A day after Modi’s speech, instead of responding to criticism, the BJP did what it does best – sidestepped accusations of non-delivery of promises made over the years.
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

By NILANJAN MUKHOPADHYAY / The Quint

Within hours of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech, political adversaries and critics censured him for setting new goals before delivering on previously made promises from the same venue – the ramparts of the historic Red Fort.

A day later, instead of responding to the criticism, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did what it does best – sidestepped accusations of non-delivery of promises made over the years.

It almost appeared that these charges were neither levelled nor flagged when the party’s social media team released with fanfare a new social media campaign entitled ‘Desh ki badli soch’ (the country’s thinking has changed), which targeted the Congress party, especially the leaders who previously served as the prime minister of India.

Where Was the Research for the Campaign Drawn From?

It helped greatly that ‘research’ for this campaign was drawn to the last ‘dot’ from a ‘Special Programme’ – Lal Qiley Se Goonj, Alag-Alag Pradhan Mantriyon Ki Zubani – produced by who else but pro-BJP Bollywood actor Anupam Kher’s company for AETN18 Media Pvt Ltd, which operates and owns History TV18 and is part of the News18 group.

Kher also anchored the show while the shooting was done at the newly opened Prime Ministers’ Museum in Delhi’s Teen Murti Bhavan, which used to be Jawaharlal Nehru’s residence once. This programme was telecast on 16 August on the group’s channels and, reportedly, on other channels too.

Within hours of the programme’s telecast, the BJP flagged off its new social media campaign with a video that clipped and copy-pasted parts from the show, including a small bit of the actor’s opening lines.

In quick time, the video was followed by a series of tweets that juxtaposed Modi’s statements with that of previous Congress prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and Manmohan Singh. These statements were also picked up from the programme.

The purpose of Kher’s show was to belittle prime ministers prior to Modi while projecting him as a messiah that India required – the only one with the correct vision for the nation’s development.

Visually, the pictorial plates that were tweeted depicted Modi as a towering personality dwarfing the Congress premiers – the font size used for Modi’s statements was larger than that used for the other four, and the present PM’s pictures used were also much larger than his predecessors.

‘Bhakts’ Were the Intended Target Groups of Campaign

Before taking stock of the content of the video or the tweets, we need to examine the targeted groups of online political campaigns – by the BJP, as well as its adversaries.

In this particular BJP social media campaign, the cycle of contrasting reprise was started by the ruling party by first putting out select parts of Modi’s I-Day speech as pearls of wisdom.

These may have been read by all social media users cutting across affiliations, but the intended target groups were those universally identified as Bhakts. These tweets or small video clips were intended to boost reverence for Modi.

We know of the existence of a not-so-miniscule section of admirers for whom he is nothing short of an avatar of one of the Hindu gods.

Political parties critical of the BJP and Modi responded by tweeting and circulating on other SM platforms video clips of the prime minister’s previous speeches, in which he made promises that remain undelivered and are not mentioned by the BJP. This campaign was also for the faithful on the other side, or the Modi-baiters.

For the past five years at least, social media has become a relatively level playing field where Modi no longer has the first mover’s advantage as he once did. In the run-up to Gujarat Assembly elections in 2017, the state witnessed the Congress catching up with the BJP in launching social media broadsides lampooning the prime minister with the vikas gando thayo chhe (development has gone mad or out of control) social media trend.

Kher’s programme was unambiguously ‘motivated’ and was commissioned for telecast a day after Independence Day with the explicit agenda of glorifying Modi while putting down the memories of previous prime ministers.

A critical appraisal of the programme and the historical correctness of the claims, sweeping statements, and blanket accusations in the programme can be left for another day. But the portions picked up by the BJP for its social media campaign require an examination to assess if they pass the test of scrutiny.

Nehru’s Statement on Hunger Twisted To Hail Modi

The video prepared by the BJP used a portion of Kher’s introduction to the first juxtaposition of Nehru and Modi. In his opening bit, Kher makes a blanket claim that for almost a decade, hunger and shortage of foodgrains resonated in speeches of India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru.

But the script, as read by the pro-BJP actor, further went on to say that Nehru’s ajeebo gareeb, or kind of peculiar, response to this dehumanising crisis stunned citizens.

This story was originally published in thequint.com . Read the full story here