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Flash mobs, rock concerts & the headliner, Modi — PM’s policies focus of BJP’s MCD campaign

While BJP leaders say 'Modi ji is the face of the party', Congress & AAP accuse them of resorting to PM's name because they don't have any work to show at local level.

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New Delhi: “Safai karmchariyon ka poora dhyaan, BJP ne dilaya haq aur samman (the BJP took care of sanitation workers, gave them due respect and right)”.

Corona mein poori nishtha se kiya kaam (worked with complete dedication during the Covid pandemic)”.

These are a couple of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign slogans for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, scheduled to be held next month. Are they talking about work done by the civic body, which the party has helmed for 15 years? Not exactly — they’re actually referring to the Union government’s work under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This is turning out to be the central theme of the BJP campaign, even as it seems unlikely that the PM will campaign in a municipal election.

While the opposition has accused the BJP of focussing on Modi due to a lack of achievements at the local level, Vikram Mittal, from the Delhi BJP’s media relations department, told ThePrint that it was natural for the state unit to include the PM in all its campaign material.

“Modi ji is the face of the party. The decisions he took at the Union level have also affected Delhi, so we naturally need to highlight that during the campaigning as well. The ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makaan (wherever there is a jhuggi we will have a building there)’ was an initiative by the Centre, so the PM’s face has to be there,” he said.

Mittal’s words were echoed by Virendra Sachdeva, vice president of the party’s Delhi unit, who called Modi the BJP’s “brand ambassador”.

“He is an extremely popular leader and we take pride in showcasing him in the campaign. We want his model to reach more and more people. The est of us are karyakartas (workers); the BJP has only one leader and he is Narendra Modi,” said Sachdeva.

The BJP has been in power in the MCD since 2007. This includes its rule over the three separate corporations into which the civic body was split between 2012 and 2022.

It was the Congress government in Delhi, under former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, which had trifurcated the MCD in 2012, into the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC). The three were re-unified by the BJP-led Union government earlier this year.

This year’s battle for the MCD seems to be pitched between the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with the former leaving no stone unturned to gain a march over its rival.

While AAP has used Delhi CM and party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s face on its posters, the Congress is harking back to the work of the Sheila Dikshit government in the national capital. Dikshit was Delhi CM from 1998 to 2013.


Also read: Modi’s brainchild, BJP’s Pasmanda Muslim ‘experiment’ faces test in Delhi civic polls


Poster-boy Modi

While the BJP has got party chief ministers from across many states to campaign for the MCD elections, Modi remains the poster boy even in those campaigns.

On Sunday, at least four 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 party candidates in Delhi. More senior leaders are expected to join the campaign in the coming days, according to BJP leaders.

But posters put up by the party feature three faces — that of Modi, BJP national president J.P. Nadda, and Adesh Gupta, president of the party’s Delhi unit. The PM’s face is displayed more prominently than the other two.

The BJP’s vachan patra (manifesto) for the MCD polls features not just Modi’s photo, but details of his flagship ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makaan‘,” scheme. Other Union government schemes believed to have benefitted the people of Delhi (such as the cleaning of the Yamuna) are also being publicised as part of the campaign.

Modi’s name features more than 50 times in the party’s campaign song. In comparison, the names of Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, former president Manoj Tiwari and MP Gautam Gambhir appear about a couple of times each in the six-minute video.

Modi’s foreign visits, his presence at various inauguration ceremonies, the PM washing the feet of sanitation workers in 2019 — as “Modi ka dharam hi seva hai (service is Modi’s religion)” plays in the background  — are some highlights of the video. A line in the campaign song also credits the PM for the distribution of Covid vaccines.

The campaign also gives credit to the Union government and former Lieutenant General (L-G) of Delhi Anil Baijal for the cleaning of a 3-km stretch of the Yamuna, and the distribution of rations during the Covid-induced lockdown.

A BJP billboard | By special arrangement
A BJP billboard | By special arrangement

Trucks that were part of 14 roadshows held in the national capital under Nadda Sunday, carried big hoardings with the PM’s face along with the tagline “sewa hi vichaar, nahi khokhle prachaar (service is the only thought, not empty promises)”.

The party is also planning nukkad nataks, flash mobs and performances by local rock bands to reach young voters, said Impreet Singh Bakshi, a Delhi BJP leader.. The content will focus on exposing the alleged shortcomings of the AAP government in Delhi, he added.

According to the leader, 63 drama companies were auditioned in the past months and 28 were selected to perform over 2,500 plays on eight-ten different governance-related themes in the 250 wards of Delhi.

The performers are aged between 18 and 30 years, he added.

“These will focus on the MCD’s achievements, the services that the MCD has provided in past years and what more it is going to do for the people of Delhi. Seventy per cent of the content will focus on Delhi BJP’s achievements in the MCD, the rest 30 per cent will focus on Kejriwal and the rampant corruption in the Delhi government and its schemes,” claimed Bakshi.

The performances — plays, rock band shows and flash mobs — are scheduled to start Wednesday, he said.

‘No local achievements’

On Monday, BJP Delhi general secretary Dinesh Pratap Singh was seen riding a bike adorned with a cutout of Modi’s face in front during a rally in Ghonda, North-East Delhi.

While Congress leaders have alleged that the BJP has been focussing on Modi because it doesn’t have any achievements at the local level to show, Delhi BJP spokesperson Pooja Suri said, “We are all working unanimously for the betterment of the people of Delhi. There are many capable leaders in the state”.

She added that Modi’s policies are all policies for development, and his face should be used in any part of the nation, not just in MCD elections. “We want to tell the world how good his policies have been, and promote the fact that we are trying to implement his policies on ground.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Anil Kumar Chaudhary questioned, however, “whether Modi ji (will) remain the PM of the country or become MCD mayor”.

“They were in the MCD for the past 15 years. They have transformed it into the ‘most corrupt department’. Now they do press conferences on issues that have no relation with the MCD,” said Chaudhary.

He added: “We are using the photo of our respected leaders who made Delhi what it is today,” referring to Dikshit.

The BJP had previously used the PM’s face in its campaign for the 2017 MCD elections. After the party emerged triumphant , Home Minister Amit Shah credited Modi for the victory and said it had only reaffirmed the level of acceptance for the PM’s leadership.

AAP leader 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 have no achievements to their credit, so they have to ask for votes showing pictures of Modi”.

He added: “If they had actually done some work, they would not have to do this shoshebaazi (drama).”

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)


Also read: ‘Liquor scam, bribes’ — how BJP’s Santhosh plotted ‘anti-graft’ MCD poll campaign against AAP


 

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