BJP’s poll song flagged for religious undertone

BJP must revise its campaign song for civic elections to remove religious references, as the BMC's committee flagged it for violating campaigning rules.

MUMBAI: The BJP will have to rejig the lyrics of its campaign song for the upcoming civic elections, deleting its religious undertone, as campaigning on religious grounds is prohibited.

BJP’s poll song flagged for religious undertone

The BMC’s screening committee, which vets and certifies all campaign material before it can be used in public spaces or even on social media, has flagged the song, which opens with the line: “Mahapaliket bhagwa ani bhagwasathi kamal (‘Saffron in the BMC and lotus to usher in the saffron’). The song is a rendition by popular artistes Avdhoot Gupte and Vaishali Sawant. The offending lyrics were not made available.

Unlike the BJP, which claims the objection relates only to the word “saffron”, a civic official told HT, “The objections were not just about the word “saffron” but references to the religious invocation of Hindutva regarding the BMC in its campaign song.”

The BJP will have to resend the song for approval to the BMC’s screening committee, to secure a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) before it can be released in public, the official said.

Refusing to see past “saffron”, city BJP chief Ameet Satam told HT he wondered why the word in the song was objectionable.