The struggle for one-upmanship in the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly elections — to be held before the end of the year — reached a new level on Wednesday when the BJP, following several humurous barbs from the Congress in general and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi in particular, decided to give it back in kind with a reimagining of sorts of the famous Mauka Mauka video.
The original video had gained prominence in the opening days of the 2015 ICC World Cup, when it had brought to the fore the fact that Pakistan — who would face India for a sixth time in the cricket tournament since 1992 — were yet to win a single match against their arch-rivals at the highest stage.
The video featured a young man who reaches middle age wondering when he will get the "mauka" — or opportunity — to set off crackers he had bought originally for the 1992 India vs Pakistan match in anticipation that Pakistan would win.
It is this ad that has been given a twist and shared by a BJP official, and is taking the internet by storm!
Humour and Rahul Gandhi
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had been the source of humour for many years primarily because of his flubs. However, he has of late changed his narrative and is instead targeting the BJP with some witty barbs of his own.
For one, Rahul chose to forego any rhetoric before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mega rally at Gandhinagar on Monday, and instead chose to make a weather forecast: He said there would be a rain of "jumla" — jokes or false promises — when Modi talked.
More recently, he posed the question "why this Kolaveri Da" when asking why state legal help was being given to BJP national president Amit Shah's son Jay Shah following allegations of corruption against him.
This is a direct derivative of the viral 2011 Tamil song Why This Kolaveri Di, whose hook translates to "Why this murderous rage, woman?"
BJP hits back
The saffron has never been one to shy away from taking a dig at Rahul, and some from within its ranks even said that the Gandhi scion's imminent elevation as party chief would be good news, but for the BJP!
Therefore, it was no surprise that it shared a video that showed continued frustration of the Congress' hopes of winning the Gujarat Assembly elections.
It was Vijay Chauthaiwale — in charge of the BJP's Foreign Affairs Department — who shared the 59-second video on Twitter this time, and it is spreading like wildfire!
Watch the video here:
Diwali @INCIndia style @sanghaviharsh @malviyamit @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/sHWsuq7eos
— Vijay Chauthaiwale (@vijai63) October 18, 2017
It remains to be seen how the Congress replies to this barb.
