The Kerala BJP landed itself in an embarrassing situation after the release of its campaign song for the month-long 'Padayatra (foot march)' it is organising ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The song could be heard criticising the central leadership and calling it "corrupt". The BJP has since removed the song from its official social media handles, and the party leadership clarified that it was a "mistake".
The Kerala BJP is conducting a statewide foot march to highlight Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “guarantees".
After the song created a furore, BJP's Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar took to X (formerly Twitter) to say it was a "mistake", and that no action was being taken.
"Kerala media should probe before printing news about BJP or for anybody. The matter in Ponnani is a simple local mistake of playing the song prepared against UPA government in 2013. such mistakes happen in newspaper also every day. No action is required. ‘Aayega to Modi’," he posted.
Meanwhile, the song is still available on the social media, and is being widely shared.
"Let's join hands to destroy the central government's rule, which is famous for corruption," went the lyrics of the song released on Kerala BJP's YouTube channel.
The padayatra, led by Kerala BJP president K Surendran, will cover all 20 Lok Sabha constituencies and conclude in capital Thiruvananthapuram on February 27.
Prior to the song gaffe, the party had faced recently another controversy after it printed mistakes on its posters for the padayatra event, according to reports. The party had to discard and destroy the entire stock because posters read 'LDA' instead of NDA.