Modi’s Face Absent in Ad Featuring Yogi-Gadkari: What’s the Deal?

Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam

On 11 September 2018, there was a full-page advertisement published in various English and Hindi dailies. But there was something amiss, something that has been usually omnipresent so far – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has graced every government advertisement for the last four and a half years, the very reason why many people are talking about his conspicuous absence in a government advertisement – that too, one which talks about vikas.

Two Things to Note in the Advertisement

First, the advertisement talks about a hefty expenditure of Rs 1,505 crore, along with the construction of two stretches of a national highway in Saharanpur and the development of Uttar Pradesh. Mind you, we're talking about the same Uttar Pradesh which contributed 71 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, thereby opening up the doors of Delhi to the BJP.

Second, the advertisement features the images of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.

Now, it can't be a mere coincidence that both these leaders are seen as close to the RSS and distant to PM Modi.

You would remember that the BJP lost the two high-profile seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur in the by-elections held in March 2018. In fact, Gorakhpur was Yogi Adityanath’s home bastion, which he had never lost since 1998. In these elections, Modi distanced himself from any campaigning. Some even said that the PM deliberately let Hindu Hridya Samrat Yogi Adityanath lose, so that he is kept under ‘control’.

Now let's talk about the second picture, which is of Nagpur MP Nitin Gadkari. Gadkari's proximity to the Sangh is well-known and it is because of this proximity that he is the only minister at the Centre who acts on his own volition. He is considered to be the boldest minister in the Modi Cabinet.

Speculations about the PMO's efforts to 'clip the wings' of Gadkari also keep doing the rounds.

Something Seems to be Wrong

You must have seen that Modi leaves an indelible mark on every high-profile event of the government. It doesn't matter which ministry the event comes under, or who is the minister in-charge, the image of the prime minister looms large in the posters. But there are exceptions sometimes.

In May this year, the inauguration for the Delhi-Meerut expressway was done by Narendra Modi. But this comes under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, so Nitin Gadkari was seen in an equal number of pictures.

While the BJP claims that Modi ji's image exists in every heart, we should know that there is a message which comes in an advertisement such as this.

All in all, the advertisement featuring Nitin Gadkari and Yogi Adityanath's smiling faces clearly says that there is something within the BJP which is not quite right. And that there are some people who are clearly making their presence felt.

Ministry Officials Clarify

Responding to the controversy over this advertisement, Transport Ministry officials have clarified that it is as per the SC guidelines on government ads and that there is nothing unusual about it.

If there's a photo of the PM, then it cannot have a minister's photo, and if there's a minister's photo, then the PM's picture cannot be there, they said.

They added that if it is a state government advertisement, then a union minister's photo is allowed, along with that of the CM.

(This story was first published on Quint Hindi and has been translated by Kabir Upmanyu.)