New Delhi: The social media battle is fast getting heated up ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls with the AAP triggering a spoof-fest with its parody of a cement advertisement that had featured Boman Irani in which two brothers try to unsuccessfully bring down a wall – in this case the ‘Kejri Wall’.
The parody advertisement ends with Irani, as in the original, asking why does this wall not break, and the narrator saying, ‘Kejri Wall – tutegi kaise? sacchai aur imaandari se jo bani hai (How can it break when it’s made from a mix of truth and honesty?)’.
The Congress hit back with its own parody of another Irani advertisement for Dulux paints, while the BJP jumped in with its parody version of the same Ambuja advertisement used by the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
The high-stakes tussle for power in the national capital is also being hotly contested in the virtual world with parties’ social media warriors battle-ready with their ‘weapons’ of parodies, memes and hashtags.
“Especially in an urban constituency like Delhi, it is very important to have a well defined social media strategy. We have been blessed that we have been frontrunners in that,” said AAP social media strategist Ankit Lal.
“About 200 volunteers from across the globe comprise the core team working on different social media platforms for content creation and ideation for the Delhi Assembly polls,” Lal added.
The AAP’s spoof of the original Ambuja cement advertisement caught eyeballs and triggered a spoof-fest among the political parties. While playing the original advertisement, the AAP’s media cell added titles to the characters and changed the voice over at the end.
The two brothers, both played by Irani, living in two houses side by side, which in the parody are named the BJP and the Congress, unsuccessfully try to bring down the wall between them by using a tree log named ‘Lieutenant Governor’ and explosives named ‘CBI raid’.
The Congress hit back, tweaking a Dulux paints advertisement that had featured Irani in which he praises his son in front of his prospective daughter-in-law for being a ‘double M.A’ and speaking with cab drivers in English. But she tells him his house behind him seems ‘fourth class fail’.
In the parody, Irani is named ‘BJP’ and his ‘”double M.A. son’ is ‘AAP’, while the likely bride represents the people.
When the likely bride says “Daddy ji aapka ghar toh chauthi fail lagta hai (your house looks class four fail), the voiceover, with ‘Kejri Wall’ written in the background, says ‘if there are cracks and fungus in your home, we present Indian National Congress which is two times jumla-proof and two times hypocrisy-proof, meaning double protection.”
Reacting to the ad, the AAP shot back, saying ‘well tried but…’, and posted a still from the movie Gangs of Wasseypur 2 with the dialogue ‘beta tumse na ho payega (Son, you will not be able to do it)’.
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 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 ends 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.
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 result of this online battle will be won December 11 when counting of votes take place after polling, December 8.
Agencies