RUPANI SLAMS SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN AGAINST GOVT

AHMEDABAD: A concerted social media campaign titled “Vikas Gando Thayo Che (Development has gone crazy)” targeting the BJP in Gujarat triggered a response from chief minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday.

“BJP and Vikas (development) have become synonymous with each other… And today, people criticise it... ‘Vikas gando thayo chhe... Vikas may have gone mad, but poverty has not gone mad. Vikas may have gone mad, but unemployment has not gone mad,” Rupani said at a function on affordable housing in Ahmedabad. The campaign has unleashed memes with funny captions taking on the BJP’s development plank and pitch.

The Congress has not reacted so far to speculation that it is behind the campaign which has been picked up by other agitating groups, most notably the Patidars. “This is a people’s campaign and we support it,” said Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.

For about a fortnight now, new memes have been doing rounds mocking development promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The entire punchline with the memes is “Aagha Rejo Vikas Gandho Thayo che (Stay Clear, Vikas has gone crazy).”

People are sharing the memes widely. Most of the time, Vikas is indicated as a man out of control.

In one of them, a pothole in heart shape was circulated with the caption: Vikas has fallen in love. The meme mocks the condition of roads in the state after monsoon. The campaign’s popularity is starting to match the Ghar Nu Ghar (own house) one launched by the Congress before the 2012 assembly elections.