Viral songs give ‘brand Yogi’ a boost in poll-bound UP
LUCKNOW Ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is now busy building on ‘brand Yogi’, projecting the monk chief minister, who is hoping to buck the trend of no chief minister having won consecutive terms in the state
LUCKNOW Ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is now busy building on ‘brand Yogi’, projecting the monk chief minister, who is hoping to buck the trend of no chief minister having won consecutive terms in the state.
At least 20 campaign songs hailing Yogi Adityanath have gone viral. One of them is a six-minute song ‘Aayenge to Yogi hi (Yogi will come for sure)’ sung by prominent Bhojpuri singer Dinesh Lal Yadav aka ‘Nirahua’. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on BJP ticket against Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav.
This song has garnered millions of hits, which is being cited as proof of Yogi Adityanath’s popularity by his supporters. Several other videos have come up on similar lyrics while many other variations that promote Yogi have also been launched by supporters.
‘Yogi baba badey ladahiya, phir se CM diyo banaye (baba is a fighter, make him CM yet again)’ goes one of them that is rendered in a manner in which Aalha, a ballad of Bundelkhand narrating heroic deeds of two warrior brothers, is sung.
Union home minister Amit Shah had recently urged people to help re-elect a BJP government under Yogi and had said Yogi Adityanath’s coronation was important to ensure that Narendra Modi is re-elected PM for a third consecutive term in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
‘Yogi bahut zaroori hai (Yogi is quite necessary)’, starts one of the several songs that have come up. Yet another one hails Adityanath as a lion: ‘Ujiyara hai charon taraf andher na koi, Yogi jaisa UP mein sher na koi (It is all lit up everywhere and there is no darkness anywhere. Yogi ji is a lion and there is none like him).’
The BJP claims that many of these songs aren’t commissioned by the party or the government. “These are being put up spontaneously by singers who like Yogi ji,” said Chandramohan, UP BJP secretary.
In 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, special songs focusing on Narendra Modi were played during the campaign that also hailed him as a ‘lion’.
‘Pradhan mantri Bharat ka jaanbaaz, diler dikhai de, bhajapa ke sheron mein yeh babbar sher dikhai de (India’s PM looks daring, brave, looks like a lion among BJP’s top guns),’ was one of the most popular songs that hailed Modi and his leadership during the Lok Sabha campaign.
While Modi continues to be the charismatic leader whom the party looks up to in all situations, the BJP leadership is busy promoting ‘brand Yogi’ in the poll-bound state. The UP chief minister had piloted the political resolution during the party’s recent national executive in Delhi and BJP top leaders endorsed his style of functioning with Modi pointing out on more than one occasion how law and order had improved and criminals were on the run in UP.
However, the Congress isn’t amused at such branding of Yogi.
“It is all very nice to get party cadres sing songs in praise of anyone. But the point is what are the people saying? It is their message that alone matters. And, most of UP is singing what is widely being interpreted as BJP’s swansong,” said Zeeshan Haider, spokesman, Congress.
