Patna/ Bhagalpur: Facing probably his most important election, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is going all out to ensure the win of Janata Dal United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress Mahagathbandhan. The election is witnessing a bipolar contest between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, who have not lost a single opportunity to put the other down in the course of their campaigns.
But there's something common between the two stalwarts of India polity – their campaign strategy.
The Indian Political Action Committee, which is spearheading the campaign for the JDU leader, had done the same for Modi during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, though under a different identity – Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG).
However, there's a striking contrast in the modus operandi of the campaign managers in the two elections. While it was the high-profile 'Chai Pe Charcha' and 3-D shows for Narendra Modi, it is more about foot soldiers and bicycles for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The IPAC team, headed by IIT Kanpur graduate Rishi Raj Singh and mentored by Prashant Kishor, started their campaign for Nitish in poll-bound Bihar in March 2015, much ahead of the announcement of election dates.
The first thing that came handy for them were social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Through different Facebook pages and Twitter handles dedicated to Nitish Kumar, they ensured establishing a direct connect between the chief minister and those Biharis who are active on social media. The easy availability of affordable smart phones in the state with internet connectivity made their task a lot easier.
They also ensured that complaints of people reached bureaucrats concerned directly, in what they call an online version of 'Janata Durbar'. Then they launched their first major on-ground campaign for the JDU leader, 'Har Ghar Dastak'. The target of this programme was to reach out to 1 crore households.
According to IPAC director Rishi Raj Singh, they had a simple slogan to follow – 'Ek karyakarta 10 dastak, ek sandesh har ghar tak (one worker, 10 homes, one message to every home)'. Following the success of this programme, their next target was a poster war.
IPAC member Diggaj Mogra, engineer by education, told IBNLive, "We took to our online platforms to initiate work on this. We made online versions of posters and posted them on social media. On the basis of the feedback we got from people, we made online selection and validation of the collaterals.
"We picked up the slogans that got positive feedback, such as 'Aage badhta rahe Bihar, phir ek baar Nitish Kumar (Bihar marches forward, once again Nitish Kumar)' and 'Jhaanse mein na aayenge, Nitishe ko jeetayenge (We won’t fall for false promises, will ensure Nitish wins)'," he added.
The war of words between Nitish and Modi over the former's DNA remark during a rally in Bihar. This provided further ammunition to the managers, as they launched a scathing 'Shabd Wapsi' campaign against the Prime Minister.
It didn't remain a verbal one and a war room was created for the same in Bihar capital. At least 50 lakh DNA samples (nails and hair) of people from Bihar were collected and dispatched to Modi's official residence in Delhi.
On a lighter note, Rishi made a tongue in cheek remark. "If PM can't manage some DNA samples from Bihar, will it be possible for him to manage the whole state?" he said.
Apart from these urban-natured campaigns, IPAC made it sure that it reached out to the remotest parts of the state, which is overwhelmingly rural. It constituted three teams to work in each constituency, and has till now engaged over 500 volunteers from different parts of the state.
They have come up with specially designed bicycles, which are painted yellow and carry a board with the seven big promises made by the Bihar Chief Minister as his next mission. Each Assembly constituency has 30 branded bicycles and two Jan Bhagidari raths.
But IPAC members feel that their biggest strength are the foot soldiers, who they claim are going to every household, even in the farthest of villages and distributing a hand written letter by the Bihar CM and a calendar.
The letter talks about how the developmental work done by Nitish is just the base, and that the JDU leader needs more time to do several “important” things.
Moreover, Nitish has also made a personalised appeal to each recipient of the letter to vote for the JDU-RJD-Congress Mahagathbandhan. The pocket-sized calendar opens up to become a leaflet with all the promises made by Nitish in the run up to the polls.
"We can't afford to give advertisements on TV to reach out to people. We rely on our foot soldiers," said Ankit, the person managing the campaign in Bhagalpur district.
IPAC also has special plans for polling and counting days. "We will form a war-room to monitor each polling booth. There will be booth committees, polling agents and also grievance redressal mechanism to ensure fair polling," said Rishi Raj Singh.
Comments
0 comment