Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas: 'Good intent' BJP's refuge ahead of 2019 polls

Mumbai: With the 2019 Lok Sabha elections steadily making its way towards us, all the political parties have upped their marketing games in a battle for the coveted magic figure in the Parliament.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has interestingly decided to not go ahead with the slogan that took the country by a storm and swept them into power in 2014.

The promise of 'Achhe Din' has been replaced by a new motto- 'Saaf Niyat, Sahi vikas' (clean intent, right development).

The party has probably realized that with Demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax (GST), ever-soaring fuel prices and a raging unemployment rate, Achhe Din will probably draw more jibes than votes.

So, they are going to hide behind the age-old curtain of 'good intentions', in the upcoming elections, a slogan that was released in a tweet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the BJP-led Union Government.

With the new slogan, which is also a play on the second slogan of the 2014 polls, 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas', also perhaps attempts to justify the complete economic setback.

The top leaders of BJP will spread out across the country from Saturday itself and congratulate themselves with a rather delusional economic report that makes high claims of growth in economy and the social sector, which includes delivering food security, direct benefit transfer, Jan Suraksha Yojana and open-defecation free villages.

The party will try to sell the last four years as '48 months of transforming India' and will run audio-visuals alongside, hoping it makes their point comes across as stronger and more believable. 

BJP president Amit Shah on Friday also credited Narendra Modi for a system that is the constitutional foundation of this country. 

“Who runs the government, is it the bureaucrat or the elected representative? This debate has been settled by Narendra Modiji. The elected representative sets the roadmap, the bureaucrat executes it," he told a gathering of journalists.

The BJP main man also went a little overboard, saying that India has seen unprecedented development in the last four years compared to its entire history, a statement which thankfully he does not have to substantiate with statistics.

Party leaders said that the fourth anniversary celebrations will set the tone for the grand finale in 2019.

This time, the target is not only to retain power, but also bettering the count by adding 80 more seats to their kitty, claimed a leader who did not want to be identified.

Also Read: 4 years of Modi-led Govt most disappointing, unsuccessful: Mayawati

These coveted 80 seats will also include Rae Bareli and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh- home turf of the former and current presidents of Congress, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi respectively.

BJP is a party that understands marketing perfectly and the desire to win Rae Bareli and Amethi is more important for the show than the numbers.

The party is also stepping up their game in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Despite a tone of dissent ringing clear in all three states, senior party leaders exhume confidence as they say internal surveys are in favour of BJP.

They are most likely to repeat the sitting chief ministers as the CM faces.

Prominent faces from specific castes and communities into state cabinets and the Rajya Sabha have already begun in order to keep all factions appeased.

'One nation, one election'- a slogan the BJP pitched wanting to club the assembly polls slated for end of this year with the parliamentary polls in 2019, seems to have currently been disbanded.