 "From sparring over Baazigar meme to ad parodies, AAP, BJP and Congress battle for social media eyeballs ahead of Delhi polls")
As the Delhi Assembly polls draw closer, the three major parties in the fray — the Aam Aadmi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress — are engaged in a battle for eyeballs on social media. On Sunday, all the three parties took shots at each other after the AAP tweeted a meme using a scene from the 1993 Hindi film Baazigar.
please sedate me pic.twitter.com/C6b2mD11fz
— Shreemi Verma (@shreemiverma19) January 13, 2020
Recently, the AAP had triggered a spoof-fest with its parody of a cement advertisement that featured Boman Irani in which two brothers try to unsuccessfully bring down a wall — in this case the “Kejri Wall”. The parody advertisement ended with Irani, as in the original, asking why the wall didn’t break and the narrator saying: “Kejri Wall — tutegi kaise? sacchai aur imaandari se jo bani hai (How can it break when its made from a mix of truth and honesty?)”.
KEJRIWALL pic.twitter.com/Jdp62d6ZHL
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) January 8, 2020
The Congress hit back with its own parody of another Irani advertisement for Dulux paints.
झाड़ू के झूठ और कमल की लूट से सावधान रहिये। https://t.co/k85F1Tqsxs pic.twitter.com/0ZD0wPwgJM
— Delhi Congress (@INCDelhi) January 9, 2020
The BJP also came out with its parody version of the Ambuja ad, naming the two brothers — Kejriwal and Kanhaiya Kumar — and the wall between them as “Rashtravaad (nationalism)”. The parody saw the two brothers unsuccessfully try to bring down the wall between their houses by using a tree log named “JNU violence” and explosives named “Jamia riot”. The parody ad ended with Irani asking why does this wall not break, and the narrator says, “Tootegi kaise, 130 crore bharatiyon se jo bani hai (How can it break when it is made up of 130 crore Indians?)”. BJP also released a spoof of popular TV show ‘AAP ki Adalat’ calling it ‘Paap ki Adalat’ in which a Kejriwal-lookalike is put in the dock and asked questions about the failures of his government to which he responds that he knows only how to protest and not run a government.
‘PAAP’ ki Adalat... pic.twitter.com/mpnbi417ay
— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) January 10, 2020
Hitting out at the BJP, the AAP tweeted, “So much effort to ridicule one man. Is this all you got? PS: Boring content. If you need any advice on content or satire please get in touch with us.” The social media confrontation has also turned ugly of late, with the Delhi BJP sending a defamation notice to AAP seeking Rs 500 crore in damages over a tweet mocking the saffron party’s Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari. A video in the tweet appeared to be an edited version of Tiwari’s Bhojpuri albums with “Lage Raho Kejriwal” soundtrack. On the whole, the AAP has largely kept the focus of its campaign on governance issues such as cheaper electricity, improvement in the state of government schools, etc. The BJP’s Delhi unit has also kept the focus largely on local issues, such as the financial woes of the Delhi Jal Board and the failure of the government to build flyovers. However, it has also criticised the AAP over its position on the Citizenship Amendment Act. With inputs from PTI
 "Charlie Kirk, shot dead in Utah, once said gun deaths are 'worth it' to save Second Amendment")
 "From governance to tourism, how Gen-Z protests have damaged Nepal")
 "Did Russia deliberately send drones into Poland’s airspace?")
 "Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages: Qatar PM after Doha strike")
 "Charlie Kirk, shot dead in Utah, once said gun deaths are 'worth it' to save Second Amendment")
 "From governance to tourism, how Gen-Z protests have damaged Nepal")
 "Did Russia deliberately send drones into Poland’s airspace?")
 "Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages: Qatar PM after Doha strike")
