To intensify its campaign for the upcoming general elections to local bodies in the state, the Congress has created 20 AI-generated videos that animate issues the party wants to highlight, including demolition, infrastructure accidents and health incidents.
For example, one such video created by artificial intelligence (AI) imagines a bulldozer saying, “I am a bulldozer of the Bharatiya Janata Party. During the Congress rule, I was used for development work, but today the Bharatiya Janata Party is using me to demolish people’s homes. Congress will not demolish without rehabilitating the people. Habay toh samjo leiy ao panjo (understand better and bring the Congress).”
Conceived as an antidote to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “Bulldozer for Dada” campaign, which refers to and credits Prime Minister Bhupendra Patel’s government’s demolition of illegal properties belonging to criminal suspects, the Congress wants to send a message to the communities it claims are victims.
A meme about the collapse of a new overhead water tank in Surat district in March reads: “I am the corrupt water tank of the Bharatiya Janata Party. If you put water inside me, it will collapse. If you want a ‘proper’ water tank and drinking water, get rid of the Bharatiya Janata Party and call Parliament.”
“Our focus has been to ‘remember and reconnect’ with local people by highlighting micro-issues through social media campaigns,” Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Chairman Amit Chavda told The Indian Express.
The issues cited by the party include the Morbi Bridge collapse that killed 135 people, the Rajkot TRP Games Zone fire that killed 27 people, and last year’s Gambhira Bridge collapse that killed 22 people. Harni boat tragedy in Vadodara that caused the death of 12 school children and 2 teachers. and a crackdown on fake paneer and food products.
But some party leaders admit they don’t know whether these methods will turn out votes in their favor. The Bharatiya Janata Party has been in power in Gujarat’s local governments for at least 30 years, with exceptions such as the 2015 elections, when elections swung in favor of the opposition, largely due to Patidar quota agitation.
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Elaborating on the campaign, Chairman of Parliament’s social media department Boman Butt said, “We are reaching out to voters through short AI videos on issues like food adulteration and Morbi Bridge collapse. This is very different from previous campaigns. Usually, a manifesto is released and political leaders focus on the manifesto and make their statements. The AI videos have been created to address issues and grab people’s attention.”
Bhatt added: “We are deploying a three-pronged approach. [to our campaign]: Deniers attack the government for its failures. Positive things, our efforts. And a comparison between the Congress rule era and the present. ”
Party leaders have acknowledged that the main focus this election season will be on capturing people’s attention through social media rather than physical campaigning.
Kunal Shah, co-founder of Bestsellers Strategies and political strategist who has been associated with the party since 2016, revealed the strategies used to create this campaign, saying, “We know there is fatigue, but how do we express the emotions of voters?” “These 10-15 second videos are legally sound creatives developed using a software application. No deepfakes or anyone’s voice are used,” he told reporters.
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The party has created 20 AI-generated videos, but has released only 15 so far.
“In addition to specific incidents such as Morbi, Gambhira and Harni, very local issues ranging from roads to drinking water, which can be used across the state, are used as subjects in the videos,” Kunal added.
But Butt also said: “While we can still be confident in the breadth of these campaigns, how many votes they will ultimately garner is a question in itself.”
