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When Delhi Election Campaigning Thrives On Movie Posters

The saffron party on Thursday launched a new attack against its rival AAP with a poster inspiring from OTT series Scam 1992, Indian stock market scam involving Harshad Mehta.

Delhi Assembly Elections Edited by
When Delhi Election Campaigning Thrives On Movie Posters

When Delhi Election Campaigns Thrive On Movie Posters

New Delhi: Amid the verbal duel, allegations, and announcement of poll promises, a poster war broke out between AAP and the BJP as Delhi assembly polls near. Posters inspired by movies stand as a mode of communication to build their narratives and attack opposing viewpoints.

The saffron party on Thursday launched a new attack against its rival AAP with a poster inspired by the OTT series Scam 1992, an Indian stock market scam involving Harshad Mehta. The poster titled ‘Scam 2024’ accused the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal of voter list manipulation. Meanwhile, AAP has been accusing BJP of trying to remove a large number of voters from the electoral rolls ahead of the Assembly elections, and BJP is making the same allegation against its close rival through posters.

Also Read | Kejriwal Running Away From Major Issues: Delhi BJP Chief

 

Sharing the poster on social media, BJP wrote: “Kejriwal’s new game in Delhi! Attempt to save power by rigging votes. The house owner did not know and this fraud had created hundreds of votes on his home address and that too of a particular community (and the age of the new voters ranged from 40 years to 80 years).”

The party accused Kejriwal of “loving fake votes.” The BJP has also called him “Big Fraud,” tweaking “maha thug” as “mahathag.” Earlier, the party referred to AAP boss as ‘maha thug’ following conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s letter to the Delhi Lt Governor in November 2022, alleging that AAP leader Satyendar Jain extorted ₹10 crore from him in 2019 to ensure his safety in prison. In the letter, Jain has called Kejriwal ‘maha thug.’

In response to BJP’s ‘Scam’ posters, AAP released a G.O.A.T.-themed motion poster featuring Arvind Kejriwal. The video placed AAP leader’s face onto a Tamil actor Vijay’s face tracing a scene from the movie, with a government hospital and school shown in the background. AAP presents him as the ‘Greatest Of All Time.’

In another poster, the Delhi BJP attacked AAP leader, accusing him of being a “chunavi Hindu” (Hindu for election purposes) after he pledged Rs 18,000 every month to temple priests and gurdwara granthis as a poll promise.

The party scorned Kejriwal with a poster portraying him in a temple priest-like avatar decorated with rudraksha beads, flower garlands, and covered in vermilion, with incense sticks placed behind his ear. Kejriwal in the poster reminds one of actor Rajpal Yadav’s character in the Hindi film Bhool Bhulaiyaa.

The AAP responds with a detailed poster listing their schemes from education reforms to welfare schemes and comparing with BJP list. “Delhiites, the difference is clear,” AAP wrote on X.

In a post, Kejriwal also asked BJP: “Instead of abusing me, why don’t you implement it in your 20 states, then everyone will benefit? Why do you abuse me?”

BJP has stressed again the fraud narrative against Kejriwal by incorporating poster from Abhishek Bachchan’s Bluffmaster movie. “Delhi’s big thug is cheating people with the help of fake schemes,” the party wrote.

The Allu Arjun starrer Pushpa movie has also inspired posters of both AAP and BJP.

In another poster, Arvind Kejriwal poses as Pushpa, the protagonist of the film, carrying the party’s symbol, ‘jhaadu,’ on his shoulder. The poster featured the slogan “Kejriwal Jhukega Nahi,” based on the iconic dialogue from the film. The poster also read, “4th Term Coming Soon,” referring to AAP’s erstwhile consecutive wins in the assembly polls.

Also Read | ‘Operation Lotus’: Arvind Kejriwal Alleges Manipulation Of Voter List By BJP

In retort, Delhi BJP released its Pushpa-inspired poster featuring the party’s state chief, Virendra Sachdeva, posing as Pushpa sitting on a throne. The poster carried the slogan “Bhrashtachariyon Ko Khatam Karenge” (We will finish the corrupt). The poster also read “Rappa-Rappa,” reproducing Pushpa’s dialogue in the movie.

The political parties employed movie posters to increase voter engagement. The poster campaigns are effectively placed as attacks and counterattacks. Aside from posters, AAP and BJP are also engaging in spoofs and banners at main points in the city to accentuate their political messages to people.

Topics
aap BJP Delhi Assembly Elections election campaigns movie posters

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