‘Sarkar nahin, riwaz badlenge’: Now Congress to use BJP’s Himachal Pradesh slogan in Rajasthan

NEW DELHI: The Congress is seen to be getting its acts together in Rajasthan for the assembly election to be held later this year. While doing so, it has planned to take a leaf out of the BJP’s book and use it in the poll-bound state.
The BJP had contested the Himachal Pradesh in November-December last year with the main slogan: “Sarkar nahin, riwaaz badlenge” (We will not change the government, but we will change the practice).
Himachal Pradesh
The practice the BJP referred to was changing the government in every assembly election. Himachal Pradesh came into being as a state in 1971. The first assembly election was held in 1972 with the Congress coming to power and Yashwant Singh Parmar becoming the state’s first chief minister.
The Janata Party replaced the Congress in the 1977 assembly election and Shanta Kumar became the first non-Congress CM.
Since then, the state has witnessed rotation of power between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in every election. Before the last year’s election, the BJP under the chief ministership of Jairam Thakur sought to break the cycle of revolving door and gave the slogan of ‘Sarkar nahin, riwaaz badlenge’.
However, the practice continued once again with the Congress replacing the BJP and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu taking over the reins of the state as its CM.
Rajasthan
Rajasthan will face assembly election later this year along with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. The Congress was in power in the state from the first assembly election in 1952 till 1977 when the Janata Party replaced the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government at the centre.
In the 1993 assembly election, the BJP formed government with Bhairon Singh Shekhawat as the CM. Five assembly elections have been held since then and governance has been alternating between the Congress and the BJP every time.
The Congress under Ashok Gehlot is all set to complete its term and the state readies itself to face another election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the poll bugle by addressing a public rally at Ajmer after paying a visit to Lord Brahma’s temple at Pushkar on Wednesday.
The BJP is optimistic about returning to power, among other factors, on the basis of revolving door practice, as was the Congress in Himachal Pradesh last year.
Like the BJP had tried in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress seeks to break this cycle of rotational government in Rajasthan where it is in power.
The Congress, instead of coining a new rallying cry, has borrowed the BJP’s catchphrase in Himachal Pradesh.
While talking to media persons at Jodhpur on May 27, Congress national spokesperson Alka Lamba said, “I was media in-charge of Himachal Pradesh assembly election for three months. I worked there from the hills down to the valleys. BJP's slogan there was, ‘Sarkar nahin, riwaaz badlenge’ (The government will not change but the practice will change) because the BJP and Congress governments would change there every five years.”
She said the people of Rajasthan want to change the practice. They want the (Gehlot) government and its works, such as giving LPG cylinder for Rs 500, to continue, she added.
The Congress leader said, “Now, we are giving the BJP's Himachal Pradesh election slogan here in Rajasthan. They (BJP) did not succeed in Himachal Pradesh. But the Congress will succeed in Rajasthan. The Congress's slogan here is: ‘Sarkar nahin, riwaaz badlenge’.”
Though the BJP failed to change the practice in Himachal Pradesh, will the Congress succeed in it in Rajasthan?