Social Buzz: The manifestos’ battle, food choices of leaders and PM Modi’s day out with gamers

The BJP vs Congress manifestos battle

As the Congress released its manifesto – called the ‘Nyay Patra’ – for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was ready with its jibes, calling it a bundle of lies. “Ek kahawat hoti hai aah ko chahiye ik umr asar hone tak, yahaan to chaar umr guzar gayeen aur ab wo keh rahe hain ki ab wo kamaal kar ke dikha denge (There is a saying it requires a lifetime for a sigh to have an impact, but here four lifetimes are over and they are saying now they will perform miracles),” the saffron party’s national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said.

The striking similarity between Congress manifesto, Muslim League’s charter of 1936 and Jinnah’s 14 points proclamation of 1929 is not a coincidence. Congress is the new Muslim League and that is why Rahul Gandhi is more comfortable in Wayanad than Amethi.pic.twitter.com/ir0k1uiyBs

— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) April 7, 2024

However, the criticism did not stop there as their manifesto was also linked to the Muslim League. Following Prime Minister Modi’s comments, Amit Malviya, while sharing a video on X (formerly Twitter), wrote: “The striking similarity between Congress manifesto, Muslim League’s charter of 1936 and Jinnah’s 14 points proclamation of 1929 is not a coincidence. Congress is the new Muslim League and that is why Rahul Gandhi is more comfortable in Wayanad than Amethi.”

Cut to a week later, as PM Modi unveiled the BJP’s manifesto, called “Sankalp Patra”, the Congress were ready with their jibes. Calling it a “jumla patra”, the party said: “None of the past governments have suffered the ‘disease’ of shifting goalposts as the BJP. Whatever you said in 2014, you gave no account of that in 2019, and in 2024 you’re talking about 2047. They (BJP) have written in the manifesto that they’ll host the 2036 Olympics. Where will you be then, will you even be in the government? You should give an account of the past 5 years and talk about the coming five years.”

कांग्रेस का ‘न्याय पत्र’ Vs भाजपा का ‘जुमला पत्र’ pic.twitter.com/sGySj0D8cm

— Congress (@INCIndia) April 14, 2024

कर्ज माफी

• कांग्रेस: किसानों का कर्ज माफ करेंगे ✅
• BJP: किसानों का कर्ज माफ नहीं करेंगे ❌ pic.twitter.com/FYyZxUNvCV

— Congress (@INCIndia) April 14, 2024

They also shared multiple images on X, drawing a comparison between the two manifestos.

Food for thought

In the past week, Tejashwi Yadav trended twice across social media platforms over his food choices. So did Kangana Ranaut.

Following a video in which Tejashwi Yadav was seen eating fish during one of his election campaigns, he faced a lot of backlash, especially from the BJP. “You are eating fish during Navratri. What message do you want to send? You eat whatever you want, fish, pig, pigeon, elephant or horse. What is the need to show? This is only for votes, for appeasement politics. They think people of a particular religion will vote for them because of this. Lalu ji, I request you to handle such people,” Union Minister Rajnath Singh had said at a party meeting at Bihar’s Jamui.

हैलो फ्रैंड्स,

आज हेलीकॉप्टर में नारंगी पार्टी हुई।
Orange के रंग से तो वो नहीं ना चिढ़ेंगे? #TejashwiYadav #Trending #Viral pic.twitter.com/FlhuyMhM6f

— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) April 10, 2024

Soon after, Tejashwi responded sharply while having an orange in his helicopter. “Hello friends, there was an orange party in the helicopter today. They won’t be irritated by the colour orange, right?” the RJD leader said while sharing the video on X. Former minister Mukesh Sahani, who was accompanying Tejashwi, said in the video: “We are having oranges today. The BJP will have issues with this too. They will find a religious angle in this too. Shouldn’t we eat or drink at all? They say it’s our bhagwa colour, but it’s not just yours, but ours too. If it’s an edible item, we will eat it.”

Kangana Ranaut, too, remained at the centre of social media controversies this week as she attempted to dismiss rumours of her consuming beef.

I don’t consume beef or any other kind of red meat, it is shameful that completely baseless rumours are being spread about me, I have been advocating and promoting yogic and Ayurvedic way of life for decades now such tactics won’t work to tarnish my image. My people know me and…

— Kangana Ranaut (Modi Ka Parivar) (@KanganaTeam) April 8, 2024

Taking to X, Ranaut said, “I don’t consume beef or any other kind of red meat. It is shameful that completely baseless rumours are being spread about me. I have been advocating and promoting a yogic and Ayurvedic way of life for decades. Now, such tactics to tarnish my image will not work. My people know me, and they know that I am a proud Hindu and nothing can ever mislead them.”

When PM Modi turned into a gamer

You’ll see him campaigning across the length and breadth of the country, chairing multiple meetings and interacting with people from different walks of life, but hardly ever has PM Modi been spotted trying his hand at video games.

This week, some of India’s top gaming influencers met the prime minister. While the meeting included roundtable conversations about the issues facing the esports and gaming industry, it ended with the 73-year-old trying his hand at VR (virtual reality) and mobile games.

Had a wonderful interaction with youngsters from the gaming community… You would love to watch this! https://t.co/TdfdRWNG8q

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 13, 2024

When the gamers suggested that PM Modi adopt a gamer tag, he quipped, “India has already given me the name ‘NaMo’.”