Zeitgeist

An amusing look at political slogans.

It’s funny.

Despite ruling for at least four decades (and in positions of power for an equal number of years before that in pre-independence India), the Indian National Congress always goes to people telling them that things are really bad, and they care about it enough for them to want to come to power to solve their issues. So, they will go with slogans like ‘Garibi hatao‘, or ‘My heart bleeds for India‘, etc.


Don’t they care people might ask what they’ve been doing in power for so long if they are confessing that things are bad?

The alternate theory is that the INC wants voters to know that while they may think they’ve come far, there’re miles to go before we sleep, and that the INC is the right party because they have this realisation and are aware of how far we have to go.


On the other hand though, despite not having even one decade of experience on the treasury benches, the BJP approaches this from the exact opposite side, telling people how everything is tickety-boo and rosy. Thus, ‘India shining‘, ‘Mera desh badal rahaa hai‘, etc.

Don’t they care that people may wonder which planet they are living on where it’s all rivers of milk & honey, and if so, why should anyone want a change in the status quo?

The alternate theory is that the BJP wants the voters to know that while they may think there’re miles to go, they should consider how much the world has changed and how it is now ‘our turn’ at the table of power on the world stage, and how the BJP nationalist perspective is the one to have now.

No, this is not a critique of either. Just an observation.

Did you like what you read? Share it with friends.

You may also like

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in Zeitgeist