E-Paper
Video war plays out as BJP, Congress seek ‘azadi’ in parody songs
The BJP and the Congress have released videos of a rap song to assail one another late Friday night.
A popular rap song from Ranveer Singh-starrer upcoming Hindi movie, Gully Boy has made it to the election season with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress using the same “Azadi” lyrics and peppy tunes to rile one another. The two parties posted videos from their official Twitter handles late Friday night one after another asking the voters to “seek azadi” from the other.
The BJP posted the first video at 10.37 pm saying, “While @RahulGandhi will stay up all night wondering what new lies to peddle tomorrow morning, we leave you with this goal for 2019.”
Interestingly, the video begins with the “Azadi” slogans that were allegedly raised by former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar and his colleagues on the campus in 2016. The incident, however, landed Kumar in trouble with the Delhi police lodging FIR against him and others in connection with sloganeering that was considered as “anti-national”.
The clip goes on to allege that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was a regime mired in corruption. It talks about various alleged scams during the UPA rule. It shows the photograph of former Telecom Minister A Raja in its attempt to remind the viewers of 2G scam. It also targets the Congress with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen attributing his “Congress-mukt” political slogan to Mahatma Gandhi.
The Congress was quick to respond to the BJP’s social media gimmick. In about half-an-hour, the Congress posted its version of the same song commenting, “Dar ke aage azadi (Beyond fear, there is freedom)”. The Congress accuses, in the video, the Modi government of corruption showing the photograph of the prime minister with an industrialist while the lyric questions “their intention”.
The Congress has used a speech of Modi from the campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when he sought vote saying, “Don’t make me the prime minister, make me the chowkidar”. This is immediately followed by Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s oft-repeated charge: “Chowkidar chor hai (the watchman is a thief).”
Towards the end of the Congress’s video Gandhi says, “The day we stand up, the RSS, the BJP, Modi or Savarkar…they will run away.” He made this speech early this week at a convention of Congress’s minority department in New Delhi.
The Congress’s video ends with the same call for “azadi” but from the BJP and its rule at the Centre. The two parties have been engaged in a bitter war of words in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that are likely to be held in April-May this year.
The Congress has made the issues of unemployment, farm distress, corruption including Rafale deal and alleged divisive policies of the BJP as its poll planks. The BJP, on the other hand, has targeted the Congress holding it responsible for rural backwardness and accusing it of promoting dynasty politics.
