Saviour Complex: Recent Cartoons From the BJP

Usage of different types of visual content has been the knight in shining armour of influencers and politicians to spread propaganda. Mass media in the early 20th century and social media in recent years has helped dissemination of bluffed content through attractive images and larger than life heroic images of the so-called saviours of the land painted in bright colours. These images dominate our social media feed and pose a strong potential of leaving an impact.

Such imagery was widely used during the totalitarian regimes of dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini to blatantly promote divisive politics and racial slurs, the results of which are well-known. Whether the visuals manifest direct hate or showcase subtlety of misinformation, the trend is still worth analysing and making a note of.

BJP’s election campaigns and its sustenance have seen wide use of such imagery when there is no real evidence to prove the sugarcoated lies or extravagant claims. What better way to mislead the public than to use one's digital artistic skills to do desperate talking and proving. We look at some of the recent cartoons shared by the BJP's official Twitter handle and website. 

In the one above, for instance, Modi is reaching out to the farmers and brightening up their lives with a scintillating stack of cash, freshly uprooted from the soil. The hypocrisy is quite evident when the stature of the farmer is underbuilt as compared to the size of Narendra Modi’s image. Also, the little promise note in the basket claiming to double the farmer’s income is a reminder of the promises made 5 years ago. The cartoon shows the blatant glorification of one personality over the other, raising serious questions on the priorities of the current regime. 

Narendra Modi as the prime caretaker of the modern Indian family.

Last we checked, democracy was never a one-man show. Ironical much?