Come elections, the mocking Meme fest begins to take down political opponents

From portraying Narendra Modi as Thanos and Rahul Gandhi as his nemesis the Iron Man, to using Artificial Intelligence to recreate scenes from old Bollywood movies as a parody, memes are becoming a key tool in political strategies to connect with Gen Z and millennial voters leading up to the 2024 elections.

BJP, for instance, used AI to recreate an old patriotic Hindi song in the voice of late singer Mahendra Kapoor. This received over 2 million views. AAP recently posted memes trolling BJP leader Manoj Tiwari with an edit to his song Rinkiya ke papa.

Political parties’ official Instagram accounts are full of such content to mock their opponents even as they paint their respective leaders as heroes. For instance, Congress recently posted a meme depicting Modi as the villain Thanos from Avengers Endgame, with Rahul Gandhi cast in the heroic mould of Tony Stark. The caption reads, “Against the injustice! The roar of justice! INDIA Avenges….”

The meme-gen

Harish Bijoor, Business & Brand-strategy expert, says, “Gen Z is a meme-gen for sure! They live with the real and the unreal equally! Though it is hollow on the believability factor, it is big on the entertainment value. And therefore it lives and thrives. Especially during election time.”

While memes serve as a form of comedic expression, the Priyanka Sharma incident serves as a reminder of the potential legal ramifications. Sharma, a BJP activist, was allegedly arrested for sharing a morphed image of Mamata Banerjee on social media; she was later granted bail by the Supreme Court.

Often memes lack sensitivity and get flak. For instance, when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was admitted to hospital following an injury sustained in an accident, it was met with a wave of memes insinuating a pattern of conveniently-timed injuries before elections.

The memes don’t click always– as only an aware set gets the jokes. As Jai Angurala, a Mumbai-based student says, “Their effectiveness in conveying a particular agenda may vary depending on the audience’s familiarity with the referenced trends. For younger demographics immersed in internet culture, memes serve as a powerful tool for publicising agendas, seamlessly blending humour with messaging. However, for those less attuned to online trends, the impact may be lost, with memes appearing as nothing more than puzzling images paired with witty captions.”

 Lloyd Mathias, Business Strategist & Independent Director said, “Memes are generally harmless entertainment, snarky comments on current issues which evolved into tools to influence thinking. The viral success of memes amplified instantly on social media and chats make them perfect opinion influencers. Naturally political memes have begun to become a part of the arsenal of political parties’ IT cells.GenZ who get most of their information digitally, find memes an easy fun take on issues.”

He further added, “With nearly 2 crore (185 million as per the Election Commission) first-time voters, cleverly crafted political memes can help influence the narrative substantively in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. Memes lend themselves to sharing and can subtly shape opinions about people and policies. Hence, they have a big ability to influence voters, many who may not have the inclination to study an issue deeply.”

COMMENT NOW