Why BJP’s UP Campaign Harps On ‘Crime & Punishment’

New Delhi: Amidst the cacophony of a high-pitched war within the incumbent Samajwadi Party, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has quietly launched its election campaign for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, via the air-waves as well as on the ground.

While the Parivartan Raths have been set rolling by party president Amit Shah earlier this week, FM radio stations in the state are abuzz with what would be the party’s main pitch for the biggest challenge before the next general elections.

Now sample this:

“Nisha, Uma aajkal College nahin jaati?”… asks one Vidya.

“Haan jab se college ke bahar kuch ladkon ne cheda hai tab se kehti hai nahin jaungi”… replies the mother.

A male voice then completes the message.

“Pradesh ki bahu betiyon ki izzat ki suraksha ka kaun zimmedar hai? Abki Baar Bhajpaa Sarkar”.

Now cut straight to Home Minister Rajnath Singh at Kairana on Tuesday. It is at the centre of the communal cauldron that is Western UP: The same place where local BJP MP Hakum Singh alleged mass migration of Hindus. It is also just a few miles away from where the Muzaffarnagar communal riots started building up to massive polarization in the entire state prior to the 2014 general elections.

So as the Partivartan Yatra rolled into Kairana, with Hakum Singh by his side, Home Minister Rajnath Singh makes a speech. And what does he say?

“Jo gundagardi ke aadhar par logon ke dilon mein dehshat paida karne ka kaam karta hai, behno aur bhaiyon, Bhartiya Janata Party ki Sarkar ke aane ke baad, hum dekhenge ki usne kitne ma ka doodh piya hai”.

Mark the similarity with the tagline in the radio campaign.

Now Rajnath Singh – though always considered a favorite of the RSS – for all these years has never been a rabble rouser. Not even at the peak of the Ram Temple Movement. That job was reserved for Kalyan Singh. All this while Rajanth played the perfect foil as the state president, as the organization man. That profile post Kalyan’s ouster was reserved for the likes of Sakshi Maharaj and others.

But Rajnath Singh who always kept himself ahead of the competitive curve chose to alter his rhetoric to fit into the larger role ahead.

The party is yet to declare its CM candidate for UP, but Rajnath – arguably, the tallest BJP leader from the state – has been a permanent fixture in all major party functions. He has shared dais with Amit Shah through out the parivartan yatra. He’s played on the administrative credentials of the BJP CMs from the state – from Kalyan Singh to Ram Prakash Gupta to himself. He’s drawn a sharp comparison between the law and order during the BJP rule and the current situation.

But UP is a large state with a diverse demography. So wherever Rajnath has gone, he’s tweaked his message to fit into the local discourse.

So in Kairana he played on the communal faultiness, pitch-forking it on the general law and order. In Jhansi earlier this week he spoke about criminals and their links to mining mafia.

“The first thing we will do if elected to govern UP will be to hang these people upside down,” he thundered at the end of his hour-long speech.

Crime and punishment, it seems will be a refrain over which BJP will now try to build its campaign in the days ahead in UP.