Cong supporters borrow a leaf from ‘Amul girl’

NEWDELHI: The witty little Amul girl known for her oneliners has morphed into a pro-Congress figure as part of a social media campaign for the Gujarat election, asking people to use their “Amulya” (invaluable) vote to oust the BJP from the state.

With the common tagline “Kyunki aapka vote bohut AMULya hai” (Because your vote is invaluable) and “Parivartan hai lana, saathi haath badhaana” (Join hands to bring change), the poster campaign by a group of artists, mostly from Kerala, is a takeoff on the iconic advertisements

THE POSTERS TALK ABOUT ‘FEAR’ IN GUJARAT, EFFECTS OF DEMONETISATION AND GST, EDUCATION OF THE GIRL CHILD AND THE BULLET TRAIN

for the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation that created the popular Amul dairy products brand.

Ten different theme-based posters of the campaign have gone viral on different social media platforms. The posters talk about “fear” in Gujarat, effects of demonetisation and GST, education of the girl child and the bullet train.

The posters, of course, don’t feature the blue-haired ‘Amul Girl’ but a boy resembling her. Those behind the pro-Congress campaign say they are not official party workers or supporters, and have taken a cue from party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s speeches in which he had said his Gujarat battle was “cooperatives” versus the corporate world.

“Rahul Gandhi has been saying in his speeches that they will follow the Amul model of cooperation and cooperatives where everybody is allowed a say in participation,” one of the artists said. They refused to be named because they “don’t want to come into the political limelight”.

Asked about the inspiration, the artist said the Amul theme had been popular across India for decades and talked about day-to-day issues affecting the common citizen. “This is innocent and disarming while being critical — also without being abusive... that’s why we chose this style,” the artist said.

Does the boy in the campaign depict Rahul Gandhi? “No,” the artist said. “Amul has a little girl and we made this boy, a common man. We didn’t want the same character due to copyright issues,” said another artist.