Bollywood songs main theme of Cong campaign

Without doubt,the Congress seeks to convey that it is unperturbed by opposition from both the Left and Right-wing politicians and it can chart out its own course. And,the method of communication seems to be a hit.

After ‘Jai Ho’ music tune of Oscar-wining movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ for its election campaign,the Congress is now making good use of the parodies of other popular film songs.

The songs have been used as background of video clips that contain speeches and messages of party leaders. A large number of such clips can be viewed on YouTube,a popular website for videos.

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One of the clips play a song from Vivek Agnihotri’s Hindi blockbuster ‘Dhan Dhanadhan Dhan Dhanadhan Goal’ in the background with footages from the election meetings of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi,Rahul and Priyanka. The video clip can be found on pressbrief.in,a website created by a section of the Congress to cater for Rahul’s publicity.

In one of the clips,Priyanka is seen releasing a Congress flag-coloured pigeon in the sky,hinting at flight the Congress has decided to take in this election with sky being the only limit,a senior party leader explained.

Such video clips have already been sent to regional news channels for broadcasting and the songs appear to have been selected carefully.

While one clip has footages from the last year’s Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Cricket Tournament played in Amethi,another has been made on dairy farming being carried out by women in Amethi and Rae Bareli.

A video clip titled ‘Operation Flood’ in Amethi and Rae Bareli shows Rahul Gandhi meeting dairy workers at work amid Shyam Benegal-directed Hindi film Manthan’s famous song ‘Mero gaam Kata paro’ playing in the background. The song says the river of milk flows in the village. The original film was also about dairy revolution in a village.

The Congress counts on the dairy revolution in Rae Bareli and Amethi as one of its major achievements towards generating rural employment.

These apart,there are video clips of the speeches of Priyanka,which she has been giving throughout the last fortnight in Rae Bareli and Amethi.

“The target is to carry out a national campaign from Rae Bareli and Amethi. Hence Priyanka is raising national issues in a manner comprehensible to villagers. Her bytes on national issues are useful to the party’s campaigning elsewhere as well. Hence these clips have been put on YouTube,” reasoned a young Congress leader.

In another clip in English,Priyanka says politics should be development-oriented,which is the central theme of the party’s election campaign,at least in Rae Bareli and Amethi.

The clip has footages of Chandrayan launch,Delhi Metro and the implementation of Centre’s schemes in villages. Almost all major speeches of Priyanka in Rae Bareli and Amethi can be viewed on YouTube along with selected ones of Rahul. Besides,CDs of these clips have also been distributed among the Congress workers for showing them to people in semi-urban areas and villages.

However,some supporters still prefer their own ways of holding the ‘hand’. A resident of Rahi village in Rae Bareli,Ram Kumar,uses a cow to carry out the campaign for the Congress. For the last ten days,he has been moving around in the villages with the cow,which wears a Congress flag and handbills with Congress slogans hanging at its neck.

Ram Kumar uses a thali as drum and shouts Sonia Ka Nishan Panja,Panje ko mat Bhulna mere Bhai.

Abdul Gaffar,a physically-challenged person,has made his tricycle a vehicle for the party’s campaign. Standing outside the meeting venue of Priyanka Gandhi at Rahi,he says people do come to see his tricycle full of Congress flags. And that,he thinks,is how his job is done.