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Piyush Goyal To Rahul Gandhi: AI’s Viral Retro Trend Takes Politicians Back To The 80s
Bharathi SP | September 10, 2026 3:41 PM CST

The 1980s are making a comeback on social media, and this time India's political leaders are joining the nostalgia wave with a little help from artificial intelligence. Several Union ministers, a chief minister and Members of Parliament have shared AI-generated images that reimagine them as personalities from the 1980s. The trend uses AI image-generation tools to transform contemporary photographs with vintage clothing, hairstyles, cars, poses and photography effects associated with the decade.

Among the political figures taking part are Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Kiren Rijiju, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP MPs Anurag Thakur and Chirag Paswan.

Goyal Leads Retro Wave

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was among the early political figures to embrace the trend.

Sharing an AI-generated image, Goyal wrote, "Vibing to the 80s trend."

The image gives him a distinctly retro appearance, featuring a grey suit, white shirt and aviator sunglasses. Sepia tones, visible film grain and a faded photographic finish add to the appearance of an old studio portrait.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also posted his AI-generated take on X. In his version, he appears wearing sunglasses and a blazer over an open shirt, posing beside a vintage-style car.


Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the trend with a nostalgic post of his own.

"Getting to any trend which has nostalgia attached to it. Back to the 80s eh!" he wrote.

Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also went back in time, appearing in a retro-inspired sweater for his AI-generated image.

"80s called, I answered," Chouhan captioned the post.

MPs Join The Trend

The retro challenge soon spread beyond the Union Cabinet, with MPs adding their own interpretations.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur shared an AI-generated image on Instagram, captioning it "joining the 80s trend." His photograph was digitally transformed to incorporate clothing, styling and visual effects associated with the era.

The Congress Sevadal wing also joined the trend by sharing AI-generated retro portraits of Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, meanwhile, decided not to use AI for his throwback.

"The '80s seem to be back, courtesy of AI," he wrote on X, adding, "I thought I'd join the trend the old-fashioned way."

Instead of generating a synthetic version of himself, Tharoor posted genuine photographs from the 1980s. The images featured Tharoor alongside his sons, Ishaan and Kanishk, offering an authentic glimpse into the period that the AI trend is attempting to recreate.

How The AI Transformation Works

The viral trend typically begins with a user uploading a contemporary photograph to an AI image generator. A text prompt then instructs the tool to recreate the person and setting in the visual style of the 1980s.

Users can ask the AI to retain the person's facial characteristics while changing elements such as clothing, hair, accessories, posture, surroundings and lighting.

The resulting images often combine several recognisable elements of 1980s photography. Vintage cars, studio backgrounds, warm lighting, muted tones and artificial film grain are commonly used to make modern photographs appear decades old.

Indian Twist To 80s Style

The trend has also developed a distinctly Indian visual identity. AI prompts can introduce elements such as vibrant sarees, large statement jewellery, voluminous hairstyles, moustaches, wide-collared shirts, high-waisted trousers and oversized sunglasses. These details help create images that resemble the fashion and photographic aesthetics associated with India's 1980s popular culture.

For politicians, the trend has provided a lighter social media moment away from conventional political messaging. What began as a nostalgic AI experiment has now brought leaders from different political parties into the same online conversation, with some embracing artificial nostalgia and others, like Tharoor, choosing the real thing.

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