The children of Dholakpur have been caught in their share of scrapes but even they could not have seen this one coming. How did Chhota Bheem, Dholakpur’s super-boy, find himself in the war of words between the Congress and the BJP? I&B Minister Smriti Irani scoffed at Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that the Narendra Modi app was a tool of surveillance: Even Chhota Bheem, she said, knew that was not the case.
If Chhota Bheem is here, can Chutki, his closest friend, be far behind? The Congress’s social media cell promptly dredged out a grainy video in which Irani, then a fresh migrant from kitchen-sink soap opera to politics, is grilled by a TV anchor about the number of states in India. Like Gandhi to NCC cadet, she shrugs and says she doesn’t know. Well, goes the Congress jibe, even Chutki would have known that. It isn’t innocuous cartoon shows alone that are being used to frame debates of privacy and accountability. Gandhi set the ball rolling by comparing Modi to Big Boss, the popular reality show where a big brother watches contestants drown in an oil spill of snark and meanness.
Do not eye-roll in indignation, that’s the way cookies crumble — and leave a trail for data oligarchs to tap into.
Politics, across the world, is increasingly about the stardust of personalities scattered through social media. The medium is not just the message, it owns the narrative. To placate the god of likes and retweets, a little pop culture goes a long way. It also helps that Indian pop culture is so closely allied to its love for myths and mythology. In the last few months, Surpanakha has been hurled as a slur at Mayawati while Yogi Adityanath were eulogised as Hanuman. Last heard, Congress has sprung to Gandhi’s defence by calling Bheem as Mahabharata’s hero. BJP leaders might be wondering: Have they ended up giving their bete noire a promotion, from Pappu to adorable boy wonder?
