© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
An image of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel playing the popular mobile game Candy Crush Saga set off a heated political exchange on Wednesday.
The game involves eliminating candies in rows of three to five. To get a higher score in the game, you need to put together candies of the same type, earning points along the way. It is one of the most popular online games and ranks among the highest-grossing mobile games.
On Tuesday, BJP IT in-charge Amit Malviya shared a photo of Baghel playing the game on his phone, saying the CM was “relaxed” knowing “that no matter how much he fights, his government will not come to power”.
“Perhaps that is why instead of paying attention to the meeting related to Congress candidate selection, he thought it appropriate to play CANDY CRUSH,” Malviya said.
Baghel did not hold back. He said that earlier the BJP used to object to him for walking on ‘gedi’ — when someone balances himself on two long poles and walks with it — or playing gilli danda. “I will walk on gedi, play gilli danda, Candy Crush is also my favourite. I have reached a decent level in that and will continue to play. Chhattisgarh knows whom to bless,” the CM posted.
He added that the BJP had an objection to everything he did. “In fact, they have objection to my existence,” he said, adding that “it is the people of Chhattisgarh who decide who will stay and who will not”.
When a user on the social media commented, “My daughter says playing candy crush is kinda meditation, and it gets her more creative and productive at work !! And, I can see that clearly”, Baghel replied: “God bless her”.
Former BJP CM Raman Singh then hit back: “… Bhupesh ji, you have been “playing” with Chhattisgarh for the last five years… Now that the code of conduct is in place, if you can’t play scam games, you are playing Candy Crush. Amazing, in five years, you are at level 4,400 of Candy Crush, and your government is at level 420.”
Baghel is not the first politician to have landed with sticky fingers over the mobile game. In January 2021, during online pandemic response meetings with then Chancellor Angela Merkel, German leader Bodo Ramelow had drawn ire for admitting to playing Candy Crush.
The head of the eastern Thuringia state from the hard-left Die Linke party, he made the confession during a closed meeting on the audio chat room app Clubhouse. Ramelow said, “some people play Sudoku, others play chess or Scrabble on their phones, and I play Candy Crush”, according to German media reports.
Ramelow didn’t earn himself any favours by going on to describe Merkel as Merkelchen, or “little Merkel”.
Further back, in 2014, two years after Candy Crush was launched, Sun tabloid of the UK carried a picture of MP Nigel Mills playing the game on his tablet during a Work and Pensions Committee session on pensions. As per the report, he was at it over a period of two-and-a-half hours.
Mills, a committee member, admitted playing the game and told the newspaper he would try not do it again. But he later apologised “unreservedly” for his behaviour. In a statement, the MP for Amber Valley said: “… I realise it fell short of what is expected of a Member of Parliament. I guarantee it will not happen again.”
Across the Atlantic, controversial American senator Ted Cruz has admitted playing “a lot of computer games”, listing his favourites as Plants vs. Zombies 2, Alien Creeps and Candy Crush.
