‘Phir ek baar, Modi sarkar’: BJP releases 2019 campaign song, slogan - watch video

With the tag line "Phir ek bar, Modi sarkar" (Modi government, once more), the BJP Sunday unveiled its campaign highlights, which included the Modi government's "befitting" reply to terrorism by "hitting terrorists by entering enemy territory". 
Launching the campaign, party leader Arun Jaitley said the choice for people in polls will be between the "cohesive and tested" rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "chaos and mahamilawat" offered by the opposition.
The party's campaign will centre on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's five-year performance, including on the national security front, "honesty", and his ability to take big decisions, Jaitley told reporters.

Taking a swipe at the opposition, he said people have to decide between a government led by one captain or a team of 11 players, and that of 40 captains. 
The BJP is set to release its Lok Sabha polls manifesto on Monday. 
The BJP has brought the national security plank at its campaign's centre stage following the Balakot air strikes targeting a terrorist camp in Pakistan. It was in retaliation to the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel on February 14.
The opposition has accused it of politicising the armed forces' operations against terrorists but the saffron party has used them as an evidence of its government's "decisiveness" and "zero tolerance" for terrorism. 

The BJP also Sunday launched a television campaign for the polls focussing on development and welfare steps taken by the Modi-government, including schemes likes 'Kisan Samman' under which farmers will get Rs 6,000 in three installments and initiatives taken under the Swachch Bharat Mission. 
Campaign material also emphasised on the "clean image" of the government, India's "growing stature" at the global level, the Ayushmaan Bharat health insurance scheme and actions like "crackdown" on corruption and black money. 
The Union minister said these promises are not merely for future as the government has fulfilled them in its five-year term.
Jaitley was joined by Union minister Piyush Goyal and BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav, among others, at the press conference, where they also released slogans and video materials for the party's campaign. 

The poor, the middle class and the neo-middle class will be at the centre of the BJP's electioneering, Jaitley said, and took a swipe at the Congress for "not even saying a word" on the emerging middle class when it launched its manifesto.
In fact, some of the advisers to the Congress have spoken of levying more taxes on this class, he said, adding the Modi government has consistently reduced their taxes, something that has never happened earlier.
The Indian middle class will impact the global economy in the coming decades in the same way the Chinese economy influenced it earlier, he said.
Pitching for a majority for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls like it got in 2014, he said it enabled the party to take big decisions on a host of measures, including national security, corruption and black money.
Many opposition leaders have spoken about their wish for a hung Parliament and it is now for people to decide, Jaitley said.
"The country has decided as to whether a weak centre (government) will be in the country's interest or a decisive prime minister heading a majority government," he said.
On one hand is a cohesive and tested government and on the other is the choice of chaos and mahamilawat (grand adulteration), he said.
The Modi government succeeded in keeping inflation low while also expanding the tax base, reducing taxes on the middle class and spending money on welfare measures and exercises like One Rank One Pension, he said. 

The BJP is set to release its manifesto tomorrow which will not only have promises for the next five years, but also the work done by the Modi government in the previous five.

The party manifesto was prepared by a committee headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The manifesto is expected to focus on development, corruption, references to the surgical strike and Mission Shakti, employment initiatives, efforts like Digital India and Make in India.

There will be an emphasis on national security, India’s strong stance on Pakistan and China. They will also highlight initiatives take to alleviate the woes of farmers like the Rs 6000 per year scheme, the irrigation scheme and more.

Ram Temple will find a mention as a goal, while Section 370 and 35 A is also likely to be revisited. There will be focus on women’s safety and gender equality and also how the Modi govt has acted ‘tough’ on corruption with particular focus on the cases against the likes of Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Robert Vadra.

Schemes like the direct and indirect benefits in income taxation will also find benefit.

The theme for the upcoming election will be on a ‘working and honest’ government, which has taken ‘big decisions’.

BJP leader Prakash Javadekar Sunday claimed that a clear trend in his party's favour had emerged for the Lok Sabha polls, as he made light of the challenge from a "divided" opposition, saying the Congress has become a "fringe" party under Rahul Gandhi.

Expressing confidence that the BJP will better its 2014 tally and win over 300 seats, the Union minister said that last time around people voted in "hope" (of better days) and now they will vote in "confidence" seeing the Modi government's performance.
The opposition's grand alliance hardly exists and its constituents have been fighting each other in states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, he claimed, adding that the people believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's only agenda is taking the country forward.
"I see a very clear trend in BJP's favour. People want to give Modi another chance. They voted in 2014 in hope because he was not tested in Delhi. 
"Now, they will vote in confidence because they believe he is a man who leads from the front, is decisive, ended policy paralysis and works round-the-clock," Javadekar told PTI in an interview.

The seven-phase general elections are starting on April 11 and the counting will be held on May 23. 
To a question about the several promises made by the Congress in its manifesto, including paying poor families Rs 72,000 annually, Javadekar said the opposition party is promising the moon as it knows that "it has no chance of coming to power".
They had earlier promised to eradicate poverty, and give electricity and houses to the poor, but they never fulfilled it. People know it and will vote for the BJP for performance, prosperity, progress and decisiveness, he said.
The Congress, Javadekar said, has been reduced to a "fringe" party under its president Rahul Gandhi as it has neglected issues of national security and because of its association with "all the bad elements", including the "tukde-tukde gang", a reference to those allegedly favouring India's disintegration.
When asked about the opposition's criticism that the BJP was pitching national security as a key poll plank to turn the spotlight away from issues like unemployment and development, he said, world over national security will dominate any polls if a country is challenged.
"We are no exception. It was the Pulwama terror attack which triggered it and the way Pakistan is supporting terrorism. There is tremendous anger against it. And, the way the prime minister allowed the air force to do what was needed...This has created confidence in a decisive government," he said. 
Javadekar claimed that the BJP will increase its tally from eight seats in the North East to around 22, in West Bengal from two to 22 and in Odisha from one to 15.This will lead to an improvement from its last poll tally of 282, he said.
Even in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where the Congress had defeated the BJP in assembly polls, the saffron party will repeat its 2014 performance in this Lok Sabha polls, he said.
People in these three states are feeling "betrayed" as the Congress is not fulfilling its promises, Javadekar said.
He claimed that people vote differently in different elections. In Lok Sabha polls the issue is about who will lead the country and make it more secure, the Union minister said.
 

Javadekar noted that in 1999 people in Maharashtra had voted in favour of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the Lok Sabha polls but not in the assembly poll, which was conducted simultaneously.
He said as there was a pro-Vajpayee mood in 1999, a similar pro-incumbency feeling was present among voters and added that the BJP had now become much stronger and will win a majority of seats like it did in 2014.
In the snap polls held in 1999, after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government fell by one vote, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had returned to power under him.
Rejecting any comparison between the 2004 polls, when the BJP under Vajpayee had suffered a shock defeat and the coming general election, Javadekar said the party organisation is much stronger now and the Modi government has delivered not just the "general good" like roads, but also "individual good" like electricity, houses, LPG connections and health facilities.
People have been given over Rs 4.5 lakh crore under 355 welfare schemes of the Modi government, he said.
The Opposition, he said, is divided and offers no policy or programme.
The SP-BSP-RLD alliance has kept the Congress away in Uttar Pradesh. The Trinamool Congress, the Left and the Congress are fighting each other in West Bengal and a similar fractured opposition exists in many other states, he claimed.
Opposition leaders want a "majboor sarkar" (helpless government) as they believes in politics of entitlement while the BJP is for politics of empowerment.