In a politically charged move ahead of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections, the Assam BJP unit’s official X handle released a series of AI-generated videos. One of them, titled “Assam Without BJP”, depicts a dystopian future where Muslims allegedly dominate every aspect of the state—shown seizing land, running public beef stalls, and transforming Assam’s landmarks into Islamic sites. The video goes further, flashing the claim of a “90% Muslim population” and urging viewers to “choose your vote carefully.”
The narrative did not stop there. Congress leaders Gaurav Gogoi and Rahul Gandhi were shown alongside images of Pakistan’s flag, insinuating an unholy alliance between opposition politics and anti-national elements. In one stroke, the video attempted to reduce the state’s complex history of migration, identity, and politics to a simplistic binary: BJP means safety; Congress means Muslim domination and cultural erasure.
The intent was clear: to construct fear, vilify the Muslim community, and paint the Congress party—particularly Rahul Gandhi and state president Gaurav Gogoi—as collaborators in this imagined downfall.
Congress strikes back
Outraged by the communal overtones, the Assam Congress lodged a formal complaint at the Dispur Police Station. The FIR, filed by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) Media Department chairman Bedabrata Bora, named:
- Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia
- State social media convener Shaktidhar Deka
- Other unnamed functionaries of the BJP’s digital wing
The charges pressed include:
- Criminal conspiracy
- Incitement to communal disturbances
- Promoting enmity between groups
- Violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) under the Election Commission
The Congress also wrote to the State Election Commission, demanding that the videos be taken down, devices seized from BJP’s IT cell, and a forensic investigation conducted under the IT Act, 2000.
Congress leaders, including Gaurav Gogoi, condemned the videos as cheap propaganda: “The words, actions, and images produced by the BJP IT cell do not have the strength to scratch the surface of Assamese society. Assam deserves politics that uplifts people to new heights.”
Other opposition voices joined in. The AIUDF described the video as a dangerous attempt to communalise Assam’s electoral space. According to the report of The Telegraph, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi called it “disgusting,” remarking that it treated the very presence of Muslims in India as a problem for the ruling party. Civil society commentators warned that such imagery could deepen long-standing tensions in a state scarred by the Assam Accord, the NRC exercise, and decades of migration-related conflicts.
BJP’s Defence: “illegal immigrants” vs. communal targeting
The BJP defended the videos, with State Information Minister Pijush Hazarika arguing that the campaign only sought to highlight the “threat of illegal immigrants changing Assam’s demography.” According to The Print, he accused Congress of crying “Islamophobia” to shield its vote bank.
But the content of the videos betrays this defence. If the concern was only about illegal migration, why were the visuals overwhelmingly directed at portraying Muslims—men in skullcaps, women in hijabs, Islamic motifs—while ignoring the complex demographic reality of Assam’s migration issue?
The numbers don’t lie
At the heart of the video’s message was the claim of a “90% Muslim population.” Yet this crumbles under scrutiny.
| Claim in video | What data shows |
| Assam will become “90% Muslim” without BJP | The 2011 Census places Assam’s Muslim population at 34.22%. Even accounting for growth, nowhere near 90%. |
| Muslims “taking over” airports, tea estates, heritage sites | While there are legitimate debates about undocumented immigration and border issues, there is no credible evidence that public institutions, heritage sites, or airports are being overtly “taken over” by any community in the way depicted. The imagery is symbolic, built for fear, not a factual record. |
| Congress leaders linked visually to Pakistan flags | The video shows leaders in front of Pakistan flags etc. These are visual insinuations intended to generate suspicion. There is no publicly verified evidence that Congress leaders are aligned or in collusion with Pakistan. These are contentious political accusations. |
| Only Muslims are “illegal immigrants” | The final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) excluded 1.9 million people—but the composition was mixed:
The reality is that the issue of documentation cuts across communities, but BJP’s video conveniently narrows the “problem” to Muslims alone. |
| Assam is on the brink of cultural erasure | Demographic shifts are slow, regulated, and legally scrutinised through NRC, Foreigners Tribunals, and border enforcement. Alarmism oversimplifies the issue. |
| There is vote bank politics related to religious identity in Assam | Despite comprising a third of the state’s population, Muslims remain underrepresented in government jobs, politics, and public institutions. Claims of a “takeover” are exaggerated and not backed by data. |
| Congress will legalise beef and impose “Sharia-like laws” | India’s food choices and dietary diversity are constitutionally protected. Assam itself has a long history of beef consumption across communities, including tribal and Scheduled Caste groups. Portraying this as a uniquely “Muslim imposition” distorts cultural realities. |
The gap between claim and reality underscores how the video weaponised misinformation. It was not simply political rhetoric but an attempt to rewrite demographic reality through AI imagery.
The deeper risks
The use of AI in political propaganda opens a troubling new chapter. Unlike crude photoshopping, AI-generated images are hyper-realistic and immersive. When they depict crowded mosques in airports or skull-capped men at cultural monuments, they can be mistaken for actual documentary evidence rather than fabricated visuals. This blurring of truth and fiction is especially dangerous in Assam, a state where migration anxieties and identity politics already run deep.
Legally, the video raises serious red flags. Indian criminal law prohibits content that incites hatred or promotes enmity between groups. The Election Commission explicitly bars communal appeals during elections. If laws and codes are enforced, those responsible could face consequences ranging from takedowns to prosecution. Yet beyond legality lies a more urgent ethical question: should ruling parties normalise the use of communal fear as an electoral strategy, especially through manipulative new technologies?
Assam’s Fragile Social Fabric
Assam’s history makes this controversy particularly volatile. For decades, the state has wrestled with the question of undocumented migration from Bangladesh, culminating in the 1985 Assam Accord, the NRC process, and ongoing litigation in Foreigners Tribunals. These issues already create fault lines between communities, often leading to suspicion, exclusion, and even violence.
Injecting an AI-amplified narrative of Muslim domination into this landscape risks tipping the balance further. It reduces diverse communities to stereotypes and ignores the reality that both Hindus and Muslims have been implicated in migration patterns. More dangerously, it frames coexistence itself as impossible — projecting one community’s presence as another’s loss.
A Warning for the Future
The Assam BJP’s AI video is not just a campaign gimmick; it is a warning of how easily technology can be harnessed to inflame divisions. It shows how quickly artificial intelligence can shift from innovation to manipulation, and how communal anxieties can be magnified into existential threats.
At one level, the video may energise segments of the electorate receptive to such messages. At another, it risks further alienating communities already made vulnerable by citizenship processes and constant suspicion. In the long run, it is Assam’s fragile social fabric — not merely electoral arithmetic — that stands to pay the heaviest price.
If unchecked, such content could set a precedent for future campaigns across India, where AI is used not to inform or persuade but to distort and divide. The responsibility lies not just with the police or the Election Commission but also with political actors, civil society, and media platforms to resist this descent into fear-mongering.
In the end, the question goes beyond one video or one state. It is about the kind of politics India is willing to tolerate: one that thrives on communal fear, or one that confronts real challenges without reducing entire communities to threats. Assam, with its complex history and fragile peace, deserves the latter.
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