Turning on the radio in Delhi these days gives the feeling of turning on Arnab Goswami’s television debate. In the run-up to the Assembly elections, political parties have turned the airwaves into a raucous political battleground where allegations are traded and deflected through increasingly edgier advertisements.

The Bharatiya Janata Party fired the first salvo with a radio advertisement in which an old woman expresses disappointment that the Aam Aadmi Party abandoned the Delhi government after just 49 days of rule, leaving her to face the everyday problems that AAP had once promised to fix.



A fortnight ago, the saffron party launched another radio ad where a person convinces a friend that voting for a party that resorts to “dharnas and protests” is not a wise decision.



Responding to the BJP’s direct sally, AAP recorded a radio message in Arvind Kejriwal’s voice where he apologises to voters for deserting the government and assures them that their votes and hopes did not go waste. In a comical twist, he also asks the old woman in the BJP advert for her blessings and vote. According to reports, AAP asked radio stations to play this ad right after the one launched by the BJP.



Around the same time, it unleashed an ad where a young girl complains of being sexually harassed and about the lack of safety in Delhi, and then goes on to appeal for Kejriwal’s election. Seeing this message as an aspersion on their competence, the Delhi Police banned the ad.

Expectedly, the ban did not go down well with AAP supporters, who promptly uploaded it on YouTube.



Autos ferry a message

Radio airwaves are just one theatre of war for the political parties. Another is auto rickshaws, or more specifically posters on the three-wheelers.

On Tuesday, the BJP sent a legal notice to AAP for using a photograph of its chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi in a poster campaign without her permission. The poster, which have the words “imandaar” (honest) written below Kejriwal’s picture and “avsarvaadi” (opportunist) printed below Bedi’s, have become the talk of the town in Delhi.

Uniquely, some of AAP’s posters campaigning for Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi’s next chief minister were apparently spotted in Karnataka as well.

In response to AAP’s auto ads strategy, which it had successfully used in the previous elections as well, the BJP launched its own campaign along similar lines. The saffron party reportedly gained support of auto drivers in the capital and mobilised over 30,000 of them by promising them more auto stands and relaxations in challan (fine) rules.

The BJP posters pitch Kiran Bedi as the campaign’s chief ministerial face and promise “acche din” (good days) for auto drivers.

The Congress too tried its hand at posters but received few positive reactions, at least on Twitter.

 

Jingles all the way

The Aam Aadmi Party made use of the skills of one of its supporters, music composer Vishal Dadlani, and produced a jingle that matches the rhyme of “abki baar, Modi sarkaar” with “5 saal Kejriwal”. The jingle, launched over two months ago, can still be heard on radio stations, in autos and at party’s rallies.



Feeling that it too needed a jingle, the BJP last week came up with “Meri Dilli ko modi sarkaar chahiye” (My Delhi wants Modi government). The jingle tries to cash in on Modi but misses out on mentioning any Delhi BJP leader, including Bedi.