Modi courts young millions as poll momentum falters

In a bid to broaden its appeal, India's ruling party is pumping out online games, TV parodies and cartoons carrying divisive messages.

- Maroosha Muzaffar

The Instagram video begins with a stern-looking cartoon of Narendra Modi staring down the barrel of the camera, appealing for Indians to lend him their “massive support at this hour”.

With stirring music and an impassioned voiceover, it uses menacing-looking caricatures of sword-wielding Muslims to warn that Modi’s opponents want to “snatch the wealth of nonMuslims” and “distribute it to Muslims, their favourite community”.

The animation was released by the official social media account of Modi’s BJP party with the country’s marathon general election already underway. Though it was later taken down amid public outrage for demonising a minority religion, it mirrors similar messaging in the prime minister’s own rally speeches and was followed by another video on similar themes posted on the party’s Twitter/X profile.

Another reel on the BJP’s Instagram page features a parody of Shark Tank India, the most-watched Hindi-language non-fiction show in the country in the past year, with 12.5 million viewers. In the video, the “contestants” pitching to the judges are India’s main opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party. They are mocked by the judges, before being shown a BJP manifesto. At the end of the clip, each judge pledges not an investment, but “my support for Modi”.