“There’s an ad on TV which shows donkeys. I appeal to the century’s biggest star to stop endorsing the donkeys of Gujarat. What will happen if the donkeys also start getting advertised?” Yadav said at an election rally last week.
Many within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the center took the young chief minister’s pun to be aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who belongs to the state of Gujarat and served as the state’s chief minister thrice.
Modi has also personally invested in promoting tourism within the state, including roping in Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Not surprisingly, Yadav’s comment didn’t go down well and got a witty response from Modi himself.
Rallying his open support for the donkey, Modi at another election rally responded by saying, “A donkey works for its master even if it is ill, hungry or tired and stops only after it has completed the given work. Similarly, the 1.25 billion people are my masters and I will work tirelessly for them. I take inspiration from donkeys and I do so with full pride.”
Since then, both leaders who are spearheading their political parties’ campaign in the crucial state assembly elections have used it several times to rally their supporters.
Whether the comments will have any impact on electoral calculus or not will become clear on 11 March when the poll results will be announced. But the war of words has put twiterrati on fire with supporters on the both side of ideological divide exchanging barbs and pot-shots on the social media platform.
Akhilesh doesn't have problem with donkeys of Gujarat,he just dislikes DONKEYS who pose as HORSES.@KapilSibal @INCIndia @ahmedpatel
— Kapil Sibal-Team 💿 (@KapilSibalteam) February 24, 2017
Shri @yadavakhilesh lemme show you real "Wild Ass Sanctuary" of Uttar Pradesh lest you keep lamenting about wild donkeys of Gujarat pic.twitter.com/vR5adwl6r1
— Dolli (@desh_bhkt) February 22, 2017
— Devang Visaria (@devangvisaria) 20 февраля 2017 г.
— Rajiv Shastri (@rajiv_shastri) 20 февраля 2017 г.
