To bolster its campaigning for the upcoming general elections to local bodies in the state, the Congress has created 20 AI-generated videos that animate issues, such as demolitions, infrastructural mishaps and incidents of health hazards, that the party wants to highlight.
One such video made through artificial intelligence (AI), for instance, imagines a bulldozer talking: “I am the BJP’s bulldozer. During the Congress rule, I was used for development works, but the, BJP, today is using me for demolishing people’s houses. The Congress will not demolish without rehabilitating people. Havey toh samjho layi ao panjo (better understand now, bring in the Congress)”.
Conceived as a counter to the BJP’s ‘Dada no bulldozer’ campaign, which refers to the demolitions of illegal properties of alleged criminals by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel-led government and show them as achievements, the Congress hopes to send across a message to communities that have claimed to be the victims.
A meme on the collapse of a newly built overhead water tank in Surat district in March says: “I am the BJP’s corrupted water tank; I will collapse once you fill water in me. If you want a ‘solid’ water tank and drinking water, remove the BJP and bring the Congress.”
“Our focus has been to “recall-and-reconnect” with locals through our social media campaigns by highlighting micro issues,” Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Amit Chavda told The Indian Express.
The issues that the party has drawn from are the Morbi bridge collapse, which killed 135 people in ߦ the Rajkot TRP game zone fire, which killed 27 people in ߨ the Gambhira bridge collapse last year, when 22 people died; the Harni boat tragedy of Vadodara, which caused the deaths of 12 schoolchildren and two teachers; and the crackdowns on fake paneer and food products.
However, some party leaders admit that they are not sure if these methods will turn into votes in their favour, as the BJP has been in power in the local self-government bodies in Gujarat for at least three decades, with exceptions like the 2015 elections when the tide turned in the opposition’s favour, largely because of the Patidar quota agitation.
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Detailing about the campaign, the chairman of the Congress’s social media department, Bhuman Bhatt, noted, “We are talking about issues such as food adulteration, Morbi bridge collapse…through short AI videos to reach out to voters. This is very different from our previous campaigns. Normally, manifestos are released, and political leaders speak with a focus on the manifestos. The AI videos have been created to address issues and catch people’s attention.”
Bhatt adds, “We are deploying three approaches [to our campaign]: the negatives, to attack the government on its failures; the positives, our commitments; and the comparison, of what was during the Congress rule and what is now.”
The party leaders also admit that its focus this election season is mostly on capturing people’s attention through social media over physical campaigning.
Revealing the strategy used in creating this campaign, political strategist Kunal Shah, who is the co-founder of Bestsellers Strategies and has been associated with the party since 2016, told this reporter, “We know there is a fatigue, but how to express and show that voter sentiment was a challenge that we addressed through AI. These 10-15 second videos are legally sound creatives developed using a software application. No deepfake or someone’s voice has been used.”
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While the party has created 20 AI-generated videos, it has released only 15 so far.
“In addition to specific incidents such as Morbi, Gambhira, Harni, hyper-local issues—from roads to drinking water—which can be used across the state have been used as subjects for the videos,” Kunal added.
Bhatt, however, also notes: “While the reach of these campaigns is something we can still be sure of, how many votes will we gain by the end is a question in itself.”
