 "For PM Modi, it's payback time in the humour games")
The role of jokes in politics cannot be underestimated. Any political leader would kill for a well-structured joke, delivered at the right time. Great orators often use their wit to win their audience over. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself proved to be an expert, cracking jokes on the ‘Shehzaada’ and 'Damaad' at will during last year’s election campaign.
Jokes might exaggerate certain aspects or features of their subjects, but they help drive home the message faster and wider. Well written jokes can help communicate a complex subject to the commoner much better than a wordy edit piece in a newspaper or on online blogs such as this which sometimes don’t know where to stop for lack of a word limits. Often the compulsion to fill a certain amount of space often makes writers ramble.
Jokes don’t suffer from this problem; they can end anywhere they want – at 45, 112, even 140 characters, if you will.
The BJP social media campaign for 2014 elections effectively used jokes on Rahul Gandhi to spread the message of his alleged incompetence. The several memes on Rahul, ‘pappu’ and ‘shehzaada’ went viral on Twitter, Whatsapp groups and Facebook, especially after the infamous interview with Times Now’s Arnab Goswami.
Gandhi’s fumbles were exaggerated and the jokes helped embellish a narrative of Modi’s challenger being a dim-witted, low IQ, dynastic politician. However, now these Gandhi jokes somehow do not have the same effect they had then.
On the other hand, nobody joked about Narendra Modi like this Sandipan Deb piece said: www.livemint.com/Opinion/pxDO59SC4aD1HCHe0VbZsL/Modis-motivational-message.html
But one year on, the Prime Minister is getting repaid in his own coin. And how!
Modi jokes are painting the town red. Even the Gandhi scion is full of them.
Earlier this week, Gandhi, after meeting Congress chief ministers, spoke to waiting media. Tongue firmly in his dimpled cheek, he said, “’Make in India’ ka logo achaa hai. Bahut bada sher hai. Magar sher ka awaaz sunayi nahi de rahi hai” (Make in India has a good logo. It has a large lion. But no one can hear the lion’s roar).
This is not the first time Gandhi has made fun of Modi and his government’s policies. Ever since his return from the mysterious 56-day sabbatical – some say it was a Vipassana break – he has been having the time of his life thumbing his nose at the government calling it ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’, ‘NRI Prime Minister’, and so on and so forth. He even went to the extent of saying that Modi had such little idea about how the economy works that he had to take lessons from his predecessor Manmohan Singh, shortly after a recent meeting between the two.
Social media is flooded with jokes on the PM. While some of these are spread by political rivals, many are from the crowd. Modi’s foreign trips, which he began soon after swearing in, have been a fertile subject for joke writers.
One said: “Breaking News: After visiting, Seychelles, Australia and Mauritius, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Delhi for a short trip of India.”
Some combined Modi with Sachin Tendulkar:
Modi : Happy Birthday Sachin!
Sachin : Arrey sir, aap yahaan, India main?!#HappyBirthdaySachin (Sir, what are you doing here in India!)
The following was a cartoon by Satish Acharya on black money. It shows Modi declaring during the campaign “Ek Ek paisa wapas laaoonga (I will bring back each paisa of black money). In the second panel, it shows Modi bowing before a judge, saying “Ek Ek Pai count karne mein time Lag raha hai (It’s taking a while counting each paisa)”, in a satirical reference to the government’s backtracking on the black money issue.
There was one on his obsession with cameras which shows how, when he spots a hidden camera in a Fabindia store, breaks into a speech starting “Mitron…” in his usual style of address and underscoring his love of speech giving.
Another joke popularized by Raj Thackeray in the early days of the Modi government, which returned after the completion of one year, was regarding Modi’s tall promises.
A husband tries to woo his wife saying he will take her out for shopping, movie etc and she snaps at him saying “Chal Jhootey, Modi Kahinka” in which the PM is equated with a liar.
Each of Modi’s pet schemes such as Jan Dhan, Make In India, Swachch Bharat have all survived their share of joke attacks. His (in)famous suit with his name embroidered into the pinstripe, the headgear he is fond of and his photos wearing Keanu-Reeves-in-Matrix style shades while poking a finger at Xian’s Terracotta warriors are other favourite subjects of internet jokes and memes.
#despitebeingawoman trended all day after his recent foot-in-mouth comment in Bangladesh.
The faux pas of too much chest thumping after the military action in Myanmar border is going to spawn its own set of Modi jokes. And as International Yoga Day approaches, where Modi has said he will do perform yoga in public, jokesters are no doubt licking their chops in anticipation.
It is true that people like to make fun of people in power and jokes on them work better than those on opposition. But losing the humour games must be worrying the PM. It is also not good for the exchequer as it is will only end up pushing the government into a vicious cycle of further spending on public relations, photo ops and advertising, which will then spawn more jokes.
Don’t worry Modi saab, this yoga day we will do a Surya Namaskar and pray to the sun god that you get your sense of humour back.
To quote yourself, may the force be with you.
Jokes might exaggerate certain aspects or features of their subjects, but they help drive home the message faster and wider. Well written jokes can help communicate a complex subject to the commoner much better than a wordy edit piece in a newspaper or on online blogs such as this which sometimes don’t know where to stop for lack of a word limits. Often the compulsion to fill a certain amount of space often makes writers ramble.
Jokes don’t suffer from this problem; they can end anywhere they want – at 45, 112, even 140 characters, if you will.
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With social media tools such as memes and short videos, jokes have now gone multimedia.
The BJP social media campaign for 2014 elections effectively used jokes on Rahul Gandhi to spread the message of his alleged incompetence. The several memes on Rahul, ‘pappu’ and ‘shehzaada’ went viral on Twitter, Whatsapp groups and Facebook, especially after the infamous interview with Times Now’s Arnab Goswami.
Gandhi’s fumbles were exaggerated and the jokes helped embellish a narrative of Modi’s challenger being a dim-witted, low IQ, dynastic politician. However, now these Gandhi jokes somehow do not have the same effect they had then.
On the other hand, nobody joked about Narendra Modi like this Sandipan Deb piece said: www.livemint.com/Opinion/pxDO59SC4aD1HCHe0VbZsL/Modis-motivational-message.html
But one year on, the Prime Minister is getting repaid in his own coin. And how!
Modi jokes are painting the town red. Even the Gandhi scion is full of them.
Earlier this week, Gandhi, after meeting Congress chief ministers, spoke to waiting media. Tongue firmly in his dimpled cheek, he said, “’Make in India’ ka logo achaa hai. Bahut bada sher hai. Magar sher ka awaaz sunayi nahi de rahi hai” (Make in India has a good logo. It has a large lion. But no one can hear the lion’s roar).
This is not the first time Gandhi has made fun of Modi and his government’s policies. Ever since his return from the mysterious 56-day sabbatical – some say it was a Vipassana break – he has been having the time of his life thumbing his nose at the government calling it ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’, ‘NRI Prime Minister’, and so on and so forth. He even went to the extent of saying that Modi had such little idea about how the economy works that he had to take lessons from his predecessor Manmohan Singh, shortly after a recent meeting between the two.
Social media is flooded with jokes on the PM. While some of these are spread by political rivals, many are from the crowd. Modi’s foreign trips, which he began soon after swearing in, have been a fertile subject for joke writers.
One said: “Breaking News: After visiting, Seychelles, Australia and Mauritius, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Delhi for a short trip of India.”
Some combined Modi with Sachin Tendulkar:
Modi : Happy Birthday Sachin!
Sachin : Arrey sir, aap yahaan, India main?!
The following was a cartoon by Satish Acharya on black money. It shows Modi declaring during the campaign “Ek Ek paisa wapas laaoonga (I will bring back each paisa of black money). In the second panel, it shows Modi bowing before a judge, saying “Ek Ek Pai count karne mein time Lag raha hai (It’s taking a while counting each paisa)”, in a satirical reference to the government’s backtracking on the black money issue.
There was one on his obsession with cameras which shows how, when he spots a hidden camera in a Fabindia store, breaks into a speech starting “Mitron…” in his usual style of address and underscoring his love of speech giving.
Another joke popularized by Raj Thackeray in the early days of the Modi government, which returned after the completion of one year, was regarding Modi’s tall promises.
A husband tries to woo his wife saying he will take her out for shopping, movie etc and she snaps at him saying “Chal Jhootey, Modi Kahinka” in which the PM is equated with a liar.
Each of Modi’s pet schemes such as Jan Dhan, Make In India, Swachch Bharat have all survived their share of joke attacks. His (in)famous suit with his name embroidered into the pinstripe, the headgear he is fond of and his photos wearing Keanu-Reeves-in-Matrix style shades while poking a finger at Xian’s Terracotta warriors are other favourite subjects of internet jokes and memes.
#despitebeingawoman trended all day after his recent foot-in-mouth comment in Bangladesh.
The faux pas of too much chest thumping after the military action in Myanmar border is going to spawn its own set of Modi jokes. And as International Yoga Day approaches, where Modi has said he will do perform yoga in public, jokesters are no doubt licking their chops in anticipation.
It is true that people like to make fun of people in power and jokes on them work better than those on opposition. But losing the humour games must be worrying the PM. It is also not good for the exchequer as it is will only end up pushing the government into a vicious cycle of further spending on public relations, photo ops and advertising, which will then spawn more jokes.
Don’t worry Modi saab, this yoga day we will do a Surya Namaskar and pray to the sun god that you get your sense of humour back.
To quote yourself, may the force be with you.