The release of animated videos by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, targeting the opposition Congress and the Muslim community, has stirred complaints and outrage amid India’s ongoing election fervor.
Shared on social media platforms like Instagram and X over the past ten days, these videos, disseminated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), portray the Congress as favoring India’s minority Muslim community over disadvantaged tribal and Hindu caste groups.
The Congress, lodging a complaint with the Election Commission, asserted that the video was deliberately aimed at inciting unrest and fostering animosity between religious groups.
Mutually agreed-upon guidelines among political parties during elections prohibit the propagation of “mutual hatred” among caste, religious, or linguistic groups. However, manipulated videos, including fake content featuring prominent Bollywood stars criticizing the prime minister, have emerged as contentious issues in this election cycle.
Responding to these concerns, the Election Commission cautioned parties against the misuse of AI tools to create deep fakes and instructed them to promptly remove such content upon notification.
Modi, BJP’s Hindu-nationalist face vying for an unprecedented third consecutive term, initially focused his campaign on the government’s economic performance and welfare initiatives. However, his rhetoric shifted after the first phase of voting on April 19, becoming more polarizing along religious lines.
Accusing Congress of planning to redistribute wealth from Hindus to Muslims, Modi labeled Muslims as “infiltrators” with “more children.” The BJP’s recent videos reinforce this message, one of which has since been removed.
One video, garnering over 8.5 million views, depicts a character resembling Congress leader Rahul Gandhi feeding “funds” to a bird in a skullcap, while pushing other birds representing disadvantaged groups out of the nest. The Congress has filed a police complaint against BJP leaders over this video.
Amit Malviya, BJP’s head of information and technology, defended the video, suggesting that it was an effective means of disseminating the Congress’s manifesto. However, critics like Nitasha Kaul, a politics professor at Westminster University, likened the video to propaganda reminiscent of 1930s Germany.
While the Congress manifesto pledges to address economic inequality through socio-economic caste census and affirmative action, representatives from the Election Commission, BJP, and Congress declined to comment on the matter.
