The campaign for the Lok Sabha 2019 elections will be remembered not for any poll promises, assurances of freebies or even the content of manifestos. It will be remembered for the crass language used by the leaders in their speeches. It not only defied belief at times but was also downright bizarre more often than not.
BJP president Amit Shah in his characteristic manner preferred to shoot the messenger saying media—TV, in particular—was to blame for focusing on the political diatribe that lasted only for five minutes, and ignoring all the programme and policy-related content of the remaining 35 minutes of all rallies.
When the curtain falls on this election on the evening of May 23, what will most Indians remember about the run-up to this election? It does not require a survey to figure out what grabbed eyeballs.
Nobody can forget the fact that Pragya Thakur called Nathuram Godse—Mahatma Gandhi's assassin—a “deshbhakt”(patriot). The sadhvi had dragged the non-negotiable Mahatma Gandhi into the dirty political quagmire of Lok Sabha 2019 elections. “Nathuram Godse was a deshbhakt, is a deshbhakt and will remain a deskhbhakt. People calling him a terrorist should look within, such people will be given a befitting reply in these elections.” she declared.
Even Shah, who turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to the most crass language that his party members use against rival candidates, was stunned—or made a show of being shocked. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would never forgive her for her Godse remark, and the party issued a show-cause notice, which virtually put a lid on the subject that angered almost every section of India.
The BJP had hand-picked Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon bombings of 2008, as its candidate from Bhopal, once they learnt the Congress was fielding former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh. The reason? Singh has been vitriolic in his attacks on what he called “saffron terror”.
Thakur started off by saying that former Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed during the 26/11 terror attacks, had died because she had cursed him for treating her badly in jail after she was arrested!
She also expressed pride in her role in the demolition of Babri Masjid. The Election Commission of India banned her from campaigning for 72 hours for this.
What will not be as widely remembered is a Facebook post by Anil Saumitra, convenor of the BJP's media cell in Madhya Pradesh. “He (Gandhiji) was the father of the nation, but of Pakistan, there were millions of sons like him in India some worthy and some worthless.” The party showed him the door at once.
When Rahul Gandhi decided to contest from Wayanad in Kerala, the BJP's divisive and communal politics came to the fore. Shah taunted Rahul for contesting from a seat “where when a procession is taken out, one cannot make out whether the place is in India or Pakistan”.
And this was just a few days after the ECI had banned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for a controversial and communal statement—that the Indian Union Muslim League, an old ally of the Congress, was a “virus” that had infected the Congress.
Three words from the campaign that will ring in people's ears long after the dust had settled on it, are “Chowkidar Chor Hai”. Prime Minister Modi called himself the “chowkidar” (security guard) in a campaign that focused on the ability of the Army to enter enemy territory—read Balakot—and strike at the terror camps. Rahul Gandhi, who raised charges of nepotism and corruption in Rafale deal, from every platform he addressed called the “chowkidar” a thief.
This so annoyed the RSS and the BJP that the verbal volley became worse with every passing rally. And this time, it was the prime minister who stooped low.
“Your father (Rajiv Gandhi) was called Mr Clean but he died as Bhrashtachari Number 1,” said Modi, dragging late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi into his discourse, not as a former prime minister, but as “your father”.
Modi's constant references to “naamdars” (people with name, referring to the Gandhi dynasty) and everything that represented the Congress times were the stuff that speeches contained thereafter—one among them, being Rajiv Gandhi's family vacation in a Lakshwadeep island. While Modi alleged they had holidayed on a war ship, former naval chiefs pointed out that the ship was present as part of the former PM's security, and that they did not holiday in it. And soon, social media was full of pictures of filmstar Akshay Kumar, who happens to be a Canadian citizen, on board INS Sumitra with Modi in 2016!
Beyond tearing into each other's character, the campaign had little by way of content to help the masses make up their mind on who to vote. In an interview to a daily, Modi rubbished all the educated, well-heeled and people who were well off, virtually branding them “Khan Market Gang”.
Violence, too, played its part in the campaign. In West Bengal, the BJP and Trinamool Congress workers clashed leading to the vandalisation of a statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. If West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was determined to keep the saffron party at bay, Amit Shah was not willing to give up trying for the parliamentary seats from here, which are crucial for the BJP to get a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha.
This led to the unprecedented act of campaign being cut short in the state, almost 24 hours ahead of schedule, by the ECI, which used its powers to do so, for the first time.
One of the biggest “memories” of Lok Sabha 2019 campaign will be the fact that the credibility of the ECI was questioned. The Congress petitioned the Supreme Court to get the poll body to consider and act on its petitions against the prime minister and Amit Shah. Petitioner Sushmita Dev said, “The ECI seems apprehensive when it comes to considering cases against these two.” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the ECI had become a puppet in the hands of Modi and Shah. Mamata Banerjee told a press conference that she had lost trust in the ECI and accused it of being partisan.
And even Shah, who others were saying was being favoured by the ECI, came out against the institution, saying the ECI was partial in West Bengal. “It was a mute spectator and did not act on a single complaint against the state government that rigged polls,” Shah told a press conference!
