Rajasthan flooded with slogans

I have been covering elections for so many years now and with each election my vocabulary of slogans has truly evolved.

Rajasthan has been gifted with all kinds of slogans during the elections. This time BJP has coined the slogan “Jai Jai Rajasthan, ab nahi rukega Rajasthan”…

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is banking on the development plank in these assembly polls. She has been trying to convince the voter that Rajasthan is no more a part of the BIMARU states. The slogan is to remind the voter that now there is no looking back for Rajasthan on the path of development.

On the other hand, Congress has been trying to hit Raje on the issues pertaining to corruption, land mafia, liquor mafia, tainted ministers, etc. Congress has also raised a nara - “ab nahi bikega Rajasthan”- to counter BJP’s slogan.

BJP has projected Vasundhara Raje as its chief ministerial candidate and gave another slogan to support her — “Kaho dil se…Vasundhara phir se”. The slogan is printed on the hoardings with a smiling Vasundhara to further endorse the bold statement. The slogan for Raje will definitely remind the voter of the slogan that Congress had raised for Ashok Gehlot in the 2003 assembly elections- “Gehlot nahi aandhi hai, Rajasthan ka Gandhi hai”.

Read other blogs: Deepak chaurasia | Kishore Ajwani

This time Congress has not projected its chief ministerial candidate. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot is keeping his cards close to the chest. Party state President C P Joshi and some other Jat leaders are also in the race for the post of chief minister. Since the Congress is a divided house over the issue of chief ministerial candidate, there is no slogan related to any particular leader this time.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is quite fond of “shero-shayari” and often tries to make her speeches and debates more strong with its usage. On the other hand, the Congress leaders never miss a chance to be a “sawa-sher” over Raje’s ‘sher’.

For instance, Raje was promoted on some posters of Rajasthan State Dairy Board, endorsing a “glass of milk for every child… everyday”. At the same time the BJP-led government brought in new liquor policy with which the number of liquor shops in the state got almost doubled. Taking on Raje for liquor and milk at the same time, the Congress raised a new slogan- “our CM urges children to drink a glass of milk and their fathers to drink a glass of daru everyday”.

Both the parties raise a special slogan as an effort to counter each other over issues, which the voters will certainly not take so-lightly during the assembly polls.

I’m sure that with this over-dose of slogans the voters must be wondering, “kab jhoothe naro se mukt hoga Rajasthan???”