Political Slogans in India

A good slogan can bring together people usually separated by religion, region, caste and language. In India such divides are widespread.

Ashish Sharma, INN/Gwalior, @Infodeaofficial

Indian democracy is one of the largest and oldest democracies in the world. Indian political campaigns may lack the glamour of US elections, but campaign slogans regularly provide the humour, interest and enthusiasms needed to engage pundits and voters alike. This has ensured that the history of Indian politics is peppered with such memorable slogans as “Garabi Hatao” (Eradicate poverty) “India Shining” and “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” (Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer).

A good slogan can bring together people usually separated by religion, region, caste and language. In India, such divides are widespread. The history of India’s election slogans offers an insight into the country’s political history. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s “Garibi Hatao” campaign in 1971 resonated with the nation and secured a landslide victory for her Congress Party.

Through this article we will look out those slogans who have dominated Indian political scenario.

1. Vote for calf and cow, forget all others now

In 1967 Congress raised the slogan of Vote for calf and cow; forget all others now and through this congress try to influence voters by using the tactics of ‘Cow Politics”. During that phase there are rumors about Indira Gandhi that she had made her own fraction after having split in congress. congress had two oxen,in their original symbol but indira changed it into  a cow and a calf. But, this felt miserably as this new symbol was criticized  and mocked by both whether its public or it’s the opposition. Opposition even  compared cow and calf with Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi. Lastly, after facing lots of criticism Congress changed the symbol again.

2. Jan Sangh ko vote do, bidi peena chhod do; Bidi mein tambaku hai, Congress-wala daaku hai (1967)

In 1967, Jan Sangh the foremost party in opposition comes with a tepid jingles like Jan Sangh ko vote do, Beedi peena chhod do; Beedi mein tambaku hai, Congress wala daku hai  which literally means that (There’s tobacco in beedi, and Congressmen are dacoits). During this phase congress had already lost its two prominent leader Mr . Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri respectively in 1964 and 1966 and with addition to this congress also lost its importance in the public. During that period, in opposition there was Jansangh and they try to grab the chance during 1967 elections to highlights the negative side of Congress.

3. Indira Hatao, Desh Bachao / Sinhasan chhodo, ki Janata ati hai (1977)

The literal translation of the slogan ‘Indira Hatao, Desh Bachao means Remove Indira and Save the Nation’ The phrase was coined post-emergency by JanNayak Jayprakash Narayan. During this phase the Indira’s rule began imploding. People were fed up by the issues of corruption , unemployment and government’s inaction .Disaffected students comes under the leadership of Jaya rakish Narayan to bring about a ‘Sampoorna Kranti which means a complete revolution. Indira responding by imposing emergency. This emergency phase also saw the emergence of leaders like Chandrashekhar, Mulayam Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Laloo Yadav. They all repeated the same slogan Indira Hatao but also add desh bachao which means save the country. Congress was also warned by newly created janta Party which came up with the slogan of Sinhasan chhodo, ki Janata ati hai (abandon the throne, the public is coming).

4. Ek Sherni, Sau Langur, Chikmagalur bhai Chikmagalur (1978)

Ek Sherni, Sau Langur, Chikmagalur bhai Chikmagalur means ‘One tigress and a hundred monkeys, Chikmagalur it is!’ This political one liner was given by Congressman-poet Srikant Verma for Indira Gandhi’s by-election in 1978. After Indira defeat in 1977 general elections, she fought with them with more aggressive contempt. Indira even challenged her opposition enemies to imprison her but the same leader, whom she had jailed during the phase of emergency , did’t have courage to put her behind the bar for abusing the constitution. In 1978 she decided to contest by-election from chikmangalur constitutency in Karnatka and she won. It was a surprise win. Then, the slogan ‘Ek sherni sau langoor, Chikmagalur bhai Chikmagalur’ did the rounds to mock at the opposition party.

5. Sonia nahi yeh aandhi hai, doosri Indira Gandhi hai (2009)

“Sonia nahi yeh aandhi hai, doosri Indira Gandhi hai” slogan was coined by the Congress party in 2009 to draw attention to the similarities between Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Talking about the similarities we pointed out few of them like both pushed their sons real hard, both pushed the ‘Emergency’ – Indira in 1975 and Sonia by Emergency (by wishing to amend the Section 66A of the Indian Penal Code). They both crashed the party to its lowest ever performance with Indira with 153 seats in 1977 and Sonia with 114 seats in 1999. Through this slogan congress also try to show how able a leader UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is. Congress returned to power with more number of seats in lower house of parliament than seats in 2004.UPA came to power in second time in a row and dr. Manmohan Singh was sworn in as the prime minister for the second consecutive time.

6.        Abki Bar Modi Sarkar (2014)

“Abki baar Modi sarkar” was the most effective slogan and one of the most popular election catchphrases ever in the history of Indian elections.Known for promoting, “Acche Din”, this was one of the most popular election slogans that spread like wildfire and resulted in the massive victory of Bhartiya Janata Party, The party spoke highly of CM Modi’s governance in Gujarat, sold the development model and won 282 seats in Lok Sabha. The silence of the Prime Minister and the perception that he had no real power made matters worse. The BJP was successfully able to project Narendra Modi as the man of the hour and also as its Prime Ministerial candidate. Rahul Gandhi could not match Narendra Modi. The BJP won majority on its own with 282 seats while the Congress recorded its worst ever performance with just 44 seats. This was the first time since 1984 that a party won a majority on its own.