Ally Rallying

Parties look to firm up their alliances before the Lok Sabha elections

- Soni Mishra And Pratul Sharma

Nearly a month ago, the Modi government debuted a new tag line—namumkin ab mumkin hai (the impossible is now possible). It was meant to send out a positive message of the work the government had done in the past five years. But the BJP felt it needed a stronger slogan that could catch the electorate’s attention and add zing to its campaign.

And so, within days of his return from the US after undergoing treatment for soft-tissue cancer, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley chaired a meeting of the BJP’s campaign committee. The panel brainstormed and came up with another tag line—Modi hai toh mumkin hai (with Modi, it is possible). It was punchier, and more importantly, centred on Modi, the BJP’s face for the elections.

The slogan came in handy as Indian Air Force jets pounded a suspected terrorist camp in Balakot, Pakistan, on February 26. Within hours of the attack, hoardings with the catchphrase and Modi’s picture sprung up in several states. “This slogan proved to be apt,” said a member of the campaign committee. “It was coined to send a strong message to the people as they react differently to Modi and see him as a powerful leader.”

And who better to hype the slogan than Modi himself?

Addressing election rallies in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, he used it to tell the people about how Pakistan had been taught a lesson with the air strikes. He then talked about the work done during his tenure. These two themes—muscular nationalism and welfarism— are set to form the basis of the BJP’s poll campaign.