The Congress mocked the Bharatiya Janata Party on April Fool’s Day by releasing a parody version of the ruling party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections. The promises made by the spoof manifesto include the appointment of spokespersons to “dismiss concerns and pass the blame on Nehru”, and use of WhatsApp to disseminate news.
The spoof manifesto is titled “Ek Bharat, Berozgaar Bharat” or “One India, Jobless India” and “chowkidar chor hai” or “the watchman is a thief”. The BJP’s lotus symbol is inverted and the party’s name has been changed to “Bharatiya Jumla Party”.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Vision for India”, the spoof document listed out “dictatorship over democracy”, “hopeless jobless youth”, “oppression of minorities” and “hate- and fear-driven society” among others.
Under the title, “Main bhi chowkidar hoon” or “I’m a watchman too”, the Congress claimed the BJP’s aim is to provide “protection to all fraudsters”, replace “berozgaar” [jobless] with “chowkidar” in all dictionaries, and to “fudge data and hide reports”.
Modi had launched the “Main bhi chowkidar” campaign on March 16 to counter Rahul Gandhi’s “chowkidar chor hai” jibe. The next day, he and several party members added the prefix “chowkidar” to their Twitter handles.
In the spoof manifesto, the Congress made fun of the BJP’s promises of employment, fighting corruption, the Make in India initiative, education and health policy, media regulations and “information” dissemination, and demonetisation.
Under corruption, the Congress wrote that all defence will be “awarded to AA” – a purported reference to Anil Ambani. “15 days of notice to loan defaulters to fly off to their country of choice,” said the manifesto.
On demonetisation, the manifesto said old notes will be banned every two years and replaced with notes in “attractive colours” and “blogs on reasons updating every week”. The Congress mocked BJP’s employment promise, saying the ruling party aims to break “the 70-year record in employment” after having achieved the “historic 45-year high”.
A report published in Business Standard in January noted that between 2017-’18, unemployment in India reached a 45-year high. The newspaper based its report on a survey, conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation, called the Periodic Labour Force Survey, which the government had not made public.
The Congress poked fun at the BJP-led government and its ministers, saying Modi was the country’s first prime minister and that there was no history of independent India before him. “We gave the country its first ever blog minister – Shri Arun Jaitley,” Congress wrote under a section titled “5 years of BJP led India”.
The Congress wrote that the BJP gave the country its first ever “rename sarkar”, “WhatsApp university” and a “pliant media”.
“Today India is blessed with the rare capacity and opportunity of Democracy, Demography and Demand...and if they vote for us again, they will have full-fledged Tyranny, Tarnish and Turmoil,” the Congress party wrote on BJP.
The Congress said the BJP’s aim was to make the “biggest thief” a watchman and help his “fraudster friends” flee the country.
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