Award Politics Enigma, A Conspicuous Way for the BJP Government to Gain Advantage in Election Campaigns
The election campaign in Tamil Nadu is billowing down to the final stages as we move ahead to the takeaway from the voting polls. The Narendra Modi government seized to take advantage of its opposition by cunningly playing in the masterstroke of Award Politics. Five days to go until Tamil Nadu citizens choose their next government, and Narendra Modi’s council announced the renowned Tamil actor, screenwriter, and producer Rajnikanth as the winner of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The information and the broadcasting Minister under Modi’s regime, Prakash Javedkar expressed bestowed praise for the famed Tamil Nadu actor. While declaring the New Delhi’s Cabinet decision, Javedkar was of extreme contentment as he quoted, “Through his talent and hard work, he has made a space for himself in the hearts of millions of people”.
The Modi government is trying its utmost best to up the ante, and it confines to become a leading player in Tamil Nadu. The government is demanding a helping hand from the ruling party, AIADMK. Considering the praise bestowed on Rajnikanth, it enthralled in the hearts of millions of the actor’s followers. But in the context of the elections, it may be contemplated as one of the quick-witted moves to gain fandom from Tamil Nadu’s local tribes. Although no one could dematerialize the impact of Rajnikant’s journey among filmgoers in India, and elsewhere in the world, the timing of the announcement and the Modi’s government intended political message should not be misunderstood and put in line with the ongoing Award politics for years.
The conceptual understanding should be, we are not trying to demean the achievements of Rajnikanth. The oeuvre of his popular fandom and his inspirational roleplay speak for themselves.
But we are critical about the synopsis of announcing it when the elections are edging closer. The understanding political fraternity gathering is that the government is trying to appeal to the Scheduled Castes(STs) in the State. According to the reports circulated last year, the appointment of L.Murugan as Tamil Nadu’s BJP president and Rajnikanth dwindling in politics are conspicuously interlinked. Is the government trying to gain real supporters or just increasing the majority share in the poll? The real question of many political leaders across India.
“In view of his health and other compulsions, Rajinikanth might be inclined to back Prime Minister Modi and the BJP instead of launching his own party,” the report had said. The report revealed that Rajnikanth is resorting to hand in his government and collaborate with the BJP government. The storyline does not end here, as there are many such eye-revealing backlashes that we sort to look forward to moving ahead in the article. Rajnikanth’s conciliation of launching his party got perceived as a fretful attack on the ruling party’s jurisdiction.
The assertion was also guided towards that Rajnikanth swiftly opted out of politics due to his health deteriorating as the election edged closer. It said that indications from the sources within the Rajni Makkal Mandram had also claimed that Rajnikanth is preparing the ground to join BJP. The reports justified the course of the action plan that took place concerning the actor featuring in films. This came as a shocking catastrophic event as until now no Scheduled Caste political leader has made it big in state politics.
The illusion of the people familiar with matters stated that the appointment of L.Murugan was to turn the tables around in favor of the BJP Government. The Scheduled Castes constitute around 21 percent of the state’s population. Although, even having such large compliance on the State did not give them a privileged portfolio at either the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK) or All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam governments since 1967. Figuring out the lack of impotence of the Scheduled Castes for many years, and then imminently becoming the pivotal personality of Tamil Nadu, certainly has some hidden aspect to it. The framework for Rajinikanth’s party would have been targeted by the protagonists from all sides. Even they would have dematerialized his properties situated at various places across the State. All the retaliation comes down to the endpoint that the decision to award the Tamil Actor with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is just another scripted conspiracy.
The Modi’s Government has devoted its prowess to controlling things quick-wittedly so that no one in hindsight could know about the award politics truth. The timing of the announcements became so precise that with the rallying of campaigns no one could ever notice the reason behind it. And these considerations are not telling facts, but are unprecedented stories which we will further state out in the article.
Award Named after Satyajit Ray
The BJPs flagrant award politics could be spotted in the pipeline for the crucial 2021 West Bengal assembly polls. The crossfire battle of words between West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee and PM Modi is a downright fact. The tension bamboozling the situation is addressed critically across the media houses. In February 2019, The Modi government authorities instituted a national-level film award after the legendary Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray. The writing for institutionalizing another legendary actor for votes was in the making. The Modi Government announced the giveaway when the situations in West Bengal were in an arduous state. The BJP government has drawn out various manipulative plans to take over West Bengal’s reign from the Mamta Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. The congregation got seen as a foreclosed attack on the opposition criticizing them for misleading the people’s interest. But the story got no coverage, as the people did not hand their support of the Modi government.
Ray’s achievements are for the history books and deservedly worthy of a raveling reward, but what must not get overlooked is the shrewdness with which the government sorts its actions out in the region where he is an undisputed icon. India’s Home minister Amit Shah praised the efforts of Satyajit Ray in the film industry. He said the roleplay of Satyajit Ray has been inspirational to many hearts. The Son of Bengal was being awarded the National Film Award in honor of his roles.
Padma Shri Awards
Going by the news reporters, the high number of Padma Shri Awardees in 2019 was a strategic move by the government. And Indian citizens wondered why? The statistics show that in all the four election years held, the number of Padma Shri Awardees was significantly higher than the rest of the years. It brought down the linchpin that the government was surging through the strategy to augment its heroism across different states in India. During the election years, the numbers mount to extravagant figures, which becomes questionable to the government’s integrity. The trend not only prevails in the BJP government but was also the story during the Congress regime. But is it viable to pass on so many awards within the election years to be in power? The difference in the numbers confirmative condemned that the government was trying to influence the voters in the poll-bound states.
The Award Politics is a Vindictive Election Strategy
The Award Politics does not have a direct dynamism in the elections, but the trends would exhibit some skepticism. Throughout the years, the ruling party sought vindictive strategies to engross massive reach from the voters. The BJP government, in the course of winning the election campaign, tried all possible means to channelize the public votes in their direction. Ultimately, the character’s charismatic personality gets the award, and the government expands its heroism across the nation. We are not scrutinizing the award distribution, but what we sought our focal point is that the government has been utilizing these tactics and still going under the radar. The BJP politicians exhibit replication of vicious and opportunistic leaders who try to influence people with strategies that don’t impact their or the State’s growth. In 2019, the Narendra Modi government subsequently adopted the strategy too, giving away 94 Padma Shri Awards, while the preceding average stood out at 76. Such contrary figures raise one question: is the political vengeance brought down to just attaining votes? And has the parties shifted their mojo by not addressing the real issues faced by the nation today? Previously, the voters have withstood the rallies with their mass support, and some section of the people believe that giving awards is a prestigious monumental achievement for their region.
National Awards for films completes the transcript.
Sources claim that in 2019, BJP played a card to gain an electoral advantage in Kashmir. URI: The Surgical Strike, which roleplays the achievements of the Indian Army in Kashmir great massive coverage in the theaters. The lead actor of the film, Vicky Kaushal, was awarded the National Award for the Best Actor for his commendable dramaturgy. His work should not get questioned, and rightly so. The upheaving truth of bewildering politics even continues in the present scenario. Recently, the Panga Film Fame Kangana Ranaut was singlehandedly holding the fort on Twitter for the Modi Government. The protests against the three contentious farm laws enforced by the Modi Government welcomed comments from blockbuster stars across India. She was the one holding firm in support of the council. While till now, it’s crystal clear that these Awards are not only awarded for prestigious procurement but have political vandalism written all over them. The resentment went on further when another award-worthy candidate got drawn into the channels of dirty politics. The significant film in Bodo, Jwlwi- The Seed, got ignored. Rajni Basumatary got triggered by this decision enforcing her to pen down a letter to the chairman of the National Awards Committee. The negligence resembled that the political framework has confronted the National film awards with a list of preferable candidates.
Slightly different slant in Some Indian States
In the context of rounding up the series of events, the government delineated the last trick in its locker- enrolling the candidate who was not worthy of contesting the elections. BJP is also playing its proven tactics in another poll-bound state. Kerala is on the verge of welcoming assembly elections on April 6. BJP is working on a resentful action plan to gain votes in Kerala. The Council Members sought to pick the metro man E.Sreedharan as its probable chief ministerial candidate. One may ask why the government is not propounding to giveaway another award to any Malayali icon. The shrewdness in the roleplay resembles the one adopted recently in Assam. The proposal called for scrutiny among the opposition as the same incident had happened back in 2004. BJP put up Hazarika as the probable candidate despite knowing well that he might not withstand the mounting pressure of the elections. The false narrative dwelled the communities even further into the government’s support, and there was no holding back then. The BJP’s plan in Kerala with Sreedharan may be fruitful if we look at the previous instances. Almost ten years after the surpassing of the notion in 2004, the BJP pocketed the colossal amount of Lok Sabha seats in a state where many of its probable candidates even lost their security bearings.
