Election ads get ugly, BJP mocks 'family of robbers', Rahul slams 'Papa of propaganda'
BJP is churning out election campaign videos parodying Opposition party leaders in a demeaning light. Congress has complained to EC, even as Rahul mocks Modi for BJP's 'stopping a war' advert
With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections merely two weeks away, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is pulling out all the stops to churn out election campaign videos and posts parodying Opposition party leaders in an ugly light. Leaders of the Congress and the INDIA alliance are shown as incompetent, power-hungry, corrupt, and as a 'family of robbers' squabbling among themselves.
A photograph is manipulated to show Congress leader Rahul, who is BJP's favourite whipping boy, as 'casteist'.
Actors have been roped in to dress up and look like INDIA alliance leaders to enact scenarios such as haggling over who will wed a bride or fighting with each other to sit at the head of a table (obviously the PM’s chair). The BJP is trying to drive home the message that the INDIA alliance is in a "mess" and the leaders are incapable of even choosing a PM face.
Modi ka parivar
The Congress seems to have had enough and lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India on April 2 urging them to pull down these “blatantly false” and personal attacks on Opposition leaders.
Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi are also hitting back with witty comebacks on BJP adverts glorifying PM Modi. In one such advert, Rahul mocked a recent BJP advertisement that lionises Modi for bringing back students from war-torn and disaster-hit foreign countries. The ad emphasises that all Indians across the globe are safe as they belong to ‘Modi ka parivar’.
In the advert, a woman, playing the role of a student stranded in a foreign country, gushes to her parents waiting for her outside an airport. “I had told you, whatever the situation, Modi ji will bring us home,” she says, adding that Modi ‘stopped the war, papa, and then rescued our bus’.
Papa of Propaganda
This particular ad is purportedly referring to the government bringing back medical students from the Russia-Ukraine war zone. Though, the ministry of external affairs had dismissed the claim, BJP leaders had said that Modi was the one who had briefly stopped the war to allow the passage of Indian students. In reality, there was a safe passage identified by both countries, which India allegedly used, according to the MEA spokesperson.
Rahul seized the opportunity to post a video of an AAP woman at a gathering to protest against Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, stridently dismissing this BJP ad as ‘propaganda’. In the video she asks sarcastically, 'Modi war rukwa di, then why Modi is not giving jobs?' And, emboldened by the crowd cheering her goes on to rubbish such adverts as sheer 'propaganda'. To which, Rahul posted, “This time the 'Papa of Propaganda' won't be successful, the public itself is ready to show him the mirror.”
Congress files complaint
The Congress has gone ahead and lodged a complaint with the ECI against the BJP’s ‘alarming and brazen violations’. The Congress has cited examples of how false and malicious posts have been created giving the wrong impression about the Opposition leaders.
For example, in one post carrying a photograph of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge reaching for a glass of water, with Rahul seated beside him with his hands folded, the message below the photo says, “Shameful how Sonia and Rahul refused to drink water from a Dalit.”
The Congress said this ad is creating a “misleading impression” in the minds of voters that senior leaders of the INC resort to casteism. This itself amounts to offences punishable under extant electoral laws and the Indian Penal Code (Section 153A: Promoting Enmity amongst different groups), said the Congress complaint to the EC.
The photographs are being cropped in a such a way to emphasise the message they want to create, said the Congress.
In another instance, the Congress has lambasted the video of actors dressed up to resemble INDIA alliance leaders to caption the video as a “family of robbers”. Congress said actors have been used by the BJP to create a fictious narration of events with the aim of misleading voters.
Who's the bridegroom?
One of the most demeaning ads, however, which gained a lot of traction on social media had a woman dressed up as a bride seated before the actors, who were ostensibly INDIA alliance leaders like Kejriwal in a muffler around his head, Akhilesh Yadav, Stalin, Mamata etc. Even as Rahul explains that he has come to ask for her hand, he explains the others are his business partners. And then they start fighting among themselves as to who will be the bridegroom.
'Indian alliance mein fight, main hi dulha hoon right?' The 2.23 minute long video suggests there is no consensus on one common face to fight the Modi-led BJP.
At the end, the woman looks to the camera and replies with a negative shake of her head to the question: 'Do you think they can select a groom, how can they choose a Prime Minister. And for good measure, it wraps up with 'aapki baar 400 paar'.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "The latest BJP ad is a pathetic example of how they look at women’s role in society. The typical stereotype of a woman being all dolled up to impress a groom in an arranged marriage setting. That’s how they see an Indian voter- a woman seeking a groom rather than a government. A woman knows the difference in her political vote and what makes love float." it reduces a woman's role in society.
"Having a woman all dolled up and talking to a particular groom coming with business partners... I think that's making a mockery of how women are presented in this country," she said.
False propaganda
In their complaint the Congress said that the BJP has devised a distinct pattern of advertisements wherein leaders of Opposition Parties have been depicted by actors solely to further its false propaganda.
The very fact that the official handle of the BJP has been posting these false and defamatory videos as part of their election campaign greatly amplifies the gravity of the offence, said the Congress.
On his twitter account, AICC general secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh wrote about the party lodging a complaint against the "BJP’s repeated and malicious use of cropped and distorted videos to malign the INC".
"The ECI was requested to take immediate action against the authors of this low-level campaign, as well as issue instructions for its recall," he added. However, it seems as if the war has just started, as AI-generated memes are yet to make their appearance in a big way.