Two years of NDA government: To counter BJP’s publicity blitz, Cong spoofs Modi’s ‘Ab Ki Baar…’ campaign
Party sends top leaders to all major states for campaigning
Former Ajmer MP and Congress member, Sachin Pilot address the press in Mumbai and slams the policies adopted by Modi Govt. 26th May 2016, Gandhi Bhavan, Girgaon, Mumbai. Express photo by Nirmal Harindran, Mumbai.
To counter the publicity blitz by the BJP on completion of two years of the NDA government at the Centre, the Congress dispatched senior leaders to all major states Thursday to highlight the “failures” of the ruling dispensation.
In Maharashtra, former Union minister Sachin Pilot described the Narendra Modi government’s performance as “two years of misrule”. The Congress leader also released a short film on the Modi government’s failures and flip-flops in the last two years.
The film titled Do Saal, Burey Haal (Two Years, Poor Condition) spoofed Modi’s famous ‘Ab Ki Baar’ election campaign. It focussed on the ten big failures of the government on matters dealing with farm distress, state of economy, employment, black money, inflation, and foreign policy.
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It featured actors who donned various real life characters and expressed their disappointments on promises reneged by the prime minister. Parodying Modi’s Ab Ki Baar campaign, each episode in the film ended with the characters exclaiming “Ab ki baar, barbaad kar diya hain yaar”.
Senior Congress party leaders said the decision to hold media interactions across the state was taken since the party leadership felt this was the best way to counter the BJP’s publicity blitz with the resources available at the party’s disposal.
Pilot claimed that while the PM had run an election campaign where it had promised generation of 2 crore jobs every year, official data proves that only 1.37 lakh jobs were created in these two years. He also hit out at the Modi government on “constant flip-flops” on the foreign policy.
The non-delivery on the assurance to bring back black money stashed in tax havens abroad was another point that the Congress aggressively harped on, so were the increase in NPAs of banks and price rise.
On the government’s anniversary celebrations, Pilot launched a scathing attack. “Had the government spent the kind of public money it is spending on the publicity campaign on drought relief, distressed farmers in Maharashtra would have benefited a lot,” he said.
Pilot also revived Congress’s ‘Suit Boot Ki Sarkar’ jibe against Modi, accusing the government of cutting social sector spend, while playing to the whims of a select coterie of businessmen. The Congress also projected that it was Rahul Gandhi’s opposition to the controversial land Act ordinance that had forced the Modi government to backtrack on what it termed as an ‘anti-farmer’ draft.
The party also chose to highlight Modi’s silence on allegations of scams against senior ministers and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, arguing that the government had “no sense of morality”.
“The Modi government is nowhere close to fulfilling promises that it had made two years ago. And that’s why they are looking at issues that are divisive in nature,” Pilot said.
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