INNOVATION was the buzzword in campaign this year as candidatesweretrying todevise newer ways to woo the voters. IntheAssembly election,poetrymadedebutwithcandidates ofleadingpartiescoiningsongs to reach out to masses. Apart from coining new nick names, thecampaignsongswereanew addition to otherwise drab appeals that blared from the loudspeakers. A no-holds-barred fight was seen in the Maharashtra Assembly election, voting for which is slated on November 20. Given the short time span for electioneering, thepolitical parties think tankshad towrack their brains to design new theme to their campaign battle.Soapart fromgeneralappeal about candidate and his party, bigleadersin fraywent for song appeal to add a touch of personal touch to their canvassing.

 

The idea about songs for political campaign seems to have struck due to popularity of the songs among the masses, mostly because of Hindi filmswhosechartbusterssongs playacrucialroleinits success. Particularly BJP leaders like Devendra Fadnavis, Chandrashekhar Bawankule and alsoMohanMate eachhad a song for their campaign trail. Also, Congress leaders like Prafulla Gudadhe and others in the fray had also gone for rhyming songs towoo the electorate. So the electioneering carvedanew industry providingopportunity forlyricistsand music composers to make themselves felt in the heat of hectic political activity. Like Prafulla Gudadhe song startedwithSatyawarHoiSwar, Jansewecha Hoi Aadhar, while that of Narendra Jichkar, fighting election fromWest Nagpur constituency as Independent, started with Kaho Dil Se, Naru Bhau Dil Se.

 

BJP has general campaignsong forMaharashtra whereinitstatedKamalFulnar, Gallo Galli Kamal Fulnar, whichmeans party Lotus symbol will get popular backing in every lane and by-lane. Similarly, South Nagpur BJP candidate Mohan Mate’s song lyrics were ‘Dakshin Nagpur Chi Shaan, Deti Janata Tyana Maan’.DrNitinRaut’scampaign song was in Hindi wherein it appealed to voters to come for voting to once again to elect Raut in Assembly election. While mass rallies, big public meetings and padyatra are all going to stay as their utility cannotbediscounted,yet there wasurgentneed toinfusesomething new the otherwise drab campaign themes. Much thoughtwentinto selecting the song, as it needs to click with the masses so as to make right impact at time of voting. Given the spread of constituencies and short time for campaign, the candidates ensured that their appeal went to electorate through vehicles deployed to convey their message, albeit with a song.

 

A songis the bestway to click with the voters and hence the lyricswere simple but effective toconnect so thatit keepreverberating in votes mind till the voting. Also the campaign appeal that earlier used to be limited to candidate name and symbol, now details about the work that he or she has done. Another change thatis being noticed in the campaign this year is nearly elimination of auto-rickshaw that used to be central to campaign so far. Given the high tech electioneering, now pick-up vans are dominant everywhere asmany ofthemfitted with LED screen, offering better perspective to voters about the candidates.