Before campaigning for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections came to an end on Friday, the sound of loudspeakers echoed in a market in Kotla Mubarakpur.
Campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a group of six persons with a dafli (handheld drum) shouted “aao aao, natak dekho”. They called out to people to watch a street play or “nukkad natak”.
Many passersby, shop owners and daily wagers gathered, as the lead actor — wearing a scarf and pretending to be Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal — asked his “aide”, played by another actor, to list out what he had given to Delhi. “I won’t tell but show you what you’ve given,” replied the aide.
A woman actor entered the scene, coughing and complaining about pollution, to which her “father” replied, “Ever since he [Mr. Kejriwal] has become the CM, there is only pradooshan, pradooshan, pradooshan [pollution] everywhere. When will he take action?” The lead actor jumped it, saying, “We will take action when there is an election.”
Over 2,000 plays
As part of the party’s outreach for the MCD elections, various teams of BJP volunteers performed ‘nukkad nataks’ across the national capital.
“We have done over 2,000 plays and the artistes on their own have put on at least 1,000 performances,” said Naveen Bharadwaj, a theatre and film director who coordinated the party’s street play campaign.
Featured prominently in these plays were also initiatives to appeal to the Hindutva interests, such as the revocation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by the BJP-led Centre.
The plays also took aim at Mr. Kejriwal, “exposing the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government’s failures”, and informed the public of the development work undertaken by the BJP-Central government and the MCD.
Raj Kumar Jain, a sweetshop owner in Kotla Mubarakpur, said that he found the play to be a better way of campaigning than rallies and roadshows which, he said, created too much noise. “I also understood many topics covered in the play despite the constant honking on the road,” he said, while giving an edge to the BJP in the polls.
However, Poonam and Rekha, who watched the ‘natak’ as they waited for their children’s school bus, said it made “no impact as we already know whom to vote for”.
