Re-formatting the message

The publicity section of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh was in a tizzy when the party came to power at the Centre. That's because it had to abruptly change its standard line on the central government's decisions. For as long as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had been in power at the Centre and the BJP ruled Chhattisgarh, the latter's publicity department followed a template. When the rail and general Budgets were presented by the UPA government, the publicity wing would routinely criticise the Budget and quote Chief Minister Raman Singh saying it had ignored the state's interests and was not people-friendly. When the Narendra Modi government came to power and presented the two Budgets this month, the publicity wing had to draft a new format. Predictably, this had "quoted" Raman Singh saying the Budgets were people-friendly, addressed the interests of Chhattisgarh and would accelerate economic growth.