New Delhi: As the countdown to the 2019 general elections begin, power tussle is playing out on social media, with all major political parties intensifying their campaigns and leaving no stones unturned to convey their messages to the voters.
This week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his #Mainbhichowkidar campaign on Twitter, to counter the Congress’ narrative of #Chowkidarchorhain”. The Congress, on the other hand, has taken to social media to constantly attack the Central government for lack of jobs, the alleged scam in the Rafale deal, demonetisation, GST implementation and farmers’ distress. The #Chowkidarchorhain campaign was launched by the Congress to attack Modi and the Centre over Rafale deal.
However, compared to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister has been very active on social media for a very long time. The Prime Minister misses no chance to post about the work done by his government. Social media had played a pivotal role in BJP’s campaigning during the 2014 general elections. According to sources, the BJP has already put its cyber army in place and created its social media war rooms in several cities to keep a watch on the digital space, analyse, promote the party and counter opponents.
A senior BJP leader told this correspondent: “Social media is a very important tool and one of the fastest means of communication and the cyber army has been created for this purpose. The social media war rooms have technocrats, social media buffs and data analysts who are constantly working and keeping an eye on the digital sphere. We have put in place a well-designed social media strategy and it will be used to its full potential in the election season.”
Currently, the BJP has a 13-member core team of national IT and social media campaign committee headed by senior BJP leader and national vice president Shyam Jaju. The National IT cell is being led by BJP leader Amit Malviya. Not much behind is Shyam Jaju who is also very active on Twitter. He has been instrumental in promoting the works done by the BJP government, not only at the Centre but also in the states where the party is in power.
Other senior BJP leaders who are very active on Twitter include BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Understanding the importance of social media, the Congress has also put a strong social media team in place ahead of the general elections. The Congress’ social media camp is being headed by Divya Spandana.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined social media after becoming the Congress’ general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Since then, she has been very active on it, posting all pictures of her campaign trail and reaching out to voters.
Other Congress leaders who have been very active on Twitter to promote the party and its activities and counter the BJP, include convenor, AICC Communications, and national spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi. Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev is also an active Twitter user, with over 127,000 followers.
Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha is also one of the most active Twitter users, missing no chance to take to social media to campaign for the party. The importance of social media has also brought the not-so-social Mayawati of the BSP to such platforms. Mayawati, who otherwise shies away from social interactions, debuted on Twitter just a few months ahead of the general elections.