Jhumla Gira Re, BJP ke Sirpar

New Delhi, Feb. 5: The cow jumped over the moon. That's a jumla.

The BJP is being skewered on social media after Amit Shah described Narendra Modi's campaign promise on black money as a " jumla".

In the context of Shah's interview to ABP News, jumla means "a mere sentence, not to be taken literally". The word is pretty much like the ditty from the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle.

Literally, jumla, which has Arabic origins, can be a phrase, a form of expression used in sher o shayari or an idiom. On the social media, the interpretation has taken free form - loosely construed to suggest "an election gimmick".

Asked about Modi's promise of bringing black money back within 100 days of coming to power and distributing it among the people, Shah said: "Modiji's statement was a election jumla that was given during the Lok Sabha polls. Everybody knows that this black money doesn't go to accounts of people."

In Swahili, jumla means "generalities" - perhaps the meaning closest to what Shah meant.

But Goa-based pharmaceutical scientist Gaurish Vaglo wasn't ready to let go of the comment. He asked the BJP to clarify the difference between their "promises" and "jumlas".

"BJP's ship in Delhi has hit the iceberg...So can @AmitShahOffice please tell us which of #Modis promises are #Jumlas," Vaglo tweeted.

Manish Raizada, a Delhi-based neonatologist, compared the " jumla comment" to "betrayal". "Amit Shah says Rs 15 lacs in each a/c was election 'Jumla' perhaps to make pre-poll speech impressive! Can there be a worse betrayal?"

Delhi-based writer Bharat Doshi tweeted a list of Modi's promises, which he now fears would soon turn into jumlas - "good governance bhi ek #jumla", " achchhe din layenge sabse achchha #jumla", "56 inch ka sina bhi #jumla tha."

AAP member and music composer Vishal Dadlani seemed happy with the timing. "Delhi citizens being approached by BJP for vote-buying, should demand 15L each! Then still vote AAP, tell BJP " yeh toh chunaavi jumla thha".

Delhi-based Pooja Jha tweeted: " Acha hua Jumla kaha....varna Jokes bhi bol sakte the.... (Good that he said jumla, he could have said it was a joke)."

Dell executive Babita Gyamtso summed up the mood on the social media: "Buzzword of the day - Chunaavi Jumla... Bahut mehenga jumla raha, cost each Indian citizen 15 lakhs each."

This is the third time in as many days that a BJP gaffe has caught the imagination of social media users. 
The BJP vision document described the people of Northeast as "immigrants". 

Union minister Venkaiah Naidu's comment that the Delhi elections were not "a referendum on Modi" was seized upon as evidence of jitters in the party.