February 22, 2025

People are talking about Akhilesh Yadav’s “advice” to Amitabh Bachchan to stop promoting the donkeys of Gujarat. People say that the master of double meaning dialogues, late filmmaker Dada Kondke (famous for film titles such as Andheri Raat Mein, Diya Tere Haath Mein and Aage Ki Soch), must be having a loud chuckle up there. Akhilesh Yadav has done a Dada Kondke on Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

While Amitabh promoted the rare wild donkeys found in Wild Ass Wildlife Sanctuary in Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat in a Gujarat Tourism advertisement, Akhilesh left nothing to imagination by targeting Modi and Shah through his reference to the ad. People are saying it was in very bad taste.

People also say that if Akhilesh thinks the Gujarat duo are donkeys, then he himself is a khachar, but without neither the agility and speed of a horse nor the hard working capacity of a donkey. People are saying that after his revolt against his father, even Mulayam must be shocked at his pedigree.

Calling leaders donkeys, even in jest, is not a done thing. Adding a regional flavor compounds the mistake. The junior Yadav has alienated the people of Gujarat. Dragging Amitabh was even worse. The actor was just doing his job for the government of Gujarat. If it was a BJP ad, Yadav would not have been wrong to take Amitabh’s name. But using Amitabhs’ name to target Modi and Shah was bad.

People are talking about how politicians have plumbed all depths of decency and would do anything to denigrate an opponent in their bid to capture power. But people are also saying that this remark of Yadav does not deserve a riposte from the prime minister or Shah. They say that the people of UP will give Yadav a befitting reply.They are also saying that Akhilesh Yadav has promoted the real donkeys of Gujarat (and the wildlife sanctuary) many times more than what Amitabh's ad would have done.