New Delhi, April 4: The India Shining campaign may not have added any shine to the BJP’s performance in the last Lok Sabha elections. But that doesn’t matter — the ad was a hit.

So the party is at it again. This time, it is making itself heard on the radio, trying to woo the electorate in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi with lucid Hindi verse.

The strategy: go for the subaltern and the rustic, make them smile and drive home the message that electing the BJP is their only chance at good governance.

“Saavdhaan! Kahin aisa na ho ki aap kuen se nikle, khai me gire/ Mula-Yamraj se bache aur Maya-jaal mein phanse/faisla aapka koi aur nahin, sirf Bhajpa/ Kalyan hain sankalp/Bhajpa hain vikalp/ Kamal ka button dabaiye, Bhajpa ko jitaiye.”

Roughly translated, the poem cautions voters against climbing out of a well and falling into a gorge by choosing Mayavati, a web of illusion, over Mulayam Singh, the god of death. Therefore, it says, the only alternative is the BJP, whose mission is development. Press the button with the lotus (the BJP symbol), the poem urges, and make the party victorious.

The voice is that of Mukesh Khanna, the actor who played Bhishma in the serial Mahabharata and later became every Indian child’s favourite superhero as Shaktimaan. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar said the objective was to attract people. “The humour is intentional.”

Many feel the India Shining campaign did not work because of lack of content, not because there was anything wrong with the concept.In Delhi, FM stations are lending the BJP a voice. “Delhi gul ya Congress gul (either Delhi will be destroyed or the Congress)” declares one campaign before going hammer and tongs at price rise.

The BJP’s research has shown that 32 per cent people don’t read newspapers while only 40 per cent have access to TV. “But 90 per cent have access to radio,” said the party’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge, M. Venkaiah Naidu.