Development talks missing in UP poll campaign as offensive acronyms galore

Campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections will go down in the pages of electoral history for the offensive acronyms being used freely to attack political opponents.

The long haul electioneering took off on a healthy note with leaders of major parties raising issues like development, corruption, note ban and law and order.

But, the serious poll plank soon gave way to personal jibes almost to the extent of calling names, giving new definitions and abbreviations to tar the image of opponents.

In this quest for scoring a brownie point in the eyes of the electorate, the national leaders took lead in making headlines by hook or by crook.

Taking the lead, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his rallies repeatedly said 'SCAM' stood for SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati and dubbed Mayawati's BSP as 'Bahujan Sampatti Party'.

Not to lag far behind, Akhilesh came out with his own take on SCAM, saying it stood for 'Save Country from Amit (Shah) and Modi'.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, however, said SCAM meant 'seva, courage, ability, modesty' attracting more criticism than making headlines.

Not in the habit of taking things lying down, the BSP supremo had no qualms in giving a personal retort naming PM as "Mr Negative Dalit Man" for Narendra Damodardas Modi to brand him anti-Dalit.

Akhilesh Yadav's remark on the donkeys of Gujarat asking 'Main sadi ke mahanayak se appeal karta hoon ke Gujarat ke gadhon ka prachar mat karein (I appeal to the superstar of the century to not campaign for the donkeys of Gujarat)' was taken as more loaded than witty.

"Ek gadhe ka vigyapan aata hai, main iss sadi ke sabse bade mahanayak se kahunga ke ab aap Gujarat ke gadhon ka prachar mat kariye (There's an ad on TV which shows donkeys. I appeal to century's biggest star...Please stop endorsing donkeys of Gujarat)," Akhilesh had said.

"What will happen if the donkeys also start getting advertised?" the UP CM had asked the audience.

SP's popular 'kaam bolta hai' campaign has been facing all round flak with the prime minister asserting that it is "not kaam (work) but karname (misdeeds)" which do all the talking for the UP government.

Rahul drawing on the strength of the alliance with the SP gave a filmy twist to Prime Minister's 'achche din' saying "people thought he was Shahrukh Khan of DDLJ and after three years he turns out as Gabbar Singh of Sholay".