Bihar election slugfest rides on AI deepfakes, hate posters, indecent promises via Bhojpuri songs

Bihar’s 2025 assembly polls have descended into a ferocious online skirmish, where artificial intelligence, short-form videos, and fabricated clips are erasing the boundary between calculated messaging and outright mockery. The contest now serves as a stark preview of tomorrow’s electoral strategies: feelings eclipse facts, group loyalties bury policy debates, and share counts matter more than substantive plans.

As the state approaches its pivotal vote, digital campaigning has reached a fever pitch. Parties rely on computer-generated footage, songs laced with caste references, and synthetic celebrity backing to dominate feeds. Social platforms are weaponised to stoke divisions and rally blocs, ranging from personal smears to veiled community appeals.

Misleading campaigns

In September, a Congress-linked AI clip showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an invented exchange with his deceased mother, Hiraben Modi, discussing “vote-chori”. The BJP condemned it as a cynical abuse of private sorrow for political mileage. Congress maintained the piece was satirical, yet the episode sank standards of technology-aided campaigning to a fresh nadir.

Only a fortnight earlier, footage from RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav’s birthday party appeared to place a portrait of Dr BR Ambedkar beneath his feet. BJP spokespersons branded the scene “an insult to a Dalit icon” and accused the RJD of duplicity on equality. The RJD called the furore a deliberate twist of reality, but the images had already spread widely, rekindling caste fissures in Bihar’s virtual spaces. RJD backers responded by stressing native roots, circulating graphics and updates that hailed their figures as “shudh desi Bihari” while dismissing rivals as foreigners to the soil.

On 19 October, the BJP’s verified X profile shared a derogatory illustration of a bus operated by the RJD and Congress, packed with Muslims tagged as “infiltrators”. The passengers, drawn as menacing, carried luggage and a goat en route to Bihar. The caption declared, "Congress and RJD's 'Infiltrator Express' — now heading towards Bihar”.

Such imagery is routine in identity-based campaigning: it cements one’s own supporters by painting adversaries as hostile to regional priorities. Near Rabri Devi’s home, at least one RJD banner contrasted Tejashwi Yadav as the authentic Bihari against Chirag Paswan as an alien, triggering heated charges of vote-bank engineering.

From election platforms to looping reels, loudspeakers blast tracks with crude, suggestive verses that straddle amusement and inducement. Songs such as “Jo dega vote usay Russian delainge” and “Russian bantwa denge ration mein” have emerged as novel mobilisation tools. In these lyrics, “Russian” stands for imported sex workers, presenting women as tradable assets for electoral support. The verses coarsely link female bodies to welfare handouts, turning respect and autonomy into punchlines for dominance.

The politicisation of Bhojpuri music is not novel, but its brazenness has surged. The 2020 chart-topper “Laundiya London Se Layenge, Raat Bhar DJ Bajayenge” glorified foreign glamour and non-stop partying in similarly macho terms.

Fuel is added to identity fires by Bhojpuri video clips and reels circulated by backers of the BJP, RJD, JDU, LJP, and Congress. These polished shorts praise particular castes—Yadavs, Bhumihars, Kushwahas—using infectious tunes and local phrases. They steer clear of overt abuse yet embed unmistakable caste markers, courting specific demographics while evading platform bans.

A Change.org appeal highlights the damaging impact of obscene Bhojpuri tracks. It argues that the music “undermines” the traditions of Bhojpuri speakers, endangering “loss of cultural identity.” The plea notes how the songs romanticise harmful conduct—liquor, narcotics, casual sex, and aggression—thereby mainstreaming it.

Falsehoods have marred the campaign too. This month, a doctored X clip showed actor Manoj Bajpayee apparently supporting RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav. Bajpayee quickly labelled it “patched-up and fake”, flagging worries over synthetic media and the collapse of credibility in political communication.

Police warn of strict action

On 25 October, Bihar Police alerted citizens against uploading songs carrying inflammatory caste hints online. They promised harsh measures for any attempt to disturb harmony or breach the ‘model code of conduct’.

“No misuse of social media platforms will be tolerated. Police will take strict action against those who post objectionable and double-meaning songs with provocative caste overtones, including those of Bhojpuri, on social media platforms. Such acts are considered attempts to disrupt peace and violations of the model code of conduct in the poll-bound Bihar,” DGP Vinay Kumar told PTI.

Earlier this year, Bihar ADGP for Weaker Sections Amit Kumar Jain instructed senior officers to run focused ground operations and register FIRs to stop the airing of “vulgar” songs. Sent to all Regional Inspector Generals (IGs) and Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) of Police in Bihar, the directive reads: “You are all instructed to conduct a special campaign to eliminate the broadcasting of obscene Bhojpuri songs in your respective areas, identify such cases, and direct all subordinates to register FIRs under Section 296/79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and other relevant sections”.

With artificial intelligence, short clips, and counterfeit footage merging propaganda with parody, Bihar’s election is rapidly emerging as a benchmark for future campaigning—one in which sentiment overrides proof, affiliation overshadows agendas, and circulation supplants strategy.