The ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh has found itself in a soup, just days after its election campaign began in the state. A video that it released trumpeting the government’s Pasupu Kumkuma welfare scheme seems to have caught the attention of voters, but for the wrong reasons.
Under the Pasupu Kumkuma Scheme, the AP government has announced a grant of Rs 10,000 in three instalments to women in rural areas and 70% subsidy to purchase cows.
The video, which has left many in splits, begins with a man asking his daughter where her mother was and even before the daughter could reply, we hear cows mooing. His wife enters the courtyard of the house, with a cow and its calf tied to a rope in her hands, and the husband and the daughter rush outside all surprised.
“Who bought you the cows?” the husband asks, to which the wife replies nonchalantly, “My brother bought it for me.
The husband is again curious as his wife does not have a brother.
“My brother Chandra anna (Chandrababu Naidu) got it for me,” the woman says proudly while applying turmeric and kumkum on the cow’s forehead.
She later goes on to explain how under the Pasupu Kumkuma scheme she was able to purchase the cows and how the revenue from the animals will help the family in repaying its debts. The husband is equally proud and happy and sings eulogies of the CM and ends the video asking the viewers to vote for TDP.
The visuals are soothing to the eyes with all the lush greenery of a village until one realises that the cow, which is supposed to uplift the economy of the house, is in fact a bull. Those who made the advertisement, sadly were not able to differentiate between a cow and a bull.
After the party posted the video on its Twitter handle, people pointed out the glitch in the comment section, but the party is yet to remove the video or respond to it.
ఒరేయ్ గేదె మొహమోడా ఇది ఆవు కాదురా ఎద్దు
— Vote For FAN (@ManviDad) March 15, 2019
"ఎద్దుకు ఆవుకు తేడా తెలీదు
మీరు రైతులకు ఆడపడుచులకు
మేనిఫెస్టో పేరుతో టోకరా"#CBNKutraRajakiyalu pic.twitter.com/K7VDpYitm3
TDP campaign managers need to understand the difference between bull and cow. It is such a shame the TV ad praising @ncbn and pasupu kumkuma showcases such a glaring error. They are better off not airing it. Well exploited by YSRCP and other opponents of TDP.
— GANESH C DEVULAPALLI (@ganeshcd) March 16, 2019
“TDP campaign managers need to understand the difference between bull and cow. It is such a shame the TV ad praising @ncbn and pasupu kumkuma showcases such a glaring error. They are better off not airing it. Well exploited by YSRCP and other opponents of TDP,” a user wrote on Twitter.
Pro-YSRCP pages on Facebook have latched on to the issue and have made funny videos incorporating Naidu’s older videos as reactions to the faux paus.
The video on YouTube has also evoked certain funny reactions. While some have called the bull-giving-milk phenomenon the eighth wonder of the world, others have warned political parties to be smarter. Another user pointing out the glitch, has commented that maybe Heritage bulls are capable of giving milk unlike the other ones, a direct dig at the CM’s dairy enterprise, Heritage Fresh.