Some of Zee Entertainment’s popular television shows are now blatantly pushing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image and the schemes that have been announced under the BJP government. With the General Elections just days away, the ruling party seems to be leaving no platform bereft of their covert or outright promotional activity on behalf of the prime minister.
A Modi Biopic, NaMo TV, and Now TV Serials Campaigning For Modi?
Vartha Bharati | 07-04-2019 | 19:44:00 IST
Here are examples from two popular television serials, both on the Zee Entertainment Network’s group of channels, that are openly propagating Narendra Modi’s image and the Swachh Bharat campaign, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Gas Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana on their shows.
The Glorification of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
These clips tweeted by @Victimgames show an episode of Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain!highlighting the information that the government has built 9 crore toilets under its Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, saying that now Indian citizens no longer have to relieve themselves in public.
Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! promoting PM Modi and Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.
That aside, the dialogue writer of the episode, which aired on 4 April, has the best of adjectives to describe the current PM (without naming him) in these words:
“Ek woh aadmi hai jo din bhar desh ki akhandta aur swachhta ki baat karta hai...” (And then there’s a man who talks about the country’s oneness and cleanliness all day...)
and
“Jaise hamari aaj ki sarkar poore josh kharosh se lagi hui hai ki bharat ki ekta aur akhandta ko khatra na pahunche, swachhta abhiyan ki baat kar rahi hai. Aaj ek karmat, sushil, gyaani, atulniya purush ki wajah se hum swachhta ki vatavaran mein saans le rahe hain.” (We have a government today that is focused enthusiastic about protecting India’s unity, that is talking about a cleanliness drive. Today, because of one hardworking, sincere, wise, extraordinary man, we can breathe in a clean environment.)
Another episode of Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain!, which aired on 5 April, plugs the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Gas Yojana, while publicising information that 5 crore households will benefit from it and that it will generate 1 lakh jobs.
Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! promoting PM Modi and Ujjwala Gas Yojana.
Again there is a glorification of PM Narendra Modi with a not-so-subtle reference to the ‘Modi hai toh mumkin hai’ slogan.
“Aapko pata hai ab kuch bhi namumkin nahin hai, sab kuch mumkin hai. Aur yeh sab mumkin woh kiye hain jo hum sab ke beech mein se nikal kar aaye hain (You know that now nothing is impossible, everything is possible. And the one who has made all this possible is one who rose up from amongst us),” says the wife to her husband in the show.
Yesterday i realized Modi has found another venue to advertise himself. i watch "Bhabhi ji ghar par hain" (that's right, deal with it), this TV serial has started to use some not so subtle Product placement/advertisement recently, but yesterday something else happened
— Victim (Heath Ledger) Floperoi (@VictimGames) April 6, 2019
...1/n pic.twitter.com/hClL6PErvF
The ‘Mumkin-Namumkin’ Wordplay
An excerpt of another popular show Tujhse Hai Raabta tweeted by @MautKaPashinda, shows the main characters promoting the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, which has apparently (according to the show) benefitted more than 15 crore people across the country.
Once again there is a reference to the ‘namumkin’ and ‘mumkin’ – keywords from Modi’s slogan – in the show, and a dialogue that says that this would have been an impossible dream 5 years ago.
— Rohan Desai (@MautKaPashinda) April 6, 2019
While Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! airs on TV, Tujhse Hai Raabta is a part of Zee TV’s shows, both channels are owned by the Zee Group.
According to an insider, though the production companies involved in the scripting and making of these shows may not be supporters of the BJP, they would have no say when it comes to the content that they carry if the diktat to promote PM Modi and his schemes comes from the channel’s top management.
Remember, there is already a full-feature film on the PM titled PM Narendra Modi,an entire web series on Eros Now on Modi, a 24-hour channel NaMo TV dedicated to the PM, besides other media and news channels which unabashedly toe the state’s line.
Added to this, if the government also wants to push its agenda via TV soaps before the general elections, it just exposes an unhealthy streak of desperation in the current establishment.
Courtesy: www.thequint.com
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Congress to have massive organisational reshuffle: KC Venugopal
08-04-2025 ¦
08-04-2025 IST
Ahmedabad, Apr 8 (PTI): The Congress is going to have a "massive organisational reshuffle", AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said on Tuesday as the party's top leaders met here and vowed to embark on the "path of social justice" espoused by Sardar Patel.
Briefing reporters after the extended Congress Working Committee meeting at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial here, Venugopal noted that the Congress has dedicated this year to a complete restructuring of the party organisation and the issue was discussed at length at the meeting.
"We are going to have a massive organisational reshuffle, and there will be guidelines for the same. Our general secretaries and in-charges are on it," he said.
Venugopal also stressed that measures to empower the party's district unit chiefs will be rolled out soon.
"We have already decided on that issue, empowering the DCC presidents and duties and powers of the DCCs has been discussed in various forums, already general secretaries and in-charges have approved the proposals and we are going to roll out that proposal in the near future," he said while replying to queries.
Venugopal said the Extended CWC passed a resolution that "our party will walk on the path showed to us by Sardar Patel ji".
"He stood up against the oppression of the British, fighting for the rights of workers and farmers. He rejected communal forces after Bapu’s assassination. He fought for an India where everyone had fundamental rights and freedoms.
"Today, as we embark on the path of social justice, our Nyay Path follows the same principles laid down by Sardar Patel," he said.
In his opening address at the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also asserted the party's claim to Sardar Patel's legacy and accused the BJP and RSS of trying to usurp it under a "well-planned conspiracy" against national heroes.
Kharge stressed that the Congress is taking forward the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Patel.
"Sardar Patel Saheb lives in our hearts, lives in our thoughts. We are taking his legacy forward. We have organised this CWC meeting in Ahmedabad at Sardar Patel Museum with this thought in mind. We pay our heartfelt tributes to him," he said.
Earlier in the day, AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot told reporters that the Congress intends to create more empowered district units with their presidents having enhanced accountability, responsibility and political strength.
He said that the Congress would fight the upcoming elections with strength and expressed confidence that the Congress and its supporting ideologies would come together to give the BJP and the NDA a tough challenge.
Briefing reporters outside the venue, Pilot said, "The intention of the Congress president and the Leader of Opposition is to create a more empowered district unit."
"The accountability, the responsibility and the political strength that we have thus given to the district presidents is set to be enhanced," he stressed.
The final outcome will be decided after the convention on Wednesday but the intention of the Congress is to make the District Pradesh Congress (DCC) presidents more empowered than before, the former Union minister said, adding the move is aimed at expanding the party's reach in villages, divisions and booths.
"The year 2025 is the year of the organisation to strengthen our workers, expand our party ideology and to make sure that the Congress reaches out in a mass contact programme through padyatras and door-to-door programmes," he said.
The party wants to send a clear message not just to its opponents but to its supporters and workers that the Congress will not step back and fight aggressively both within Parliament and outside, and make sure it wins the next political challenge, Pilot said.
"Elections are fought to be won, the next few elections we will fight with strength and I am supremely confident that the Congress and its supporting ideologies will come together to give the BJP and the NDA a tough challenge," Pilot said.
He said the resolution passed at the end of the session on April 9 will be named 'Nyay Path'.
"Tomorrow' session will write a new chapter in history," he said
The grand old party has announced that the Ahmedabad Session will be themed "Nyaypath: Sankalp, Samarpan aur Sangharsh", with more than 1,700 elected and co-opted AICC members attending the main conclave on April 9 on the banks of the Sabarmati river between the Sabarmati Ashram and Kochrab Ashram.
