Reels prepared exploiting Artificial Intelligence have started taking the centre stage in this year’s Assembly poll campaigns depicting some leaders as cartoon characters or as villains of old popular Bollywood movies, some as ‘funny mistress’.
AI is leveraged to amplify the campaign narratives in this district has first been kicked off by the ruling Trinamul Congress. Memes, too, are on the pipeline, the TMC sources said.
The Trinamul Congress’s digital warriors have already surfaced two AI driven video clips where the sitting MLA, Asansol (Dakshin) Agnimitra Paul and Jitendra Tiwari – the saffron party’s candidate for Pandaveswar Assembly Constituency in 2021 have gone viral.
During his door-to-door campaign, residents in parts of the coalfield areas reportedly had shut their doors on Tiwari’s face and refused to engage last week. Soon after, reels were surfaced portraying Tiwari as Gabbar Singh, the iconic antagonist from Bollywood blockbuster Sholay, with ‘panicked’ villagers hurriedly closing doors as he arrives — a satirical take suggesting fear and rejection. Tiwari said: “I have enjoyed the clip. It’s surely a newer experience for me.” Narendranath Chakraborty, MLA, Pandaveswar said: “It’s innovative and the clip has reflected the current status of Tiwari in Pandaveswar.”
As political mercury shoots gradually up in poll-bound Bengal, Durgapur and Asansol have emerged as a showcase of the Trinamul Congress’s trademark campaign style — sharp humour and satire, now amplified by artificial intelligence.The Trinamool Congress is targeting Agnimitra Paul, BJP MLA of Asansol South, accusing her of prolonged absence from her constituency through sharp, new-age messaging that has drawn wide public and political attention.
A digital campaign, “Didibhai, tomar dekha nai” (Didibhai, you are missing), has been uploaded by the TMC, tapping into local discontent over the MLA’s alleged inaccessibility and infrequent visits. Using AI-generated music and videos, the campaign employs humour and irony to portray Agnimitra Paul as a ‘missing MLA’.
The narrative gained momentum after a 27 seconds video went viral showing Agnimitra Paul unable to name the locality she was campaigning in during her ‘Paray Paray Didibhai’ drive, reinforcing the criticism that she is unfamiliar with her winning constituency itself. Paul reacted sharply saying: “I will lodge a complaint with the Election Commission as I apprehend they may use my voice to prepare nasty contents.”