A campaign song portraying the ‘Central government’ as corrupt has arguably become a major political gaffe for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala.
The party’s publicity arm had adopted the song as an anthem for the BJP State president K. Surendran’s campaign tour, Kerala Padayatra, which commenced from Kasargod recently.
The montage song, set to rousing and adrenaline-laced martial music, appeared to backfire on the BJP after it turned out that it was a hastily and thoughtlessly airbrushed version of a 2013 campaign melody that targeted the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre.
The faux pas drew merciless scrutiny on social and mainstream media. It became the butt of politically embarrassing jokes and memes.
A reportedly enraged BJP State leadership demanded that heads roll for the bungling, which it felt had destroyed the party’s message discipline.
Sarcastic light
The BJP also feared the comical aspect of the song’s unintended message had cut through to average voters, ostensibly casting Mr. Surendran’s campaign tour under a sarcastic light.
Furthermore, a campaign poster which declared that Mr. Surendran would lunch with ‘SC and ST leaders’ also came back to haunt the BJP. It lent ammunition to political rivals to assail the BJP for allegedly sporting a ‘casteist mentality’.
The inappropriate campaign imagery transmitted by the controversial poster and BJP’s misplaced political pop anthem appeared to put the party on the back foot as the Lok Sabha campaign gradually gained momentum in the State.
The BJP went into a damage control mode. The national leadership appeared loath to dismantle the party’s publicity architecture in Kerala at the instance of an arguably incensed State leadership.
Prakash Javadekar, MP, sought to smoothen ruffled feathers in the party. In a statement, Mr. Javadekar termed the botch-up an inadvertent and excusable error. “Such mistakes happen in any organisation, including the media,” he stated.
Mr. Javadekar urged the media to counter-check facts and take the BJP’s version before airing speculations.
Unlike Kerala’s ruling front and Opposition, he said the Modi government extended benefits to all citizens, irrespective of their political affiliation, religion, caste or creed.
