Chandigarh: The political battleground state of Punjab is at the moment taking up the weird type of a Jurassic Park. Political discourse has turned away from governance, coverage, economics, regulation and order, and turned to dinosaurs.
The difficulty might have began as a political tirade within the early days of chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s tenure – ridiculing the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as a relic of the previous – however the beleaguered SAD has swirled the scenario right into a ‘comeback’ narrative with a sequence of AI memes and social media posts highlighting AI’s efficiency within the Tarun Taran by-election and Zilla Parishad polls.
What’s the underlying message? Akalis will win the 2027 meeting polls.
“punjab ch dino vaapis aa sachde ne, akali nahi (Dinosaurs can return to Punjab, Akali can not.)” Mr. Mann had stated over the previous few years, however in 2025, a number of such statements by Mr. Mann resurfaced in each rallies and speeches, shortly entered the political debate, and unfold extensively on-line.
In response, Akari has launched a full-scale digital meme marketing campaign in current weeks. Considered one of its standard strains is:Tufa Aen Kali, the dinosaur of Punjab, lives in Ang Te Akali Vee. sambu sakde ho te sambu rayo (Maintain on, dinosaurs and Akalis are coming again to Punjab. Deal with them when you can).
In a single AI-generated video, social gathering chief Sukhbir Badal confidently walks with a plate studying “2027” hanging from the neck of a dinosaur, a pointy indication of the social gathering’s declare to victory within the 2027 parliamentary elections.
Nevertheless it did not take lengthy for the state’s chief minister to hit again on the SAD marketing campaign, claiming the social gathering was again on its toes after years within the political wilderness. What was his response? “The Akalis wish to take Punjab again to the Jurassic period, not progress.”
“It is a lizard blown up like a dinosaur,” the Prime Minister quipped at a press convention final week.
The Aam Aadmi Social gathering (AAP) social media community additionally printed a meme of a lizard being blown away by a dinosaur and towering over Mann and Badal.
The Congress termed the marketing campaign “silly” because the “Jurassic” story permeates Punjab’s politics. “Folks will not vote for Akalis as a result of they see Sukhbir operating round with chained dinosaurs. Folks might vote for them out of pure sympathy,” state social gathering chief Amarinder Singh Raja Walling stated in an interview on his YouTube channel final week.
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how it began
Mann’s dinosaur analogy dates again to the 2022-2024 political marketing campaign, the place he repeatedly in contrast the SAD management to dinosaurs and recommended that dinosaurs, like extinct species, are irrelevant in trendy Punjab politics.
This metaphor was meant to emphasise that the times of Badal politicians are over and the SAD is not a power to be reckoned with within the nation’s political future.
In 2025, lots of Mann’s strains have resurfaced, and his tirade that “the dinosaurs might return, however the Badals won’t return to energy” has captured the general public’s political creativeness.
Buoyed by the Tarun Taran ballot outcomes by which Akali Dal completed second, SAD strategically adopted that picture and turned it right into a optimistic narrative.
Following final week’s Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti election outcomes, the marketing campaign gained additional momentum, with Akalis faring properly in Bathinda, Farikot and Muktsar.
Quickly, SAD posted a sequence of visuals and reels on Instagram and Fb displaying dinosaurs alongside badals, with tongue-in-cheek captions hinting that identical to the social gathering, dinosaurs are making a comeback in Punjab.
The social gathering’s Tarun Taran group launched an AI-generated meme depicting Badal driving a tractor trolley carrying a younger dinosaur.
A number of quick follow-up clips have gone viral on Instagram, juxtaposing photos of prehistoric reptiles with scenes from Badal’s rallies and marketing campaign occasions, reframing Mann’s mania into considered one of revival.
Different AI visuals present Badal chasing Mann on a dinosaur, and the ‘SAD’ dinosaur crushing AAP’s election image, a brush, beneath its toes, as a symbolic illustration of the social gathering’s political ‘resurrection’.
Akari supporters additionally launched a video of a automobile adorned with plastic toy dinosaurs. A supporter even approached Badal when he arrived to attend a public assembly following the Zilla Parishad outcomes and gifted him a toy dinosaur.
Why is SAD pushing the dinosaur narrative now?
Political watchers say the change in SAD’s message comes on the again of the social gathering’s current election victories. SAD got here in second place within the Tarntaran municipal ballot, a marked enchancment from the poor efficiency within the 2022 and 2024 parliamentary elections.
This month’s Zilla Parishad and Block Samiti elections additionally noticed the SAD enhance its presence on the bottom and win a whole bunch of native seats, boosting assist from its cadres.
These outcomes have led SAD leaders to say that their political fortunes are being revived. They used the dinosaur metaphor as an emblem of their rebirth, turning the assault right into a slogan of comeback.
Naturally, the ruling AAP has not ignored SAD’s marketing campaign.
Its social media accounts and activists have additionally posted AI memes and movies mocking SAD’s dinosaur motif. One extensively shared clip with the caption “Lions got here out and dinosaurs had been flying. (Dinosaur wind is out in entrance of a lion),” reinforcing their narrative that SAD is solely blowing scorching air and reinforcing Mann’s public jibe.
One other AI meme depicts Man using a dinosaur and towering over Badal as Badal runs away after Man “roars”.
Many Fb pages affiliated with AAP have shared Mr Mann’s response that SAD is making too little revenue.
“The Akalis are third (in zilla parishad and panchayat samiti elections). They’ve 10, 15 and eight seats in villages, the place they’re third. They don’t have a whole constituency anyplace,” the chief minister stated at a press convention. “And in the event that they assume they will win in teams of 10 to fifteen and demand that the dinosaurs are again, then they’re welcome to reside with the dinosaurs.” He added that the Akalis are caught previously.
In one other media interplay final week, Mann reiterated that whereas the federal government is attempting to introduce trendy know-how to college students in Punjab, “they (Akali) try to take us again to the dinosaur period a whole bunch of 1000’s of years in the past.” He stated, “You’ll be able to’t make a dinosaur by blowing air right into a lizard.”
Congress additionally jumped on the dinosaur theme. Final week, social gathering spokesperson Jaskaran Singh Kharon held a press convention holding a dinosaur-shaped plastic balloon and deflated it with a pin. The Akali Social gathering claims that it has been defeated by the Congress many occasions and intends to do the identical within the 2027 Meeting elections.
(Edited by Sague Kitty)
Additionally learn: AAP retains Tarun Taran. However the true winner could also be Akali Dal
