Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, May 9: With just two days left for the crucial Karnataka elections, a confidential document making the rounds within the RSS Mangaluru unit has revealed explosive data on how the BJP is making a last-ditch effort to capture votes in Mangaluru North and South constituencies.

According to informed sources, the document, a copy of which is in possession with daijiworld, was allegedly sent to RSS workers from an email id reportedly belonging to an architect who is also one of the principal consultants with the Mangaluru City Corporation. Sources claim that the person is an ardent fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had campaigned for the BJP in earlier elections too, though he is not directly associated with the party. It is not confirmed whether the document was sent by him alone, or if other non-BJP persons also circulated the same.

The document titled 'Support Modi - The Silent Campaign' is exactly what it sounds like - a silent, clandestine formula to systematically target voters, especially the fence-sitters (who may or may not vote) and make them vote for the BJP. The document attempts to lure volunteers by appealing to their sense of patriotism, by claiming that 'These are trying times…. There is a systematic attempt to defame what we are all proud of – OUR COUNTRY …. BHARAT MAA (sic)."

It tells th volunteers that the systemic 'defamation' begins with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and progresses to BJP, RSS, Hindutva and India, in that order.

Explaining the purpose of the 'Silent Campaign', the document says, "It’s time to do our bit to strengthen the hands of the PM by getting BJP to power in Karnataka. This is not the old BJP…. It is the BJP under the guidance of MODI and AMIT SHAH – It can give an able and non-corrupt administration for KARNATAKA and for the welfare of MANGALURU (sic)."

The Concept

The document lists a number of points on how to go about silently campaigning for the BJP, without being openly associated with it. The campaign mainly targets the undecided potential voters and those who may opt for NOTA (none of the above).

This is what the document states:

- Silent Campaign is to campaign without publicity and without claiming to be associated with BJP (but identifying with RSS).
- The main aim is to target fence sitters (they include the persons who are not inclined to vote, the persons who have not yet decided as to whom to vote and the persons who are planning to vote for NOTA) and also to provide details of the persons who have commitment to vote for BJP
- The target for each volunteer is to identify 100 heads of families / deciding persons in the families (minimum of 50 persons) who have not yet decided to vote, but could be made to vote for BJP, thereby to reach out to 50,000 family heads (minimum of 25,000 persons)
- Target is to have 500 volunteers to do Silent Campaign for the BJP candidates of Mangaluru South and Mangaluru North assembly constituencies.
- The persons introducing the volunteers are considered as coordinators.
- The representatives of RSS shall communicate with the Coordinator on any issues related to the respective Volunteers and the coordinator shall in turn communicate the same to the Volunteers of his group.
- The detailed roles and responsibilities of the volunteers and coordinators shall be spelt out and they are expected to do Silent Campaign for 3 to 4 hours daily till the date of election.

The volunteers chosen for the campaign shall be those with 'deep committement' to PM Modi and the country, it states. Each volunteer is told contact at least 20 persons (friends / relatives / neighbours / colleagues / associates) every day and identify BJP voters and fence sitters among them. Their target is to contact and identify 5 to 10 fence sitters daily and convince them to vote for BJP candidate thereby to reach out to 50 to 100 fence sitters and convert them to BJP voters.

They are also told to collect the EPIC number (of voter ID) and in the absence of voter ID, collect the name, father's name and door number of the voter. The names and contact numbers of at least 200 BJP voters are communicated along with details of fence sitters and BJP voters through a WhatsApp group. Reminder calls are then made at least once on the previous day and on the day of election to ascertain that they have voted.

But it doesn't end with mere campaigning. The architects of the silent campaign have a whole lot of strategy planned to taget voters, mosly revolving around projecting Congress in a bad light and appealing to the voters' religious and caste sensibilities. The volunteers are told to use a '10-point Mantra' to convince them to vote for BJP.

The 'Mantra' is as follows (as mentioned in the document):

i. Targeted defamation of Hindu religion and the religious leaders by Congress and other parties

ii. RSS is a nation building organisation which is being projected as a terrorist and rapist organisation

iii. Only the needs and demands of Muslims and Christians are heard. Hindus are considered as second-class citizens.

iv. Systematic attempt is made to project Hindus as terrorists to create fear in the minds of Muslims and Christians and to alienate Hindus from them

v. Systematic attempt is made to divide Hindus on caste basis and to promote infighting among the different castes to create vote banks for Congress

vi. There has to be unity among all Hindus and attempt has to be made to make Muslims and Christians understand that we have to live together as Indians

vii. BJP has to be voted to power in the state for an able and corruption free government under the guidance of Modi and Amit Shah

viii. For the overall development of Mangaluru, BJP has to come to power in Karnataka. Congress has neglected Mangaluru

ix. The present Congress government in the state is the most corrupt government which has looted the state and provided only some freebees for political gains. No plans or commitment for the overall development of Karnataka and Mangaluru

x. This election is crucial since this will be the preamble for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and for Modi to come back to power. Otherwise we will be getting joker like Rahul Gandhi and his bunch of corrupt and useless politicians who have no vision for India.

According to media reports, there are over 220 volunteers carrying on the silent campaign in Mangaluru. When a mediaperson contacted RSS spokesperson Rajesh Padmar in Bengaluru, whose number was given by Mangaluru representatives as the person to contact for the campaign in the capital city, he flatly denied RSS involvement in the campaign. He even denied that there was any such campaign at all, and said RSS was not involved in any electoral campaign for anyone, but added that there was a possibility that some RSS workers may have been involved.