Cash-strapped Punjab govt splurging funds on AAP’s poll campaign in Gujarat

Chandigarh: The taxes paid by the people of Punjab are being used by the AAP government to fund the party’s election campaign in Gujarat going by the vast sums of money being splurged on advertisements in Facebook and other social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube.

According to details gathered from the Meta (Facebook) ads, the Bhagwant Mann government is spending around Rs 1.83 crore per month for overall boosting on the internet and focusing it’s Instagram and Facebook page on Gujarat. A single page of the Punjab government with Mann’s videos talking of achievements of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal in the governance of Delhi alone cost the Punjab exchequer Rs 1.40 crore during the last 30 days starting September 24.

In addition, the Punjab government is also spending money on putting out similar ads on Youtube, Twitter, and satellite TV channels.

A close scrutiny of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ads shows that the Punjab government’s page is covering three categories of issues, social, political, and elections. The information sought from FB reveals that the Punjab government spent Rs 1.83 crore on spreading a total of 136 advertisements.  As much as 77.8% of this money was spent on targeting Gujarat viewers and only 19.5 % on reaching netizens in Punjab.

Surprisingly, the Punjab Chief Minister talks in Hindi in these advertisements eulogising Kejriwal and his model of governance that is now being replicated in Punjab.

Software engineer-cum-RTI activist Manik Goyal says, the ads carry subtitles in Gujarati with the aim to strike a chord with the people of Gujarat. Subtitles also appear for a small number of ads targeted at other states of the country.

The thrust of these ads is on the AAP’s professed policy of zero tolerance toward corruption. “If honest governments are across the country, similar work (as in Delhi and Punjab) is possible,” the ads stress.

The Punjab government is also focusing its ads, though in small frequency, on Himachal Pradesh which goes to polls in 2022, Rajasthan goes to polls in 2023, and Haryana goes to polls in 2024. This shows that the party propaganda aimed at winning elections in other states is being funded by the people of Punjab.

The ad videos that have comments from the hired people supporting the policies of the AAP are invariably dubbed in Gujarati and the language of the state aimed to be targeted.

Manik Goyal maintains, “all available digital evidence put in public domain by Meta proves that the money of Punjab’s tax payer is being used to bolster party campaign in Gujarat.”

Facebook allows every netizen to inquire – if he wants to – the amount of money being spent by a user on boosting his page. FB also permits us to know about the audience the owner of the page is desiring to focus on. In the Punjab government’s case, its official page which is full of publicity material on AAP’s functioning in Delhi and Punjab is targeting the Gujarat audience.