Chennai: This election season, social media in Tamil Nadu is agog with creative and hilarious memes about the electoral results, with popular Tamil cinema comedy scenes and the actors therein coming in handy for the meme creators to tickle a rib.
Top comedians like the late Nagesh, Goundamani and Vadivelu are back in action, albeit through memes, that spare no one, starting from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to DMK leader MK Stalin, both of whom have led their parties to stupendous wins in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.
Be it Modi's reported promise in 2014 of depositing Rs 15 lakh each in every citizen's account, or Stalin woefully falling short of a majority to stage a political coup against the AIADMK government, or the sad state of affairs in the ruling party, the memes cover them all.
Besides, Twitter and Facebook were alive with hilarious takes on the Lok Sabha results, especially in Tamil Nadu.
The memes, in particular, seem to be the flavour of the season as popular comedy scenes were repackaged to suit the modern day politics.
For instance, a picture of veteran Nagesh grinning to his last teeth carries a caption "Rs 15 lakh last time, Rs 15 lakh this time, totally Rs 30 lakh," an apparent reference to Modi's reported promise of depositing the said amount in citizen's bank accounts if the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
However, it has been a matter of debate whether Modi or his partymen really meant the same thing or whether they implied it was the value of the amount of black money stashed abroad by Indians.
Another hilarious take on BJP, accompanied with a picture of top comedian Vadivelu from one of his films, shows him wondering "where have the Two Leaves and Lotus gone missing."
Two Leaves and Lotus are the party symbols of AIADMK and BJP, respectively, the two parties who had faced the Lok Sabha polls as allies.
The comic meme goes on to say "may be they have been burnt down by the Sun," an obvious reference to DMK trumping them.
The DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance had won 37 of the 38 Lok Sabha seats where polls were held on April 18.
DMK by itself won 23 of those seats.
Further, taking on the opposition clamour against the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), a meme said "don't make an issue out of it."
"Isn't it a routine thing to claim honesty won if Congress alliance triumphs and blame EVMs for BJP combine's win," it said, sharing a still of a popular comedy scene.
Memes that say Stalin cannot aspire much with his 37 MPs, another hilarious one where AIADMK leader and Chief Minister K Palaniswami ruing his party was 'finished' for aligning with the BJP are also doing the rounds.
Another rib-tickling meme shows a photo of Palaniswami laughing out loud, with his deputy O Panneerselvam asking the reason behind it.
To this the chief minister "replies" that "even if the DMK wins all MP seats (in the state), they are only going to stage a walk out in the Parliament," in an apparent reference to Stalin often leading his MLAs out of the Tamil Nadu Assembly when the House is in a session.
What could possibly take the cake is a picture of recreation of a scene involving Vadivelu, held up in a closed liquor store, repeatedly asking the owner when he will open it, without revealing he was caught inside.
He is shown asking election officials why both the "winners", i.e DMK and the "losers," AIADMK, were grim-faced which he cannot fathom.
"When will you hold polls again," the accompanying caption says.
The reference seems to be to DMK, which according to the buzz in the state political circles, has not got much of a role to play in the national politics despite its led alliance winning 37 seats, contrary to expectations.
Stalin, who had aligned with the Congress and proposed Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate of the opposition, was sought after by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekara Rao as well as his former Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu for a possible strong role in a post-poll scenario.
However, the Modi-led BJP had itself won 303 seats, securing a very strong majority.
Incidentally, the DMK-led alliance winning all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the one in Puducherry in 2004 was vital for the Congress-led UPA to form government in 2004.
The late M Karunanidhi was DMK chief then.
Also Read: Ninth time a single party crosses 300 mark in Lok Sabha
