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India On Media |
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| Politics
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| BJP's 'Chai pe Charcha' aims |
| BJP's 'Chai pe Charcha' aims to convert Congress barb into asset
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| INDIA
, 14-February-2014
3:50:56 AM |
| Many tea vendors like Jaiveer Jasiwal, whose grimy family-run stand can be found in the old Delhi, dream of bigger things. But few ever thought one of their own might one day rise to be a candidate for prime minister.
Thanks to an ill-advised political barb from Congress lawmaker Mani Shankar Aiyar, who mocked the BJP's Narendra Modi's time as a chai wallah (tea boy), tea stands have been thrust centrestage in a bitter campaign for the national elections due by May.
On Wednesday night, Mr Modi began Chai pe Charcha (Discussion over Tea), which saw him slurp a glass in Ahmedabad and take questions about governance.
The event was broadcast to tea stands and their working class clients across the country in 300 cities, including Jasiwal's, a stone's throw from the Red Fort in Delhi.
"He (Modi) represents people like us who have small means, but big dreams," said Jasiwal, 28. "And if he can do it and I can sort of do it, then anyone can do anything. PM, doctor, teacher, actor, anything," he said.
Mr Modi, 64, is pitching a message of jobs, development, aspiration and social mobility.
One of his perceived assets is his background as a lower caste former tea boy from western Gujarat who rose through the ranks of grassroots Hindu organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS to become the prime ministerial candidate for the BJP.
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