Rajnath's tweets put BJP in a spot

The Bharatiya Janata Party, under fire by detractors for centring its whole poll campaign on Narendra Modi, found itself in a spot on Monday with its chief Rajnath Singh first projecting the party in a tweet and retweeting minutes later "Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar (Time for a Modi government).

Singh's first tweet, posted at 1.17 pm, "Time For Change, Time For BJP. Abki Baar, Bhajapa Sarkar (This time BJP government)", appeared to be responding to criticism that the BJP is becoming a one-man show.

Even as the social media was speculating on this tweet, 33 minutes later, Singh re-tweeted bringing Modi back on the forefront.

"Time For Change, Time For BJP. Bahut Hui Mehngai Ki Maar, Abki Baar Modi Sarkar. (Enough of being hit by price rise, this time Modi government)."

The party had on Sunday distanced itself from the "Har Har Modi slogan and gave another slogan, "Ab ki baar, Modi sarkar" (This time, Modi government).

"It has come to our notice that in a few television channels there are discussions on "Har Har Modi" as if it is a BJP "nara" (slogan)," party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said in a statement on Sunday.

At the party briefing today, BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi justified the BJP campaign revolving around Modi, saying it is so in any democratic country when the campaign is focussed around the party's Prime Ministerial candidate.

"BJP and Narendra Modi are made for each other. You should not view it separately. If Modi is our Prime Ministerial candidate and he is popular, one cannot help it. There is no confusion... BJP and Modi are not separate," Naqvi said.

Amit Shah, who is in-charge of party's affairs in Uttar Pradesh, also downplayed the controversy over tweets of the BJP president.

"The confusion is in your mind. There is no confusion in the party. Both slogans mean the same thing," he said.

The party's official slogan is part of a nationwide campaign promising to end price rise and corruption if a Modi-led government comes to power.

"Some enthusiastic supporters have been using the slogan 'Har Har Modi'. I respect their enthusiasm, but request them not to use this slogan in the future," Modi tweeted on the microblogging site Twitter.

BJP's ideological mentor RSS had also cautioned its cadres against the chanting of "NaMo, NaMo" as its chief Mohan Bhagwat had asked them not to promote any individual during the Lok Sabha elections and instead focus on the issues before the nation and the need to end the current "misrule".

Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth, Swaroopanand Saraswati was unhappy over the traditional chant 'Har Har Mahadev' which is raised to hail Lord Shiv being 'modified' into 'Har Har Modi', to spruce up Modi's campaign.

Political parties like Samajwadi Party and Congress have also protested against BJP's slogan 'Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi', saying it disrespected Lord Shiva.