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Wednesday, Apr 01, 2009
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BJP makes its point through street artistes

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: It was a live performance by street artistes at the BJP office here on Tuesday, and a far cry from the local trains in Mumbai where they would sing their numbers to entertain commuters and earn a few paise to be able to eat a hot meal at night.

Little Durga looked barely 10 years old and with her were Raminder and Nagarjun. With castanets, a harmonium and a tambourine, they sung to the tune of ‘Jai Ho,’ the theme song of Slumdog Millionaire, but gave it a political twist to send the message that in fact there was nothing much for the poor to celebrate as they lived in fear for their lives and fear of not being able to buy their next meal.

It was ‘Bhay Ho’ — fear, which dominated their lives, and nothing much to celebrate with a ‘Jai Ho.’

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley, who is in-charge of the party’s publicity and campaign for the election, said that they had been able to put together wonderful ditties featuring Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan, the rivals of the party and its alliance partner, the JD(U) for the Bihar campaign.

Kaka ki suniye, desh hit chuniye, Bharatiya Janata Party, mazboot neta nirnayak sarkar’ is how several other ditties for the radio end. The message is: “Listen to the voice of ‘Kaka.’ [Uncle, but also a reference to the popular rural singer of the cow belt, Kaka Hathrasi.] Elect the BJP in the interest of the country; strong leader, decisive government.”

What is especially appealing about the campaign is that it has some humour and makes its political points directly, but not aggressively.

And certainly, with the lesson of 2004 engraved in their brains, the BJP is out to woo not the upper elite and middle-class “shining India” voter, but the ‘aam admi’ of the Congress .

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