Greens lampoon reds in virtual West Bengal

State's Gen-Next is busy circulating wacky SMSes and e-mails targeting the Left and the former CM

Greens lampoon reds in virtual West Bengal

State's Gen-Next is busy circulating wacky SMSes and e-mails targeting the Left and the former CM

From morphed photos to wacky text messages, from jokes to witty e-mails, West Bengal's Gen-Next is busy post-polls. It is exploring the lighter side of politics, which is otherwise mundane and often bloody. With the "green winds of change" in the state sweeping aside the long ruling "reds", youngsters, mostly supporters of the Trinamool Congress, are busy lampooning the Left Front and its leaders.

Green revolution: Youths flash the victory sign after the TMC routed the
Left Front.u00a0 File pic

Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) seems to the favourite prey as most of the jokes are targeted at him. The Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance won the recently-held assembly polls with a two-thirds majority (227 seats) in the 294-member assembly, bringing to an end the CPI(M)-led Left Front government that has been in power since 1977.

Deity Didi
A morphed picture fast catching on on social networking site Facebook is that of goddess Durga and Mahishasura. The face of Durga has been replaced with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was sworn in on Friday, while Bhattacharjee has been depicted as the demon.

The one that has caught everyone's fancy is an e-mail purported to be sent by demon Mahishasura to Bhattacharjeeu00a0u00a0-- a "letter of consolation". It reads: "A long time ago, I had underestimated woman power and hence I suffered. You repeated the same mistake." He signs off "With regrets, Mahishasura, 13 May 2011"u00a0-- the day of the election results.The fan pages of Banerjee and the Trinamool on social networking sites have been deluged with pictures, slogans, poems and jokes.

On one such fan page, a photo album of the Writers' Building, which is the state's seat of power, shows the traditionally red building painted in green (the Trinamool party colour). The ghost of the Nano debacle is also back to haunt Bhattacharjee. An SMS has been doing the rounds: "Tata Nanou00a0-- ek car jo badal de sarkar." (The car that changed the government).

Target Buddha
Bhattacharjee, who has been targeted in most of the jokes, got a welcome companion in the form of former Tamil Nadu chief minister Mu00a0 Karunanidhi, who was also routed in the elections. In a cartoon, both are seen sitting on a bench and a board dangling close to them reads "Home for the aged and abandoned" while Karunanidhi has been shown saying: "We failed to get the hint when Pranabda was so generous to the senior citizen in his budget!"

Another SMS that is particularly a hit among husbands goes like this: "India now ruled by Amma (J Jayalalithaa) in south; Didi (Mamata Banerjee) in east; Behenji (Mayawati) in north; Aunty (Sheila Dikshit) in D capital; Madam (Sonia Gandhi) in centre and "Wife at home"... Banerjee's supporters have been painting the "virtual town" green. As one moves the mouse to log out from the virtual world, a slogan pops up: Didi tumi korle ki; CPM akhon khabhe ki? (Didi, what have you done? You've left the CPM with nothing to eat).

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