Poll campaigns and petty jibes: Punjab has had much of it, courtesy PM Modi

PM Modi rolls out some extra effort as he tries to bring Punjab into the BJP fold

For the BJP, the ongoing elections to five state Assemblies matter a lot. In the changed scenario where the ruling party at the Centre has been receiving criticisms one after the other, poll outcomes in these states would be keenly watched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party.

Uttar Pradesh is on top of the BJP agenda, but if one looks deeper into the affairs inside the party, it would become clear that Punjab is equally significant. And to bring Punjab into the Bharatiya Janata Party fold would need some extra effort.

And, that extra effort is being attempted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he set out on a campaign trail in the state. Punjab is ruled by the Congress party and BJP would want to push the grand old party out of the state Assembly to stamp its supremacy in the northern part of the country. If Uttar Pradesh and Punjab go the BJP way, PM Modi would sure be a happy man.

PM Modi sees AAP as Congress photocopy

Narendra Modi is pulling out all cards up his sleeve to make that happen. In Punjab, Modi knows he would have to put on show some extra oratory skills so that he can verbally annihilate the Congress and the other contender Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). That is exactly why Modi, in his campaign speeches, is likening the Congress with the AAP, calling them two sides of the same coin. Aam Aadmi Party, according to Modi, is just a “photocopy of the Congress”, and whatever they show during the election season is just fake.

He is also playing the faith card to win votes by proclaiming that both the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress had opposed the Ram temple in Ayodhya. As if to stir us patriotic fervour, he even said both the Congress and the AAP do speak the "language of Pakistan" and that too when news of the bravery of the Indian soldiers are out.

Congress, AAP partners in crime, says Modi

As per Modi, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are never rivals, they just act like rivals. Saying that in the Punjab poll scene these two parties have been pretending to fight, Modi said that was not actually the case and they never compete with each other. He even likened the Congress-Aam Aadmi Party fight to the WWF, where everything is a show for entertainment.  

Not stopping at all that, he accused the Congress of pushing the youth of Punjab into drug abuse. Meanwhile, the AAP is looking to get the younger generation Punjab addicted to liquor, he has reportedly said, adding that Congress and AAP are now partners in crime.

Election seasons see such allegations flowing out of leaders’ mouths one after the other. But when the Prime Minister of the nation plays the role of a petty politician with the aim of pocketing a sizable number of votes so as to get to power, it turns out to be a matter of concern. It needs some serious introspection on his part so that he speaks and acts like the Prime Minister of every single citizen of the country. But then that sadly isn’t the case. When it comes to fighting elections, the PM garb is just kept away and the politician clamouring for votes to grab power comes into play. 

When Punjab goes to vote in its single-phase election on February 20, the people will have all these speeches playing on the back of their minds.

https://www.digpu.com/opinion/poll-jibes-pm-modi