Mumbai: The launch of its election campaign on the social media by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Maharashtra unit (BJP4Maharashtra) with a hashtag #HoyHeShivshahi on Tuesday got seriously trolled by Netizens. The most trolled tweets were on Shivsmarak (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial in the Arabian sea off the coast of Mumbai). Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik was quick to pounce on it accusing massive corruption in the construction of the memorial. Jibes laced with sarcasm as to how not a brick has been laid as yet and Rs 80 crore spent already. Finally it was left to state BJP president Chandrakant Patil to defend the BJP government over the issue.
Out of the four tweets with hastag #HoyHeShivshahi, two were devoted to Shivsmarak which attracted the most trolls and the other one was on funds allocated for restoration work at Raigad fort. While the other one tweet was about the farm loan waiver scheme which too attracted some amount of trolls. Besides the hashtag, the Tagline “Ye Public Hai, Sab Janati Hai” also was trolled quite badly.
In the first tweet the BJP tried to take a swipe at the Congress-NCP led opposition by arguing that the people from whole of Maharashtra are well aware of who played politics over the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. To which some replies included “not a single brick laid, who are these Suryaji Pisal’s who are eager to encash the credit over a memorial that is yet to see the light of the day, with the tagline – yeh public hai, yeh sab janati hai”.
Another netizen replied “without asking got Sardar Patel’s statue, five years have passed, a mason is yet to touch the Shivsmarak”. While another netizen trolled “the people of whole of Maharashtra know who tried to give Shivsmarak (forts) on rent”. The other tweet which the BJP talked about allocation of Rs 606 crore for restoration work of Raigad Fort, was equally slammed. A netizen remarked that even Shivaji Maharaj would not have needed so much money to construct the fort. “The government is giving more than what Shivaji Maharaj took to build the fort. If each village is given Rs 2 crore, then the 303 villages of Raigad district would change forever”, remarked the netizen.
In another tweet the BJP claimed that actionable progress is being made in construction of grand, magnificent memorial of world standards whereby memories are kept alive. To which the replies included “Shivsmarak is a big scandal, not a single brick laid and yet Rs 80 crores have been spent”. While another netizen remarked they (BJP) have realized the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as the polls have neared”.
The tweet on farm loan waiver of Rs 25,000 crore for farm loan accounts of 50.27 lakh farmers, six times more than what was given by previous government (Congress-NCP Govt) was met with a reply “sixteen thousand suicides by farmers”. While the tweet on giving reservation quota for Maratha youths was met with a reply from a MNS follower who remarked “hoy-hee-hitlershahi” (yes this is hitlershahi).
State BJP president Chandrakant Patil who in the afternoon had claimed that on the basis of the huge response that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis the BJP led Mahayuti will get more than 220 seats in the elections on October 21. By the evening, he was left defending the party, arguing that those who ruled the state for 15 years could not construct the memorial is what hurts them. What is even more painful for them is that the heirs of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are joining the BJP. Refuting the NCP allegations that not a single brick has been laid and yet Rs 80 crore were spent, Patil clarified that in the last two to three months basic ground work has been done and that not a single rupee has been paid to the contractor as yet.
