A clutch of social organisations that had protested against the new citizenship matrix and supported the poor when a sudden lockdown was forced on them has launched a campaign called No Vote to BJP.
The campaign has reached various districts, organising meetings, performing skits, distributing pamphlets and putting up posters with one clarion call — “vote any party you want but the BJP”.
On Saturday, the people behind the campaign released a 103-second Bengali video that shows people of various ages, from varied backgrounds and in diverse clothes dancing to a peppy track that explains the “perils” of voting the BJP.
The video was launched on the Facebook page of “No Vote to BJP” on Saturday morning. By 4pm, it had registered “8.3k views” and been shared “758” times.
“The idea was to reach out to as many people as possible through a catchy medium. The song explains why people should not cast a single vote to the BJP,” said Kasturi Basu, the convener of the forum behind the campaign.
Set to organise a rally in central Calcutta on March 10, the forum is reaching out to people from all sections of the society for participation. The video released on Saturday is well on course to — if the Internet traction is anything to go by — garnering support in the virtual world.
The lyrics are hard hitting: “Bikash atke gecche RSS jhandae; kalo taka phirlo na Modijir fundae (Development is stuck in the RSS flag; black money has not come back according to Modiji’s theory)”.
The recurrent message that keeps coming back in the video, — “Banglar manush dichhe dak, Banglae BJP nipaat jak; Dosher michhil jonotar raye, BJP ke ar ektio vote noye (The people of Bengal are calling for the downfall of the BJP; the rally on 10th reflects public opinion, not a single vote to the BJP)”.
The make of the video is smart and crisp. The characters are people you see everywhere around; students, office goers, theatre workers, transgenders and senior citizens, all dancing to the peppy track, all in the backdrop of three words written in a large font size — "Banglae bibhed noye (No discrimination in Bengal)”.
If colourful props lend a vibrant character to the video, the participation of common people bring in an element of freshness and spontaneity.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee, 23, who has coauthored the song, said the challenge was to blend issues like “UAPA”, “JNU and Jamia” and “farm bills and NRC” into a verse that will have a mass appeal.
“Dalit porano ar dharshan humki, Krishi bill NRC sabkichhu gunchhi (Burning Dalits, rape threats, farm bills and NRC, we are keeping a count of every single thing),” the song says towards the end.
“No Vote to BJP is Bengal’s gift to the larger Indian electoral politics. It is a viable font that can unite all secular and democratic parties,” said Ronny Sen, filmmaker and photographer who is part of the team that has made the video.
Samantak Sinha, 37, an independent musician and playback singer, has sung the track. “The video is very contemporary. The EDM (electronic dance music) soundtrack blends seamlessly with Bengali rap,” said Sinha.
The execution of the video took a week, the makers said.
“During the recce, we asked random people if they wanted to be a part of this. We told them about the campaign. They readily agreed. One of them was a man who was selling peanuts at Gariahat,” said Basu.
“We want to convince people, especially those who have swung towards the BJP in the recent past. We tell them that this time they should not make the same mistake again,” she added.
