Muted response to grand celebrations of PM Narendra Modi’s birthday across India worries BJP

The BJP’s exuberant nationwide celebration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on September 17 may have produced an unintended political fallout, with sections within the ruling establishment worrying that the spectacle could have dented rather than reinforced his carefully cultivated image. While Modi himself kept to business as usual on his birthday, the BJP and the governments in several states ruled by the party rolled out a string of events, culminating in a Diwali-like light show in the evening to seek “aashirvad” (blessings) for the Prime Minister’s long life. The Opposition attacked the alleged use of government machinery and public money for the celebrations. But the unease is not confined to the Opposition. Feedback from the ground and social media has prompted questions within the BJP over whether the scale of the celebrations overshot the mark. The lack of spontaneous public participation ironically reinforced the perception of fatigue. “The response from the common people doesn’t appear to be very favourable. Our effort was to draw attention to Modiji’s dedication to serve the country but it may have ended up harming the image of the Prime Minister,” a BJP leader said.The disquiet centres as much on the optics as on the expenditure. According to the leader, people were heard pointing to the apparent “double standard” of spending taxpayers’ money on birthday celebrations while Modi himself had been urging citizens to consume less fuel and cooking oil. Bike rallies featuring hundreds of new motorcycles were flagged off to carry Modi’s “message of service” from his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi, to his birthplace, Vadnagar in Gujarat, and back. Over 1,366km separate the two places. The contrast becomes harder to ignore against the backdrop of the West Asia war. In May, Modi had appealed to citizens to conserve fuel by working from home, limiting foreign travel and avoiding unnecessary purchase of gold as the country grappled with a surge in global energy prices. He had even argued that cutting down on cooking-oil consumption could help conserve foreign exchange as edible oil was also imported. The BJP has traditionally marked Modi’s birthday on September 17 with low-key “seva” (service) programmes — blood donation camps and other welfare activities for the people. This year, however, the party decided to go big, seeking to mark what it presented as another milestone in Modi’s political journey: 25 uninterrupted years at the helm of government. Modi became chief minister of Gujarat on October 7, 2001, and will complete 25 years without a break in office on October 7 this year. The special birthday push, however, appeared not to have evoked the political response the BJP had hoped for. The Aashirwad Ka Diya campaign — under which lakhs of earthen lamps were to be lit across the country by the general public to “thank” Modi for his service to the nation and seek blessings for his long life — did not appear to generate the mass enthusiasm the party had anticipated. #modi #bjp #upelection #election #yogi #nextpm 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/64393566...