India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a meme-favourite, social media troller’s delight if you will. However, post the 55th GST council meeting, she put the spotlight on humble popcorns. Not peanuts, but popcorn. Caramelised popcorns, to be specific. So much so, that soon after the meeting, a couple of explainers in mainstream media followed on why caramelised popcorn is taxed higher than regular salted popcorn.
The critique, objections, humour all rolled into one
The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council Meeting, headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, soon after it concluded, was followed by divisive opinions and mixed reactions on all of the decisions taken at the meeting.
Among other things, it was announced that pre-packed and labelled ready-to-eat popcorn will attract a 12 per cent tax while caramelised popcorn will attract 18% GST.
In a release, the Ministry of Finance clarified that ready-to-eat popcorn which is mixed with salt and spices assumes a different character from when it is mixed with sugar. Once it becomes sugar confectionary, it attracts 18% GST.
While the council may have settled the disputes arising out of interpretation, it could not settle the deluge of memes that flooded the social media.
“Watching India’s Finance Minister explain the GST rate on different types of popcorn (salted, caramel) itself deserves to be enjoyed with popcorn,” wrote X user Gurjot Ahluwalia.
Finance and political influencers particularly had a field day with the revised tax policies and the explanations that followed them. Also highlighting the boycott culture, a few joked about boycotting caramelised popcorn itself. “Did India just invent three different tax brackets for popcorn?” read a Facebook post.
Author and political satirist Manoj Arora wrote, “Those who are not capable of implementing one tax on popcorn are claiming to implement One Nation, One Election.”
His words echoed the sentiments of several with over 1K resharing the post. Some mourned about how and why tax was being imposed on popcorn and also wondered why the government's human resources and time were not being spent on more pressing issues.
“Why can’t we reduce the GST on health insurance,” questioned a user, instead of focusing on popcorns in packed, pre-packed or whatever category.
Where trolls don’t work, humour does
GST on the sale of used cars was another key decision of the GST Council to have attracted both the ire and satire of social media. Short clips and footage of Sitharaman, explaining how only the difference in the price of MRP and re-sale value of the used car would be taxed, raised eyebrows and smirks alike.
Political content creator Arpit Sharma used the Finance Minister’s exact words to express his disagreement and disappointment in the tax policy.
“18%GST on sale of used cars is on margin. 12L main khareeda, 9L main becha, margin pe 18% tax,” quoting the FM, he wrote, “Read that again. Matlab loss pe bhi tax. Are you seriously kidding me?”
It is the instant and novel nature of political feedback and communication that makes memes relevant and popular. A fact highlighted by Communications Professor Limor Shifman in her book Memes in Digital Culture, where she notes their crucial role in shaping discussions on key issues.
There’s no dearth of instances where memes invite clarification, however, in this case the GST Council’s popcorn tax clarification invited a flood of online memes later. Not new to trending on social media, Sitharaman also has a whopping number of viral mashups dedicated to her opinions on rupee vs dollar exchange rate.
On Instagram currently the hashtag Nirmala Sitharaman has over 166k posts. As for popcorn, it trended for two days straight on X.
Earlier in the year, a similar barrage of satire was unleashed on social media following the budget presented by her. The rise, popularity and impact of political memes has been phenomenal lately; with the numbers comparable, almost parallel, to the growth of digital media.
Reportedly, according to Instagram, at least one million posts mentioning memes were shared every single day in 2020.
Spanning a whole and wide range of content, what makes them click is their relevance and versatility.
It is possible to express reservations, criticism, likes, dislikes and frustrations and popular sentiments of the public quite effectively.
Amid outrage in the social media over 18% GST being charged, a few official sources on Tuesday were quoted as clarifying that the popcorn served in theatres will continue to be charged at 5%, as generally it is served in loose form.
"Did the popcorn come full circle?" joked a user in another witty post after yet another clarification by government sources.
“They should introduce another tax bracket for popcorn that is served in loose form but is caramelised,” read a post inviting a generous number of laughing emojis.
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