Political slogans and quotes: India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Quotes by Indian politicians
Source:
India Today, December 19, 2008
Atal Bihari Vajpayee: 1998
“I’ve waited 40 years. Now it’s my turn.” —After the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced
Bal Thackeray: 1979
“Bombay is a prostitute that people leave behind after satisfying their needs without saying as much as a thank you.”
Devraj Urs: 1979
“I regret your having denied me the honour of receiving it in a virgin state and allowing the press a honeymoon with it before it landed in my arms...” —Replying to a show-cause notice from Indira Gandhi
D.K. Barooah: 1976
“Indira is India, India is Indira.”
Dr Manmohan Singh: 1991
“No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.” —In his maiden speech as Union finance minister, quoting French writer Victor Hugo
George Fernandes: 2002
“Gujarat is no reflection on Hindutva, it’s a riot. Women being raped isn’t something new.”
Giani Zail Singh: 1982
“If Madam would ask me to sweep the floor, I would not hesitate to do so.” —Declaring his loyalty to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after she chose him to be the President of India
Indira Gandhi
1979
“The Janata Government is afraid of a tiny woman like me because I want to improve conditions in the country. If the country prospers, even a little by doing away with me, I am willing to be hanged.”
1984
“I will serve the country till the last drop of my blood.” —In Orissa, a day before her assassination
1981
“What sort of freedom do these people want? To paint a wrong picture? To distort the truth?”
Lalu Prasad Yadav: 1991
“There is no wave, only Lalu wave in Bihar.” In the run-up to the general elections
Rajiv Gandhi
1985
“India is an old country, but a young nation, we are impatient. I am impatient and I too have a dream of an India— strong, independent, self-reliant...” —To the US Congress
“Millions of ordinary Congress workers are full of enthusiasm. But they are handicapped, for on their back ride the brokers of power and influence...” —At the Congress centenary session in Mumbai
1984
“Don’t read newspapers. They are writing blatant lies.” —To the students of Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan
1984
“When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.” —After Indira Gandhi’s assassination
Sheila Dikshit: 2008
“One should not be too adventurous.” —After journalist SoumyaViswanathan was murdered when returning home from work late at night
Sitaram Yechury: 2005
“The Left is not the lap dog or pet dog of anybody, but the watch dog. When it barks, the Government will have to listen.” —Issuing yet another threat from the Left to the government
Sonia Gandhi
2004
“I have often stated, that the post of prime minister is not my aim. My inner voice tells me I must humbly decline this post.” —While declining the position of prime minister at the Congress Parliamentary Party meet
2007
“... Sach toh ye hai ki Gujarat ki sarkar main jhoote, beimaan aur maut ke saudagar hain.” —(The Gujarat government has liars, cheaters and men who deal in death)
V.P. Singh: 1988
“I would be a disaster as a prime minister.” —In the year the Janata Dal was formed
Tamil Nadu
1967-2024
Kamini Mathai, April 14, 2024: The Times of India
CATALYSE CHAOS
For social scientist P Radhakrishnan, DMK founder C N Annadurai’s ‘Moondru padi latchiyam, oru padi nichayam’ (three measures are the target, one measure is surety) in 1967 is an all-time best. “His guarantee of one measure of rice helped him win votes over the Congress,” says Radhakrishnan. “Even in my 70s, I recall this slogan’s impact because it was backed by action, not just words.”
Slogans, says Radhakrishnan, former professor at Madras Institute of Developmental Studies, are the equivalent of mob behaviour, from a sociology perspective. “Mob behaviour is influenced more by emotional impulses and so cannot be sustained. Organised behaviour is guided by predetermined goals and has a lasting impact, exactly what Annadurai’s slogan did and why it endures.”
TO ROCK TN, TALK TN
Back in 2014, during his research in Ma-durai, political sociologist R Thirunavakar-asu noticed an emotional gap between BJP and locals. “At rallies,” he says, “leaders often referenced figures such as Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (founder of BJP’s earlier avatar BJS), which didn’t connect with peo-ple in TN. Since then, BJP has shifted its approach, promoting leaders such as Sub-ramanya Bharathi and V O Chidambaram in slogans and speeches. They know this is what sells here.”
Pan-India slogans simply do not work in TN, says Thirunavakarasu. “Even pan-TN slogans won’t work within certain regions. You need to get down to the grassroots. Cre-ating a Kongu narrative in Kanyakumari, for instance, will alienate people.” Winning, he says, “is about tapping into precise emo-tions or deprivations and selling them.”
THE I, ME, MYSELF VIBE
In Tamil Nadu politics, personality reigns supreme and most successful slogans hinge on the prominence of an individual as seen with PMK’s ‘Maatram munne-tram Anbumani’ in 2016, its most memorable yet, and one that spotlighted party leader Anbumani Ramadoss. On a na-tional level, BJP’s slogans revolve around Modi. For example, its 2014 ‘Ab ki baar Modi sarkar’ (this time, Modi governance), followed up with ‘Phir ek baar Modi sarkar’ (Modi governance once more), and in 2024, with ‘Teesri baar Modi sarkar, ab ki bar, 400 paar’ (Modi for the third time, and with a 400-seat win). “The slogans reinforce the idea of change with con-stancy and make Modi’s name synonymous with it,” says adman Anantha Narayan.
Another standout is DMK’s 2021 slogan, ‘Stalin than vararu, vidiyal thara poraru’ (Stalin will arrive, will give you the dawn), which propelled it to victory in the TN Assembly elections. It was so effective that the govt was dubbed ‘vidiyal arasu’.J Jayalalithaa also embellished her slogans with her larger-than-life persona, say poll strategists. The one that slayed? “Gujarat’s Modiyaa or Tamil Nadu’s intha ladyaa (Gujarat’s Modi or this lady from TN)?”, with which the AIADMK general secretary (CM at the time) signed off her campaign across TN and Puducherry. The result? A landslide win, not just in the 2014 LS polls but in the 2016 assembly election too. However, after her death, AIADMK struggled — and still does — to find a unifying message. So much so that now it’s leveraging AI to revive Amma’s voice and iconic ‘Makkalal naan, makkaluk-kagave naan’ slogan to infuse spirit into a flagging campaign.Meanwhile, actor Vijay is rumoured to be developing a catchy, personality-driven slogan.
KISS AND TELL
“Election slogans should aim for the highest common factor, not the lowest common denominator,” says Anantha Narayan, founder of Chennai-based ad agency Blue Noodles. In other words, they need to keep it short and simple (KISS). AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami’s ‘Tamilar urimai meetpom; Tamil Nadu kappom’ gets a thumbs-down for using too many words to say too little. BJP state president K Annamalai’s ‘Enn Mann, Enn Makkal’ (My land, my people) delivers. But, says Narayan. “I would have gone with something more charged like ‘Imm murai, thamarai’ (this time, lotus)’.”
THE WHAM! FACTOR
Social psychologist Muzafer Sherif, in his influential 1937 paper on slogan psychology, noted that during pivotal moments, “demagogues may arise and catch the temper of the times, uttering slogans which may move millions of people temporarily”. It’s what happened in 1996. With DMK allying with G K Moopanar’s TMC and AIADMK facing corruption charges, it was superstar Rajinikanth who delivered the knock-out blow with his “Even God cannot save TN if Jayalalithaa is voted back to power”.
“The statement prompted people living outside India to return and vote out AIADMK,” says sociologist Thirunavukkarasu.
UP, UP, UP THE GAME
This is where the fabled DMK war room comes to the fore. An IT wing veteran, tracing back to the ‘Nammakku Naame’ campaign of 2016, stresses how important it is for a slogan to be adaptable in today’s media landscape. “The digital era is challenging so we need slogans that work across media from print and TV to digital, hashtags, QR codes and character limits and so on,” says Dravidian writer and DMK IT wing adviser Govi Lenin. “For example, this time we have ‘Naarpadum namathe, naadum namathe (40 is ours, land is ours) which can be tweaked for different platforms.”
Slogans, says Lenin, have been at the heart of DMK’s campaigns since the party’s inception. “Annadurai would write 10 at a time. In 1957 and 1962, he used the popular ‘Vadakku vazhkirathu, therku theikirathu’ (North is developing, south is declining’). In the 1980 Parliamentary election, Kalaignar (M Karunanidhi) crafted ‘Mathiyeil kootachi, maanilathil suyatchi’ (federal at centre, autonomy at state). The DMK’s IT wing adapts slogans to the need of the hour,” says Lenin.
PLAY TO WIN, BUT ENJOY RIDE!
The first part is, of course, for parties in the fray but the second is for you, dear voter. See you at the end of play.
