How BJP coined popular taglines to run successful poll campaigns | India News

NEW DELHI: Ruling BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going all out to seek a third straight term in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the battle cry this time is “Ab ki baar 400 paar” coupled with the “Modi ki guarantee.”
In fact, popular tag lines and catchy slogans have been an integral part of BJP’s electoral journey right from 2014 when it stormed to power with the poll cry “Ab Ki baar Modi Sarkar”.The BJP centred its campaign around alleged corruption and price rise under the Congress-led UPA government, promising “Ache Din”, which the opposition claims never came in the last 10 years.
In late 2013, when reports on corruption, inflation, unemployment and national security dominated the discourse — BJP, under its anointed PM candidate Narendra Modi, meticulously shaped its poll narrative around “Acche Din Aane Waale Hain” (good days are about to come).
A one-liner like “Abb Ki Baar Modi Sarkar” did magic for the party as it easily turned into lucrative couplets, which connected with the masses in the form of humour, sarcasm and even jibe at the ruling UPA led by the Congress party.
The emergence of social media around 2014 gave perfect impetus to this poll strategy of the BJP, and consequently, the party achieved its historic mandate by winning 282 seats of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.

In 2019, when the BJP was preparing its report card to ensure a return to power, the opposition launched a stinging attack on the central government over the Rafale fighter jets deal between India and France.
The opposition leaders, mainly the then Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, alleged that the deal involved a “tainted transaction” as it bypassed conventional procedure.
In the backdrop of the Rafale controversy, the Congress scion drew an analogy that the chowkidaar (watchman) of the country was himself the chor (thief) for having given alleged undue advantage to his “capitalist friends”. The Congress hit out at PM Modi with the “Chowkidaar Chor Hai” jibe.

Retaliating to the Congress’s attack, the BJP launched a counter-campaign “Meh Bhi Chowkidaar“, under which the PM and other BJP leaders, including supporters added Chowkidaar as the prefix to their name on social media. PM changed his name to Chowkidaar Narendra Modi. The same was followed by other ministers.
Interestingly, the “Meh Bhi Chowkidaar” campaign became Twitter’s top trend worldwide, hours after PM Modi launched it.
Continuing with his effort to put Rahul Gandhi on the backfoot over his “Chowkidaar Chor Hai” jibe, the Prime Minister also took potshots at Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of denigrating the community of watchmen.
PM Modi said since his rivals lacked the guts to name him directly, they are resorting to slogans which have put every watchman under the cloud.
Additionally, the Prime Minister gave out — Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai (with Modi, everything is possible) – slogan ahead of the 2019 national polls, stressing the action he ordered against Pakistan and his development records.
This “Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai” became one of the key poll planks of the BJP. The air strikes in Pakistan dominated most of Modi’s speeches.
He said his government avenged the Pakistan-orchestrated attack, unlike the Congress government that did nothing after the 26/11 Mumbai attack and held back the security forces from taking decisive actions in the national interest.
On the same lines of turning the opposition’s attack as its campaign theme, the BJP in 2024 has used RJD’s supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav‘s dig at PM Modi’s family as one of the summer polls premises.
Lalu Yadav, while addressing an INDIA bloc rally in Patna, lashed out at PM Modi for raising the issue of dynastic politics and asked why the PM doesn’t have a family.
PM Narendra Modi, in a retort, said that 140 crore Indians are his family, which set off a massive “Modi Ka Parivar” campaign by top BJP leaders in what was seen as a strong counter to Lalu Prasad’s “Modi has no family” remark during his party’s rally in Patna.
Currently, the BJP has been running its poll campaign on the “Modi Ki Guarantee”, highlighting the promises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he fulfilled.
PM Modi said that the “Modi Ki Guarantee” means the guarantee of fulfilling guarantees, which has also become a focal point of the campaign.
BJP has incessantly been using the “guarantee” plank to list out the promises fulfilled by the central government, including the major ones like the Ram Mandir inauguration, Article 370 abrogation and the CAA implementation.
While the possibility around the achievability of the set target remains debatable, one thing that has been at the heart of BJP’s functioning is its successful attempts to push against the political attacks and jibes through its popular campaigns.