Delhi Confidential: Amid SIR row, BJP’s counter with AI videos, Gen Z skits, WhatsApp blitz

FROM AI-GENERATED content to skits in ‘Gen Z settings’ such as classrooms and campuses, videos taking on the BJP’s political rivals will play a significant role in the party’s bid to counter the Opposition “propaganda” against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, party sources said. Likely to be led by BJP national president Nitin Nabin, the party’s attempt to clear the air around the SIR exercise will see a barrage of content custom-made for social media platforms such as Instagram and X as well as messaging apps like WhatsApp, the sources said. Many of the BJP’s official handles have already caught on to the trend even as the party is in the final stages of moulding a grassroots-level outreach on the issue.

Pat on the Back

DURING HIS farewell from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Union Minister of State L Murugan received high praise from his senior colleague Ashwini Vaishnaw, it is learnt. Murugan resigned from his ministerial post and Rajya Sabha seat earlier this week to return to Tamil Nadu and dedicate himself to strengthening the BJP there. Lauding Murugan, Vaishnaw said he may have been his junior colleague in the ministry, but he feared him in Parliament as he was tough from within, even though he always wore a smile. Vaishnaw and Murugan also exchanged pleasantries in Tamil, drawing a thunderous response from the gathering, it is learnt.

Global Utsav

FOR THE Deep Utsav in Ayodhya in the first week of November, the Indian missions abroad have embarked on a drive to invite international Ramayana groups, who will be hosted in Ayodhya for the festival. While the event is being organised by the Uttar Pradesh government, the Ministry of External Affairs’ cultural wing — the Indian Council for Cultural Relations — is making arrangements for the visit of the international artists, who will later be taken on a tour of other religious sites in the state.