UP Polls: Modi spices up campaigning with salt-loyalty link - Hindustan Times
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UP Polls: Modi spices up campaigning with salt-loyalty link

Feb 21, 2022 10:20 PM IST

In his address to an election rally in Hardoi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi incorporated a salt allegory into his speech, in order to deftly play up salt’s association with loyalty.

For as long as one can remember, salt has been synonymous with not just taste but loyalty, too.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.(ANI file photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi.(ANI file photo)

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing an election rally in Hardoi, spiced up the campaign by mixing a salt allegory with his speech, to deftly play up salt’s co-relation with loyalty.

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“I know that in villages people are talking of the BJP government’s free ration scheme and saying ‘humne Modi ka namak khaya hai, hum Modi ko dhokha nahi denge (we have tasted Modi’s salt, we won’t ditch him),” he said to ‘Modi Modi’ chants from the audience.

He was referring to the BJP government’s free ration scheme for the poor, ravaged by Covid-19, in which salt was also included.

In November the Uttar Pradesh government had announced extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) till Holi (March this year). It added salt, refined oil and gram (one kilo each) to the free ration packs for poor that carried photographs of Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

“Since November, 10-kilogram ration, along with oil, gram and salt, are being provided to the poor,” a government official said.

After the announcement of the model code of conduct, the UP government ordered that ration packets with Modi-Yogi photos were not to be distributed. But, Modi’s stress on ‘namak’ was interpreted as a method to remind the masses about his government’s pro-poor outreach.

Modi qualified his ‘Modi ka namak’ remark by weaving the loyalty aspect through a follow-up statement when he said that though he was aware of the ‘Modi ka namak’ narrative in villages, he would want everyone to remember that all have consumed the salt of ‘Maa Bharti (motherland).’

Political experts agreed that “Maa Bharti ka namak khaya hai” nudge, only helped ingrain the salt’s connect with loyalty further.

BJP cadres admitted that the PM’s repeated reference to the initiatives for poor and his emphasis on ‘garibon ki sarkaar (a government of the poor)’ are being used during campaigning by party leaders.

“The PM’s speech provides us insights and we take it up during the campaign,” a BJP cadre admitted, while requesting anonymity.

Political experts were quick to notice how salt, for the BJP, has become a medium to connect with the masses in central and east UP, just as ‘anna potli (a pouch of foodgrains)’ helped connect the opposition Samajwadi Party to farmers, especially in west UP.

“Whether it is ‘anna potli’ and ‘anna shapath (pledge over foodgrains) of the Samajwadi Party, or the salt allegory of the BJP, the idea is to convince people into voting for the party and such psychological outreach indicates that parties are keen to capture the voters’ mind,” said Irshad Ilmi, a political observer.

“Salt was even used during the Raj era by Mahatma Gandhi to stir up sentiments against the British through his famous ‘namak satyagraha’,” Ilmi added.

“Most in Uttar Pradesh are familiar with the terms ‘namak halaal’ or ‘namak haraam’ – the former meaning loyalty, the latter, betrayal. Films in the 70s by the same names were a hit among the rural populace. And, even today it’s not uncommon to run into people in villages who use terms like ‘namak haraam’ to describe someone betraying their trust,” said Manuka Khanna of the political science department of Lucknow University.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in her election speeches, has been trying to pick holes in BJP’s ‘free ration’ plan.

“They will make you dependent on free ration but won’t empower you,” She said during her campaigning.

In December, while inaugurating the 9,800 crore Saryu Nahar Project in Balrampur, Modi had similarly sought to remind the masses that by completing a much-delayed project, he had helped bring water to the parched fields and then quickly linked it with the common belief that quenching someone’s thirst is a great virtue.

“We never forget anyone who offers water to quench our thirst and I am sure that now that your parched fields would get water, your blessings would help us work with greater enthusiasm,” the PM had said.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Manish Chandra Pandey is a Lucknow-based Senior Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times’ political bureau in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Along with political reporting, he loves to write offbeat/human interest stories that people connect with. Manish also covers departments. He feels he has a lot to learn not just from veterans, but also from newcomers who make him realise that there is so much to unlearn.

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