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Sonia Gandhi dragged into BJP-Congress 1980s photo prompt war

24htopnews | September 11, 2026 3:41 AM CST

Sonia Gandhi has been dragged into a fresh BJP-Congress ‘meme war’ on social media, as the two parties traded AI-generated and vintage images while jumping on the viral 1980s photo trend.

BJP Gujarat posted a distasteful image of the senior Congress leader, showcasing her in skimpy clothes, raising her glass of alcohol, surrounded by foreigners in a setup that seems to be a bar.

The image has since been deleted.

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BJP Keralam and BJP’s Telangana also posted images of the leader, but they were not as explicit as Gujarat’s.

BJP Telangana posted a woman’s photo dancing in a bar with the caption “Lusiana, Italy. Circa-1970s.”

Sonia Gandhi was born and raised in Lusiana.

The meme war began after the Congress’s Keralam unit shared an AI-generated image of a man sitting in the front passenger seat of a Maruti Suzuki Omni, captioned, “A Gujarat street in the 80s.”

A Gujarat street in the 80s. pic.twitter.com/MkczhpiKFQ
— Congress Kerala (@INCKerala) September 10, 2026

The Maruti Omni, launched in India in the 1980s, became a familiar feature in Bollywood films, where it was often depicted as a vehicle used by criminals and kidnappers. This later gave rise to its popular “kidnapping van” meme association.

Politicians join 1980s AI trend

Coming back to the trend, Revanth Reddy is not the only politician getting a retro makeover. Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Kiren Rijiju and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with several other political figures, have also joined the viral 1980s AI photo trend.

What is the 1980s ChatGPT photo trend?

The viral “1980s photo prompt ChatGPT” trend is seeing users, including politicans, celebrities across the world, transform their modern pictures into glamorous retro portraits inspired by the fashion, hairstyles and photography of the decade.

Users upload a photo to ChatGPT and use an AI image prompt asking it to transform their look into an authentic 1980s-style portrait while keeping their facial features recognisable.