UP Elections 2017: In Gorakhpur, Congress polls poster meets Bollywood

It is not uncommon for Bollywood to seep into the political arena. From Sunil Dutt to Jayaprada, and Raj Babbar, film personalities have marked their presence on the political scene.

Now, Congress workers in Gorakhpur have gone a step further and borrowed a cult dialogue from the film Karan Arjun to adorn a campaign poster of their party president Sonia Gandhi.

The poster shows Sonia Gandhi wearing a white sari — similar to the one that Rakhi wore in the film — and saying: “Mere Karan Arjun BJP aur BSP ko haraayenge” (My Karan Arjun will come and will defeat BJP and BSP).

Over the years, the line has acquired near cult status in pop culture lingo, being used for any number of situations. Party sources claim the visual is the brainchild of District Congress President Anwar Husain.

In the poster, Akhilesh Singh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi are shown riding a bicycle, the SP’s election symbol. However,  Rahul is in front, with Akhilesh riding pillion, and the legend reading ‘Jodi No 1’, clearly inspired by the movie by the same name which featured Govinda and Sanjay Dutt. While Akhilesh is shown as ‘Next CM’, Rahul is shown as ‘Next PM, even as it depicts SP and Congress leaders as caricatures. Thankfully, the workers have spared Akhilesh’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav as well as Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav, who appear as themselves and not cartoons. There is also a grinning Priyanka, too, with a vacant chair next to her, although it’s not clear who the chair is meant for.

In the lower foreground are caricatures of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh with the caption, ‘Teen Ticket, Maha Vikat’ (Three tickets are very troublesome). Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, meanwhile, is seen atop a galloping elephant — that party’s symbol — also approaching the chair.

While the poster is sure to elicit a few chuckles, whether it can sway voters on Election Day remains to be seen.