Online spoofs: Parties battle it out in virtual world
New-age warriors of Congress, BJP are fighting battles on worldwide web
New Delhi: "Kattar soch nahi yuva josh" is replaced by "Koi Soch Nahi, Khali Pili ka Josh" in an online spoof of a Congress advertisement, one of the many parodies flooding the digital space as political parties mock each other in a no-holds barred slugfest.
As political temperatures rise, the new-age warriors of Congress and BJP are fighting pitched battles on the worldwide web, sparing not a single opportunity to take a dig at rivals and deliver their messages to the Internet-savvy 'gen next'.
Even though both parties deny spoofing each other's TV advertisements online, the spoofs seem to be undeniably the work of the rival party.
"Our priority is to display our deliveries. Why would a party for whom everything in the social media is going well, try to disturb the goodwill by creating spoofs? In fact, we have a very strict advisory to not indulge in any kind of mocking or spoofing," Vinit Goenka, BJP's National Co-Convener of IT Cell, told PTI.
However, a political party's cyber team member said, "Spoofs are part and parcel of the campaign as they evoke laughter but drive home the message.
"They should, however, be in good taste and not be abusive and cheap."
The central players in 2014 Lok Sabha polls -- BJP's Narendra Modi, Congress' Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal -- are the main targets of online spoofs circulating in the cyber space.
A spoof of Congress' TV advertisement "Kattar soch nahi yuva josh" (No dogmatic thinking, spirit of youth) was released online mocking the tagline by changing it to "Koi Soch Nahi, Khali Pili ka Josh" (No thinking, just empty enthusiasm).
The spoof went viral on the net and shows a small girl instead of the young college-going girl in the original ad.
The spoof replaces another Congress tagline "Har haath shakti, har haath tarakki" with "Har haath lollipop, har haath rewari".
The parody mocks the youth-centric Congress party referred to as "Dongress party" and its leader Rahul who is depicted as a young boy with a lollipop in his hand.
Another TV advertisement has a 'Mr Giri' comparing the country with a tree. The spoof has Giri, played by a child actor, saying that the country was like a tree, which was being looted for years. Giri then snatches the lollipop from "Kahul" and the Congress tagline "Har haath shakti, har haath tarakki" is replaced by "Har haath hari patti, vikas ko lal batti" (Money in every hand, red signal to development).
Spoofs mocking BJP have also been lapped up by netizens. One such advertisement shows an elderly person saying, "Kuch bhi na sochna, bas lambi lambi phekna, bas apni roti sekna," (Make tall claims) in an apparent reference to the BJP leadership.
The spoof mocks BJP's tagline "Nayi Soch, Nayi Umeed", replacing it with "Na hi soch... na hi umeed... PJP". The spoof ends with a Modi look-alike sharpening knives in trademark RSS knickers.
Another spoof mocks BJP's "Janta maaf nahi karegi" (Public will not forgive) TV advertisement in which a woman in black and white says, "humari betiyon ko suraksha na dene walon janta maaf nahi karegi" (the public will not forgive those who could not provide safety to our daughters).
In the spoof, also in black and white, a woman speaks with the same intensity as the original and takes a dig at the 'Snoopgate' controversy in which a woman was spied upon in Gujarat in 2009 allegedly at Modi's behest.
The woman in the spoof says, "Koi sahib hain jiske ishare par sirf police hi nahi ATS bhi, yahan tak ki us rajya ka Home Minister bhi humari betiyon ka peecha karta hai."
In a hilarious spoof of AAP leader Kejriwal, his rise to power is shown dramatically in the form of a movie trailer. An actor portraying Alok Nath is shown giving tips to Kejriwal to adorn a "garib" look and symbol.
The actor is shown telling Kejriwal-lookalike how to look middle class by "wearing a sweater, borrowing a muffler from his chowkidar and wearing Nehru topi to take on the Nehru family."
The spoof also criticises AAP's political propaganda of "exposing" rival parties.