A paisa's worth of cruel fuel: Jokes on BJP are spilling over from Congress times!
Outrage, the fuel that social media runs on, has found itself in a “meta” state in the last few weeks - based on actual fuel. With petrol prices skyrocketing like a yuppie college grad going to McLeodganj for the first time, an Indian Oil faux pas became the cause for collective groaning today.
A message on the Indian Oil website, which said that petrol and diesel prices have been cut by 60 paise and 59 paise per litre respectively, turned out to be an error. Petrol and diesel prices were actually cut by one paisa per litre each in Delhi. Only one paisa.
This “boo boo”, true to social media form, became the cause of much mockery. Like the promise of the ever-so-elusive “Achhe Din” by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, with this “expectations versus reality” scenario, the BJP played right into the hands of its critics.
Even Netflix India’s official Twitter account decided it wanted in on the laughter.
Of course, that did not stop his fans from trying to make the best of a bad situation. Like the “there was an attempt” meme, Postcard News’ Mahesh Hegde — of spreading fake news and anti-Muslim communal hatred fame — jumped in to show off terrible math equations, throwing in some Rahul Gandhi bashing.
But today’s IOCL faux pas (is not the cause of, but has) only added to the stream of constant derision the BJP has had to endure over rising fuel prices. A senior journalist from The Print recently attempted “an ambitious crossover” and made fun of the government’s sudden enthusiasm over fitness and the fuel crisis in one go: The Fitness Challenge exists only to prepare us for the inevitable — no more cars.
That aside, however, most humour surrounding this issue has been staler than plot points on Indian soap operas. In fact, most jokes, in the spirit of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, have been recycled from the UPA era, when making fun of the government was not just the norm, but also encouraged.
Proposing to someone with a litre of petrol (and they vehemently saying yes), videos and images of Indians attempting vehicular “jugaad” — a bike powered by a real donkey, or a car powered by a horse — or comparing the price of petrol and diesel to the price of alcohol or onions, most jibes at the fuel price hike were once aimed at the Manmohan Singh government.
Of course, there are exceptions. A considerable chunk of all mockery has been directed exclusively towards the BJP and the statements tweeted by its leaders and fans back in the golden age of UPA-2 (Twitter has a good memory). But all in all, when it comes to the memetics, Race 3 (ironically) has managed to have a better show, something anyone is unlikely to have ever said about the Race series.
If the fine-print terms and conditions of the so-called “Achhe Din” involve the satisfaction of good social media outrage, fuel prices is yet another exercise in its abject failure.
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