What's new in Gujarat? That the joke is now on Modi

A few days ago, a video of Gujarat minister Babubhai Bokhiria went viral (Video attached). He was seen on a stage, telling his audience that when India became independent in 1947, a majority of senior Congress leaders wanted Narendra Modi to become the Prime Minister.

This led to another round of 'Modi humour' in the state where, for the first time in 17 years, people are freely targeting the ruling dispensation through jokes and sarcastic messages. Till now it was the Opposition Congress, and to some extent the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), that was the butt of these jokes.

It was a slip of tongue: Bokhiria apparently was talking about Sardar Patel. But a people fed up with two decades of Modi's 'I-me-myself' decided to have some fun at his cost.

So right now there are 'Pages from Bokhiria's Diary' doing the rounds amid tea stall gossip on the streets of the rural and semi-urban landscape, while in urban centres it is the social media that is being put to use.

These pages make fun of Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The most popular of these says – “The British came to know that Modi was to be born in 1950. So they decided to leave India in 1947....... from the Diary of Babu Bokhiria.”

There is a message doing the rounds that goes – “A hen cannot live without laying eggs and a monkey cannot live without jumping around. In the same way, Modi cannot move without making false claims.”

To add to the masala, the people have also added Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan's tall claims that roads in his state were better than those in the United States. A message being circulated says – “Modi is worried as he now has competition in Shivraj who can make bigger false claims.”

The 'jumla' of Rs 15 lakh in every bank account that was propagated by the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is finding its way in the jokes in a big way.

“If you have faith in BJP please lend me Rs 2 lakh. I will return it whenever Rs 15 lakh come into my account,” is one such sarcastic message doing the rounds.

This is for the first time that the people in the state are taking everything coming from the Vijay Rupani-led BJP government in the state with a pinch of salt.

The Muslims are wary of attempts by certain elements to polarise the electorate on communal lines and there are jokes and messages warning what all could be expected on these fronts. There is a joke on the apprehension that arrests of 'terrorists' will become more frequent as the poll approaches. It says, “As the polls are approaching, Vikas aka development has joined the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS).”

The apprehensions of the community as well those who have been observing the political developments in the state since Modi became the chief minister in 2001 have been well aired in a message that says that if things do not go the BJP way in the campaign, several things can be expected. These can be:

– A strife between Hindus and Muslims

– Some kind of decision related to the Ram Janambhoomi issue

– A Vijay Yatra

– A cabinet reshuffle at the Centre

– Induction of a Patel leader while offering the reservation 'lollypop'

– Twisting the statements of Rahul Gandhi's speech to prove him and the Congress anti-Hindu and anti-Gujarat

– Initiating a CBI probe against a Congress leader

– Inviting a foreign head of state to make an announcement of investing Rs 25 lakh crore to Rs 50 lakh crore in Gujarat.

According to the message, the other things that can be expected are –

– Petrol prices being reduced

– Arrest of 'terrorists' planning to attack Modi

– Reports of 'terrorists' entering Gujarat

– Recovery of bombs (whether they are capable of going off or not)

– Another 'surgical strike' somewhere

– Offering sops to farmers while making fun of those from Uttar Pradesh

The message further apprehends that Modi might weep on a couple of occasions to prove his love for Gujarat and then offer an economic package worth lakhs of crores. The message ends with the tagline “Aavya pacha chhetarva” (He is back to dupe us again). (Video on apprehensions being sent separately).

Butt of most jokes

An interesting aspect of this poll humour is that this time, a majority of it has the BJP and Modi at its centre.

The BJP's social media army has been unable to counter the onslaught effectively till now. The BJP supporters have been circulating some jokes that also include a caricature of 'Pappu Sena' that shows the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Vice-president Rahul Gandhi with Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Other Backward Castes (OBC) leader Alpesh Thakor and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani.

But caricatures that are the most popular are those of Modi where he is shown as a Pied Piper, a man obsessed with media coverage etc.

Commenting on this trend in political humour, a political observer told Catch –

“ The people have always had fun at the cost of politicians. However, what has come to develop as a trend in the state is that you treat the leader whom you support as a demigod and lampoon all others. This is something that was encouraged by the Hindu right wing in context of Modi over the last 17 years and now it is coming back a full circle. Such messages though full of humour actually spell discontent among the people. Otherwise, why would the old political jokes that targeted Rahul Gandhi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal in the past get circulated again with Modi as the target?”

The polls are still more than a month away. Whatever the results, the Gujaratis are not letting go any opportunity to make fun of the ruling party.

Edited by Jhinuk Sen