From melody to mockery: Modi’s anthem drowns in dislikes

ISLAMABAD: India’s ruling party released a music video “Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai” earlier this month, to promote and celebrate the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, instead, it’s become one of the most-rejected videos in recent Indian internet history.

The track, produced by the heavyweight label T-Series, has earned an estimated 90 percent dislikes, roughly 440,222 of them by Wednesday, according to independent tracking tools. On YouTube, where dislike counts are hidden, such a ratio is almost unheard of. Even the notorious YouTube Rewind 2018, the most disliked video and long held as the internet’s ultimate cringe event, didn’t cross the 90 percent mark.

In the video, Bollywood regulars such as Rajkummar Rao, Varun Dhawan, and Arshad Warsi, among others featured singling along.

Percent-wise, the rejection is extremely rare but not unprecedented. In 2020, Mahesh Bhatt’s Sadak 2 trailer suffered a similar digital mutiny, with roughly 95 percent dislikes after calls to boycott “nepotism cinema.” 

BJP IT-cell head Amit Malviya dismissed screenshots as fake, arguing that dislike counts are hidden. Yet, multiple third-party audit tools confirm the ratio, revealing one of the largest online disapprovals for any state-endorsed media project.

Ironically, a parody uploaded just days later: “Godi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai” by the YouTuber Khota Sikka amassed more likes than the original, turning satire into social commentary.

The episode fits neatly into a decade-long pattern of image-driven politics: hologram rallies, Modi photobooths, seaplane photo-ops, peacock-feeding videos, and the cosmetic “city makeovers” ahead of global summits. Each spectacle markets Modi as a brand, critics argue that each backlash suggests that brand fatigue has set in.

What the BJP framed as a rousing anthem of hope now reads, to many, as a political remix no one asked for. The government’s billion-dollar PR machine may still hum, but the audience seems to be reaching for the skip button.