India’s prime minister Narendra Modi is adept at performing stunts. To strengthen his electoral position, he carried out “surgical strikes” that Pakistan treats as a hoax. He understands that India’s gullible voter takes his slogans at face value. That is to say without “a pinch of salt”.
At India’s 75th Independence Day, Modi asked the people to make five resolves to be achieved in next 25 years. These include “inculcating a culture of thinking big”, “shun desire to seek foreign validation of national achievements” “playing a proactive role to make government policies successful”, “being proud of Indian civilisational heritage”, and “unity and togetherness”. All these resolves seem hollow in the light of the facts on ground; lynching minorities, demolition of Babri mosque, attacks on churches, and so on. Modi expects his party to remain in power for another 25 years, ignoring the formidable challenge from Arvind Kejriwal (Aam Admi Party).
Through hollow prans (oaths) and slogans, Modi was able to fool Indian people to stay in power.
India’s history is full of slogans. Nehru’s slogan was “aaraam haraam hai.” (Rest is not kosher), Lal Bahadur Shastri’s slogan was “jai jawan jai kisan” (long live farmer, long live soldier), Indira Gandhi’s slogan was “garibi hatao” (eradicate poverty). A post-Indira-assassination (October 31, 1984) slogan coined by the Congress was “jab tak suraj-chaand rahega, Indira tera naam rahega” (till sun and moon shines Indira will live on). The BJP’s 1996 slogan was “sabko dekha baari-baari, abki baari Atal Bihari” (now it’s Atal Bihari’s turn), its 2014 slogan was “achchhe din aane waale hain” (good days are in the offing),
His 2019) slogan was Modi hai to mumkin hai (If Modi is there, then it’s possible). “achchhe din aane waale hain” (good days are in the offing), BJP (2019), jal sey nal jal shakti (water power), jal jeevan (water is life ), ayushman Bharat (happy India) and swachh Bharat (clean India). ‘Jai Anusandhaan (hail innovation)’. In his Independence Day speech, he added ‘Jai Anusandhaan (hail innovation)’ to the already existing slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan’, the Congress called it a gimmick. His latest slogan was “har ghar tiranga” (every house is tricolor, India’s national flag) or “har mandir tiranga” (every temple is tricolor).
The tiranga slogan bounced back. The Congress showcased the national flag with the first PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s photo next to it. The Communists, as usual, remained indifferent to the national flag debate as they love their own red flag more.
Modi portrays the Congress as a dynastic party. But, the BJP itself owes its electoral victories to dynasties. Many dynasts joined the BJP earlier this month. They include former Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, and Kuldeep’s wife and ex-legislator, Renuka Bishnoi. Union minister Rajnath Singh’s son, is an MLA from Noida and vice president of the BJP’s UP unit. Similarly, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s son, Dushyant Singh, is a BJP MP.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for a long time, opposed the current Indian flag with the Ashoka Chakra at its centre. M. S. Golwalkar, the second sarsanghchalak of the RSS, in his book Bunch of Thoughts, said: “Our leaders have set up a new flag for our country. Why did they do so? It is just a case of drifting and imitating. The RSS saw the reddish saffron (different from the RSS saffron) in the Tricolour as Communist and the green as Islamic. The Communists, since the early days, have no respect for any other flag except the red flag, which symbolises the proletarian revolution. They have written hundreds of songs on the red flag, as it is the global representative of the working class.”
Ambedkar chose the blue colour for the flag of the party floated by his Scheduled Castes Federation of India in 1942. It is now the flag colour of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Modi portrays the Congress as a dynastic party. But, the BJP itself owes its electoral victories to dynasties. Many dynasts joined the BJP earlier this month. They include former Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, and Kuldeep’s wife and ex-legislator, Renuka Bishnoi. Union minister Rajnath Singh’s son, is an MLA from Noida and vice president of the BJP’s UP unit. Similarly, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s son, Dushyant Singh, is a BJP MP.
The long list of the BJP’s dynasts include the likes of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Punjab leader Sunil Jakhar and former minister of state in the union home affairs ministry, R.P.N. Singh. While Basavaraj’s father, S.R. Bommai, was the chief minister of Karnataka in 1988-89, making them the second father-son duo after H.D. Deve Gowda and H.D. Kumaraswamy to occupy the CM’s chair in the state, Jakhar , who joined the BJP in May this year, is the son of Balram Jakhar, an active member of the Congress, who was also the Speaker of the Lok Sabha between 1980 and 1989.
Meanwhile R.P.N. Singh, who joined the BJP in January, ahead of this year’s assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, hails from Sainthwar royal family of Padrauna, Kushinagar. His father, Kunwar Chandra Pratap Narain Singh, was MP from the Padrauna Lok Sabha constituency, who served as the minister of state for defence in the Indira Gandhi cabinet in 1980.Many prominent faces in his own cabinet are members of political families: Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Anurag Thakur, Kiren Rijiju and Jyotiraditya Scindia, among others.
Ahead of the West Bengal assembly election last year, the party inducted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s former aide, Suvendu Adhikari, and also his father, former union minister Sisir Adhikari, into the BJP .Suvendu went on to become the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly after the elections. The BJP also inducted Jitin Prasada, son of prominent Congress leader Jitendra Prasada, and made him a minister in the Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet in Uttar Pradesh.
Devendra Fadnavis, who is the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra is the son of Gangadharpant Fadnavis, a former member of the Maharashtra legislative council. Devendra’s aunt, Shoba Fadnavis, was a state minister.
