Netaji wants a chill pill

Political rallies have shifted indoors. To avoid the summer heat, they are being held in air-conditioned halls with elaborate lunches and dinners

Netaji wants a chill pill

Political rallies have shifted indoors. To avoid the summer heat, they are being held in air-conditioned halls with elaborate lunches and dinners

Gone are the days when the khadi-clad neta would hold marathon rallies in dusty mela grounds, the sun scorching both the leader and the listener alike.

Today, he doesn't mind indulging in a little luxury, preferring to cool his heels and vocal cords inside air-conditioned banquet halls instead. And to keep his supporters cool as well, there are elaborate meals and bottled water on offer after the dry speeches about development have been delivered. A few even prefer holding evening meetings.

"To avoid the summer heat, candidates are holding their outdoor poll campaigns from early morning till about 11 am. They venture out at 5 in the evening and hold rallies till midnight. To utilise the afternoon, political parties and their supporters organise indoor meetings in air-conditioned halls," said Parag Jain, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee secretary.

The banquet hall meetings, other than offering a few hours of cool, also attract the educated professional voter, who would otherwise avoid political rallies.

"Big public meetings are hardly ever attended by professionals like advocates, doctors, engineers, traders and chartered accountants. Indoor meetings are the only way to woo them. At such meetings, everyone is attentive and it is easy to convey to them the party ideology and manifesto," said Rajiv Babbar, national vice-president, BJP Yuva Morcha, who organised one such meeting at the Westend Banquet Hall, Janakpuri.

Interestingly, the get-togethers are called meetings and not rallies.u00a0 Babbar stressed on the importance of these meetings to woo the young electorate, who wants to hear his leader in comfort. "Middle-class voters and the youth decide the destiny of any politician. And to attract this community, the Bharatiya Janata Party is holding meetings in air-conditioned halls," he said.

Vijender Gupta, the BJP candidate from Chandni Chowk, attends four to five indoor meetings everyday. "It is not the candidate but his well-wishers who organise these meetings. They do not disrupt traffic and we don't need to approach the police for permission. They also allow two-way communication. Both the leader and supporter are respected," said Babbar. Most indoor meetings for the BJP are organised by Friends of BJP, a supporting organisation of the party.

Speeches at these meetings are different too. Do not expect long-winded, verbose tirades against opposition leaders. Parties know that many people do not want to listen to leaders as they have little belief in them. To attract such voters, we invite professional orators, who can influence them," said a BJP party worker, who had invited Aditya Malviya, a banker from Mumbai, at one such meeting.
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But don't expect huge crowds at these meetings. While an outdoor rally may attract more than 5,000 people, an indoor meeting will draw only about 300. "We only invite people's representatives like traders associations' presidents and RWA heads to attract bulk votes," said Babbar.

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