to rope in around 150 odd ‘digital raths’, which will have a large LED screen mounted atop vehicles to carry out a live telecast of the rallies.
The party, which is known for its high-tech campaign and publicity, will station these digital raths at strategic places so that maximum number of people will be able to listen to the speeches of senior BJP leaders.
“As far as the virtual campaign is concerned, we are trying to ensure people with smartphones and internet connection will be able to watch the rallies and follow the speeches of our leaders online. But in Bihar, many areas do not have good internet connections, and many people in rural areas also do not have smartphones,” said a BJP functionary from Bihar.
“So these digital raths will come handy. At the same time they will also travel across, and a musical group is also likely to be present on these raths that will sing patriotic songs,” said the functionary.
The move was discussed at the party’s management committee meeting Wednesday, said a source in the party.
Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey is responsible for the management committee while the campaign committee is headed by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai. However, they have not been officially announced, said the source.
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What the raths will do
As a part of the campaign, the raths will display the works of the central and Bihar government on the screens.
“All the raths will carry BJP’s slogan ‘Bhajapa hai taiyaar Atmanirbhar Bihar’. We are likely to have at least one digital rath for each of the assembly seats from where our candidates will contest the assembly elections. Senior BJP leaders had inspected the rath in the BJP office on Wednesday,” said a second party functionary in Bihar.
The move comes after several party leaders raised concerns over the fact that many voters are being left out as they don’t have a smartphone even as the BJP had decided to use virtual rallies to connect with people.
“The issue was flagged and the party started looking at other alternatives and digital rath is aimed at addressing that. At the same time, BJP workers have also been told to conduct nukkad meetings with 10 people at a time to maintain social distancing,” added the second functionary.
To get feedback on the seats the BJP is likely to contest, the party had set up a team under which each state functionary from Bihar BJP was given the task of reviewing 12 assembly segments.
“These reports have been submitted regarding voter feedback, the issues that are important and what they think about the present MLA. The senior leaders will now discuss it at their level,” said the source quoted above.
“We have already requested the Election Commission to relax the norms for the use of digital raths and vehicles that will be used for campaigning. Even as physical rallies will be allowed it involves a lot of work and can’t be organised on the same scale as was done traditionally. So a digital campaign is crucial for the party,” said the first BJP functionary.
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