Cong aims to 'win hearts' with 'Ab Hoga Nyay' campaign

The Congress on Sunday announced 'Ab Hoga Nyay' (now justice will be done) as its battle cry for the Lok Sabha polls and launched a campaign centred around the theme of 'justice', while alluding to the party's proposed minimum income scheme and the 'anyay' (injustice) 'prevailing under the Bharatiya Janata Party rule'.

The campaign places Congress chief Rahul Gandhi at its core and reflects his style, which is informal, real, and helps him connect easily and genuinely with people, the party said.

The themes covered in the campaign include the 'Nyay' scheme, poverty eradication, jobs for youth, farmers, women's reservation, simplified goods and services tax, universal healthcare, education and startups, as promised in the manifesto titled 'Congress will deliver'.

As a special feature of the campaign, thousands of container trucks with Congress campaign advertisements on them will take the party's message to various parts of the country starting Sunday.

The campaign will be centred around 'Nyay', which not only alludes to the Congress' minimum income scheme but encompasses justice to all sections of society, party leader Anand Sharma said.

"People were promised 'achche din', but they have had a harrowing time under this government.... A large section of society was kept from their constitutional rights.

There is a cry for justice in the country," he said, while emphasising 'the campaign will focus on winning hearts'.

Sharma said the party has followed the Election Commission guidelines and taken all necessary permissions for its publicity.

The campaign's main theme song 'Main hi toh Hindustan hoon' has been penned by Javed Akhtar.

While the campaign film has been directed by Nikkhil Advani and the cinematography is by Tushar Kanti Ray, the concept and script was provided by Anuja Chauhan, and the music was composed by Arjunna Harjai, the Congress said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, members of the campaign panel as well that of the core committee were involved in brainstorming the campaign strategy, Sharma said.

Advertising agency Percept is behind the publicity campaign, he said, adding a young team also worked for the party as part of its digital media campaign.

Its campaign on digital media platforms is being taken care by SilverPush, while other supporting agencies involved in the campaign include Design box and Nixon, he said.

'NYAY or justice is the underlying theme of the campaign calling for justice for the poor, unemployed youth, farmers, women, Dalit and Adivasi brothers and sisters, businessmen ruined by GST, and justice for each of us who have been lied to and taken for granted by the present government whose time has run out,' the Congress said in statement.

'NYAY' stands for 'Nyuntam Aay Yojana' or minimum income scheme under which the Congress' has committed Rs 72,000 into the bank accounts of five crore of the poorest families annually.

All visual elements in the campaign featuring Rahul Gandhi are from his interactions with people from all walks of life over the past few years, it said.

Party leaders said it is a 360-degrees cross-platform campaign that includes TV films, cinema spots, radio jingles, hoardings and digital screens, print advertisements, social media and public transport.

It also has regional adaptations in six vernacular languages, including Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Assamese, and Malayalam.

Members of the publicity committee interacted with civil society organisations, farmers, students, lawyers and a cross section of society, said Sharma, flanked by other members of the panel and senior leaders Motilal Vohra, Rajiv Shukla and Randeep Surjewala.

"The 'Nyay' campaign promises justice to youth, farmers, entrepreneurs and all those who have suffered injustice at the hands of the Modi government," he said.

The Congress has also come out with a number of campaign videos targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party government's policies such as note ban, its 'hollow promises', and 'rhetoric'.

One of the videos also traces the Congress' legacy and achievements of the past.

"People are scared of talking over phone, there is an atmosphere of fear," Sharma said, adding 'nyay' (justice) was the need of the hour.

He said in 2014, one of the factors was the BJP's money power which played a major role in its victory.

"We could not counter them. The BJP is the biggest advertiser of country. We cannot match them in money power... We will beat them on truth and in connecting with people," he said.

On nationalism, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not have the sole right to talk about it and the Congress has lost two prime ministers while protecting the nation.

Referring to the prime minister's statement on anti-satellite missile test, he said, "PM Modi did not bring the technology from Ahmedabad on May 16, 2014. India's space programmes had begun during Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure.

"Nuclear tests were conducted first under Indira Gandhi. The country's first satellite Aryabhata was launched in 1975. These people (BJP) have a habit of bragging. That's the difference between us and them."

Training his guns on Modi, Surjewala said, "We got a 'prachar mantri' for five years. He spends crores on publicity."

Slamming the BJP government's Pakistan policy, the Congress chief spokesperson said Modi went to Pakistan without invitation and the ISI was "invited to probe" the Pathankot terror attack.

The armed forces belong to India and not to Narendra Modi, he said.

On Modi remarks regarding the Congress' Nyay scheme, Surjewala alleged, "Modi ji is disrespecting farmers. He is against the move which aims to benefit 25 crore people. He doesn't want money to reach women beneficiaries."

He also dared Modi for an open debate with the Congress leadership on the minimum income scheme.