Piyush Pandey Passes Away At 70: The Man Behind Iconic ‘Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar’ Slogan | India News

Pandey, who died at 70, crafted the ‘Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar’ slogan that became central to BJP’s 2014 campaign and a turning point in Indian political advertising. (IMAGE: X/Piyush Goyal)

Renowned adman Piyush Pandey, who passed away on Friday at the age of 70, was also the creative mind behind the iconic 2014 election slogan “Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar,” a line that became inseparable from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s historic win that year.

Pandey, along with filmmaker Shoojit Sircar and animation expert Manish Sherawat, created a series of 20-second animated shorts and mini clips featuring Modi and the now-famous slogan.

“I needed someone who could keep things confidential and who was also highly creative. Manish and I worked as a two-man team – I would write the script and Manish would make the storyboard,” Pandey had said in a conversation with author NP Ullekh, as quoted in his book War Room: The People, Tactics and Technology Behind Narendra Modi’s 2014 Win.

“The audience was very different – young, energetic, and glued to cricket when these ads were to air. I told the BJP guys I wanted to make an animation film. We would use satire; we would be inspired by cartoonists of the world,” he said.

Pandey created 17 such animated shorts. The first one featured the line: “Bina captain ke team karegi haar / Isliye ab ki baar, Modi sarkar.”

Pandey often described Modi as “an adman’s delight.” Speaking to Scroll, he said, “He is a doer, as evident from his own rallies in the first part of the campaign. He is a person with tremendous energy – would anyone doubt that? He travelled like a maniac; it was insane to see his schedule.”

One of the most recognisable figures in Indian advertising, Pandey still deflected personal credit. He saw himself as part of a larger creative team, not its star. “A Brian Lara can’t win for the West Indies alone,” he once said. “Then who am I?”

The man who changed the language and imagination of Indian advertising, Pandey shaped how brands spoke to Indians. His campaigns for Fevicol, Cadbury (“Kuch Khaas Hai”), Asian Paints (“Har Khushi Mein Rang Laaye”) and Hutch became part of everyday life.

He joined Ogilvy in 1982 after brief stints as a cricketer, tea taster, and construction worker. At 27, he entered an ad world dominated by English – and gave it an unmistakably Indian soul.