Form of words:
NSuestion: What comes to your mind when you read the word ‘Abba’?
It never seemed like the wording would impact ‘Modi’s Mission UP 2022’, or that it would dictate the TV news cycle this week, replace #TalibanTerror as the dominant headline, and focus on the Uttar Pradesh assembly election. Next year.
For Indian English-speaking adults over the age of 45, ‘Abba’ refers to the Swedish pop group that recently reunited after 40 years to record a new album and host a virtual show. Millennials, unfamiliar with the band, simply break into the songs of the movie Mama Mia.
For Muslims and those who belong to UP, it means ‘father’. Well, the word has made it the mother of all political controversies since Sunday, when UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath used the word ‘Abba Jaan’ in a rally in Kushinagar sarcastically – the claim was made by those who claimed that ‘Abba Jaan’ ‘ was the only recipient. Ration under previous UP governments.
By Wednesday, another family member was dragged to the ground: ‘Abba Jaan vs Chacha Jaan,’ announced CNN News 18, After Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Rakesh Tikait called Hyderabad MP and AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi ‘uncle of BJP’.
Akhilesh Brother On Tuesday he had already accused the Adityanath government of criticizing – to the delight of news channels – ‘Abba Jaan politics’ (CNN News 18) went from breaking news to prime-time debates on Hindi and English news channels.
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A wonderland called UP. is called
Yogi Adityanath will be very happy. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the kingmaker in UP, Yogi Adityanath has been its newsmaker in the last few months. His sheer visibility has been staggering.
You see him here, you see him there – you see Adityanath’s speech everywhere. Sundays and Mondays were excerpts from his ‘Abba Jaan’ speech; Then, there is Yogi with Modi, or rather Modi with Yogi, there are video and photo sessions. On Tuesday, he was a step behind Modi at the foundation ceremony of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh University, where he praised Modi, who “praises” him.CNN News 18). On Wednesday, he was the guest Times Now Navbharat Sammelan in Lucknow (Akhilesh Yadav was also there but we will come to him a little later).
Almost every day there are announcements of Yogi on new schemes or decisions of the government to make UP great again. Such announcements are frequent and widely covered by Hindi news channels, especially those that focus on Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – Prime News, India Voice, Jantantra TV, Network 10.
And then, of course, there are ‘special features’, a euphemism for a paid news item – on almost every single news channel of any note, Hindi or English. We can only guess crores of rupees that should go into the long-running ad campaign – not to mention a generous source of income for Covid but grateful news channels.
Almost every time a news channel ‘slips’ into a commercial break, Adityanath and his myriad achievements are on display before us: women swoon at his generosity (and of course Modi’s); The farmers take advantage of his rule; Children prosper under their parental gaze – the state changes completely, beyond recognition. According to these promos, everything is bright and beautiful in Yogi’s UP.
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what the headlines hide
This sunny view of India’s most populous state blinds us in the dark of afternoon for many families in Firozabad and Mathura where a dangerous form thought to be dengue is a sad reality. channel like India Today/Aaj Tak, NDTV 24×7 And India News Been tracking viral fever for some time – bodies of children were carried on stretchers (NDTV 24×7), serpentine queues of people in hospitals (India News), and the health infrastructure on the verge of collapse (India Today). Wednesday, times now Found ‘Mystery Fever Grip Firozabad’ and CNN News 18 India Took information about patients waiting in government hospitals.
This news headlines and receives coverage throughout the day India News But this is not the case on other channels where ‘Abba Jaan Politics’ is the headline news and dengue is thought of a second or later.
Almost no one thought of the 20 year old Dalit woman who was raped and assaulted Hathras A year ago on September 14th or so. Remember? Close your eyes and you can see, once again, his lonely pyre On fire His family was not even allowed by the local administration to attend a cremation in the forest on a dark morning. It Wasn’t ‘Breaking News’, Tuesday – Was there a past reminiscence or even an update on the current status of the case against the four accused? It was there, it was overshadowed by PM Modi’s visit to Aligarh and Adityanath’s ‘Abba Jaan’ rhetoric.
Yogi Adityanath talks about the glory of his leader and his own ‘achievements’ in the advertisement. Meanwhile, the opposition is mostly absent except at press conferences and tweets tweeted by Akhilesh Yadav – or an interview with him. The Congress rarely appears in the frame unless Adityanath takes a dig at it as he did on Sunday – calling it the ‘mother of terrorism’.
Aaj Tak is what you see on television so far appears to be the story of the UP election: in a strong BJP poll position, the Samajwadi Party is trying to hold on to the turning point, and both are outclassing the Congress. after the lap.
Where are you, Priyanka Gandhi?
(edited by Prashant)
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