Indian Politicians Battle in 1980s AI Photo Meme War

The viral AI-generated 1980s photo trend found its way into the social media feeds of politicians, triggering a ‘meme war’ between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the rival Congress party.As the trend of sharing retro AI-generated pictures caught on, leaders and supporters from both parties began flooding social media with vintage-style images aimed at their political rivals.The Congress was among the first to turn the trend into political ammunition, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a series of AI-generated images portraying him in an unmistakably 1980s setting.The BJP soon hit back, using the same visual trend to take aim at Congress leaders and revive familiar political jibes. The saffron party instead used real pictures of PM Modi from 1980s.What started as a light-hearted exercise in nostalgia thus evolved into another digital battleground between the two rival parties.The exchange also highlighted how quickly AI-generated content and internet trends are being absorbed into political communication, with parties increasingly using memes, stylised images and viral formats to shape narratives and engage social media audiences.The Congress's Kerala unit shared an AI-generated image showing a man sitting in the front passenger seat of a Maruti Suzuki Omni, with the caption: “A Gujarat street in the 80s.”The van, launched in India in the 1980s, had became a familiar sight in Bollywood films where it was often shown being used by goons and kidnappers, eventually earning its own "kidnapping van" meme identity. BJP Gujarat hit back with an AI-generated image of its own. BJP's Telangana unit also responded to the Congress post.In one of the posts, the BJP responded with a same van-meme using the reference to 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. In another post BJP also targetted Congress by invoking the party's 'misrule' in 1980s under the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.What is the trend?The viral 80s AI trend is a social media craze where users use artificial intelligence to reimagine their modern selfies as retro portraits from the 1980s.The AI generates a new image that preserves their exact facial features while being completely overhauled with voluminous hairstyles, period-accurate fashion, film grain, and old-school studio lighting.The trend has taken over platforms like Instagram and X, with everyone from influencers to Indian politicians jumping on the nostalgia wave.In the viral trend, users upload a photo to ChatGPT and ask it to render the same picture in a true ’80s style. It generates portraits evoking the characteristic visual aesthetics of the 1980s, with exaggerated hairstyles, vibrant clothing, soft lighting and film grain effects.This phenomenon is called ChatGPT '80s photo trend. Many of the popular versions are based on popular movies from the 1980s, Bollywood, and family albums.BJP, Congress leaders jump on viral 80s AI trendMeme-war apart. BJP leaders including Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan joined in with playful posts, while Renuka Chowdhury shared a real 1980s magazine cover of herself.Union Minister Kiren Rijiju shared his AI-generated stylish retro photo on his X handle, in which he was seen standing near a car. While sharing the photo, Kiren Rijiju wrote, “Why is everyone going back to the 80s vibes? I'm also forced to 80s nostalgia!”Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also hopped on the viral trend by sharing his AI-generated retro photo. While sharing the photo on his X handle, the Assam CM wrote, “Getting to any trend which has nostalgia attached to it. Back to the 80s eh!”Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, however, found a way of joining the trend without asking AI to take him back in time."The 1980s seem to be back, courtesy of AI. I thought I’d join the trend the old-fashioned way," he wrote, sharing photographs that were actually taken during the decade.The pictures included Tharoor with his sons Ishaan and Kanishk(With agency inputs)