LS polls: Will AI video of ex-CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee help CPI(M) turn the tide in WB?

The CPI(M) West Bengal shared a video featuring former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on its official handles across various social media platforms on Saturday. The video, lasting just above two minutes, showed an AI-generated audio-visual representation of Bhattacharjee critiquing both the TMC and the BJP on a range of issues, including the Sandeshkhali incident, electoral bonds, and corruption. 

“Trinamool cannot be forgiven for what it has done in Sandeshkhali. There is no employment and respect for women in the state. The state is becoming a hotbed of corruption,” said Bhattacharjee in the video. 

Targeting the BJP, he said, “The riotous BJP is holding power at the Centre. The BJP is corrupt. It did demonetisation and appeasement of corporates. Now corruption like electoral bonds has come to the fore. The prices of daily needed items are increasing. The economy is in shambles.” 

The 80-year-old ex-CM, who has been unwell with COPD and other ailments for years, has not been seen in public since a rally on February 3, 2019, prior to the last Lok Sabha elections.

The AI video of Bhattacharjee was created with the help of his previous speeches. Before release, the AI avatar was trained for 10 days by a dedicated team of 12 volunteers from the party. Before this, the CPI(M) West Bengal released the AI avatar by the name of ‘Samata’ for anchoring news bulletins on the party’s official Facebook page and YouTube channel. 

“The idea was to make him [Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee] speak what he would have spoken if he was healthy and campaigning for us,” said CPI(M) leader Samik Lahiri, who is also a key part of the core group involved in the party’s AI projects. 

The party believes that using Bhattacharjee in the campaign might increase its chances. “He advocated for industries. He wanted to ensure that our youth get jobs. Given the current condition of our state, his messages would remind everyone what CPI(M) under him stood for,” added Lahiri, a former MP. 

“In the AI video, Bhattacharjee gave the message that CPI(M) will do exactly the opposite of what the BJP and TMC have done. People will understand that only the Left can save this state and country.”

Bhattacharjee is recognised for initiating a significant transformation within the party, once known for opposing computers and banning English from primary education. He championed the cause of large-scale industries in West Bengal and aspired to transform Kolkata into an IT hub along the lines of Bengaluru and Hyderabad. 

Nonetheless, his name is also linked to the movements in Singur and Nandigram. His Left Front government faced allegations of forcibly seizing land for the establishment of factories. It is widely held that the issues in Singur and Nandigram were the primary catalysts that led to the end of the 34-year rule of the Left in West Bengal. 

On being asked if his video would not rekindle the memories of Singur and Nandigram, Lahiri said, “People have now realised the importance of industries and employment. And everyone knows by now that the movements in Singur and Nandigram were deliberately conspired by the TMC, extreme Left, the BJP-RSS and others.”

Political analyst Subhamoy Maitra doesn’t want to read too much into the AI video of Bhattacharjee or its impact on the ongoing election. He said, “This will have a minor appeal only to the intellectual class among the urban CPI(M) voters who are unaware of their party’s ground reality in West Bengal.” 

Maitra, a professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, added, “I don’t see any reason how the AI video of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee can have any impact on the mass of common and poor people on the grassroots.”