BJP puts out Message 2024: Modi on move, Modi must go on; Sonia-Rahul barbs fall by wayside

मुझे चलते जाना है… pic.twitter.com/1NLvbV7L8y

— BJP (@BJP4India) March 14, 2023

Along his way, he brushes aside all the Opposition (basically the Congress’s Sonia and Rahul) criticism. From Sonia’s “Maut ka Saudagar” and Mani Shankar Aiyar’s “chaiwallah” pre-2014, to Rahul’s “Chowkidar Chor Hai” and Rafale in 2019, to the BBC documentary and “Gautam Das” now — all bite the dust.

Modi marches forth bearing a trademark jhola, from which he pulls out his government’s welfare schemes — sometimes lifting trash with own hands (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan), another time putting a smile on a coughing old woman’s face (Ujjwala), breaking down at the plight of a suffering aged couple before placing in their outstretched hands wheat, rice and then a heap of placards (PM Awas Yojana, Jan Dhan, Bima Yojana etc etc), and later striking a hammer to spring water from the ground under Har Ghar Jal.

Then comes the Covid-19 crisis, where the PM is shown navigating a tightrope over a deep valley full of the spiky, treacherous coronavirus, balancing a big syringe with an indigenous vaccine, having said a firm no to the offer of foreign ones.

There is only the PM in the frame in this 10-year-plus journey. From the other side though, a series of people make an appearance. There is then US President Barack Obama, who stands by Sonia Gandhi as she brandishes “a rejected US visa” at Modi — only to rush with outstretched hands to present Modi an “Invitation to the USA”, after his 2014 win (which Modi marks by placing a tea kettle on the PM’s chair).

When the 2019 win comes about, the PM seated in his chair and being hailed by “Modi, Modi” cheers is flanked on one side by then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and on the other side by future US President Joe Biden (bypassing pointedly Donald Trump, who was the US President at that time).

Mani Shankar Aiyar gets two scenes underlining his “chaiwallah” jibe at the PM, while Rahul Gandhi gets the most screen time – shown unfurling Rafale scam allegations, then “Chowkidar Chor Hai”, only to watch downcast as Modi unveils an indigenous HAL helicopter.

A year to go for the 2024 polls, the video sends several clear messages. The BJP underlines that Modi’s boycott by countries like the US after the 2002 riots was a Congress “conspiracy” — interesting at a time when the party is accusing Rahul of vilifying India’s name abroad. Plus, that the 2024 polls will be a Modi show all the way for the BJP; and that it will be about his government’s welfare schemes, the party having identified these as a winner cutting across groups. Thirdly, that there will be no pussyfooting around the Opposition’s allegations.

So, while the BJP has tackled other charges thrown at it by the Opposition before, it is the first time perhaps that it is acknowledging the BBC documentary – highlighting the role of the Gujarat government led by Modi in the 2002 riots – and the Adani charges in context of the PM directly.

Sanjay Jaiswal, BJP Bihar unit president and Lok Sabha MP, said it was but natural that the advertisement focused on Modi. “All the popular welfare schemes have been initiated by Prime Minister Modi himself… What all he has done for the poor! The party wants to send the message that, despite all the flak he has faced, he has kept marching on, doing good things for the poor. The election outcomes in Gujarat and the two Lok Sabha elections are a testimony to it.”

There is another small detail buried in the video. As it starts, Modi is at the bottom rung of that poll staircase, having just won the 2007 Gujarat election to become CM again. But his sights are set already on the big prize.

The UPA was into its first term in power at the Centre at the time, L K Advani still nursed serious PM ambitions, 2002 had been just one election in the past, and there were at least five years to go before anyone started looking at Modi seriously as a contender for the Delhi throne.

Finally, as Modi strides towards Mission 2024 and a $5 trillion economy dartboard, it is to that old Bollywood song playing in the background: “Mujhe bas chalte jana hai (I must go on).”