Lyricist Javed Akhtar, known for speaking on various controversial issues, on Tuesday ridiculed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s UP election slogan, saying it contains three Urdu words.
Taking to his Twitter, he wrote, “Nice to see that the slogan of UP BJP ‘soch imaandar kaaam dumdaar’ has out of four three urdu words , imaandar , kaam and Damdar.” (Imaandar means honest, kaam damdaar means solid work).
Assembly elections are to be held in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. Ahead of the elections, the UP BJP launched an online campaign with the slogan ‘Soch Imandar Kaam Dumdaar’, which touts the achievements of the Yogi Adityanath government.
It may be recalled that in October, Javed Akhtar had brushed off the controversy over popular clothing brand Fabindia, in which the company had to withdraw an advertisement for using the Urdu phrase ‘Jashn-e-Riwaz’.
“I fail to understand why some people have a problem with Fabindia’s Jashn-e-Riwaz, which in English means nothing but a ‘festival of tradition’. How and why could this be a problem for anyone? This is crazy,” he had tweeted.
Fabindia had canceled an advertisement after receiving strong backlash from BJP and several right-wing groups who accused the clothing brand of “harming the Hindu festival of Diwali”.