Shiv Sena (UBT) uses AI to recreate Bal Thackeray voice to slam BJP and Eknath Shinde
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has used AI to recreate a voice resembling that of party founder Bal Thackeray to attack the BJP and the present Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The BJP hit back at the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena, calling the move a “childish stunt” and “disgrace”.
In a nearly 13-minute speech, a booming voice resembling that of Bal Thackeray, began speaking with his trademark opening line ‘Jamlelya majhya tamam Hindu bandhavanu, baghinino ani matano‘ (greetings to my Hindu brothers, sisters and mothers who have gathered here).
The AI voice of Thackeray was played at a Shiv Sena (UBT) gathering in Nashik. It was aimed at shoring up the party’s prospects after Shinde split the Shiv Sena in a rebellion in 2022, which led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
The speech tried to recreate, according to the Shiv Sena (UBT), what Bal Thackeray would have said had he been alive. It sounded more like Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s attacks on the BJP and Shinde’s party during the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls.
This is the first time that the Sena (UBT) has used Uddhav Thackeray’s AI voice to train guns on its opponents. The party may use this strategy in future rallies.
The AI’s move came when the Sena (UBT) is being mocked by its opponents with old videos of Bal Thackeray slamming the Congress.
In last year’s Assembly polls, the Sena (UBT), the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) – which are MVA constituents – managed just 46 of 288 seats. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party got only 20 seats as opposed to Eknath Shinde’s party, which won 57.
Maharashtra BJP chief and state minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule called the AI play by Shiv Sena (UBT) a “disgrace”.
“Disgrace! When no one is listening to their voice, only a group like UBT could resort to the childish act of making their points heard in the voice of revered Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray,” he wrote on X.
He listed a series of actions by Sena (UBT) that, in his view, ran counter to Bal Thackeray’s ideology.
“I am certain that today, those who called Balasaheb ‘janab’ named gardens after Tipu Sultan, embraced Rahul Gandhi who insults Veer Savarkar, voted against the waqf board, sat beside those who opposed Ram Mandir, supported Article 370 sympathisers, extorted money through the likes of Waze, made deals even in dead body bags, committed scams during Covid and filled their coffers by looting Marathi households. Balasaheb would have kicked them out,” he said.
Bawankule further said, “At the very least, do not use his voice against those ideals. You have betrayed his thoughts. At least do not misuse his voice after his death.”
