Social media. It is everywhere these days.
In 2019, India had more than 566 million internet users of whom around 351 million are on various social media platforms. Interestingly, we lead the world in Facebook use with close to 300 million subscribers.
Seventy-five per cent of these social media users are younger than 35 years of age. The multiplicity of Indian languages on these platforms makes them even more accessible.
The reach of social media has become so widespread that on March 19, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and various social media organizations, at a meeting with the Election Commission, agreed to formulate a “Code of Ethics” for online platforms, directed towards preventing abuse and violation of section 126 of the People's Representation Act.
This at a time when the epidemic of fake news has run rampant. Unverified news and photographs are inadvertently shared and re-shared in an online ecosystem among people with a similar agenda.
In the past five years, fake news shared on social media, especially on WhatsApp, has led to mob lynchings across India. The trend also goes to show how the digital space can influence events in the offline world.
Fake news is usually used to slander a political opponent or paint an untrue picture. For example, a recent viral video claimed that during demolition work carried out for the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project, 45 temples were discovered from inside demolished Muslim homes. This seemingly factual video actually peddles the narrative of Muslims (starting from Alauddin Kilji) wanting to destroy Hindu culture, playing up majoritarian fears.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first Indian politician to take to various social media platforms around 2009. Modi slowly built an "interconnected social media ecosystem" across several platforms. The 2014 election tagline was "Ab ki Baar Modi Sarkar" and this robust social media campaign played its part in earning a majority for the BJP.
This time around, both political parties have very vibrant Facebook pages. The BJP has 15 million Facebook followers while the Congress has 5 million.
The cover photo of the BJP page is a poster with the phrase "Phir Ek Bar Modi Sarkar" written in Hindi with pictures of Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. Most posts on the page document speeches of Shah and Modi. Data about the performance of the party also finds a prominent place.
A recent cover photo on the Congress' page was a poster dominated by the phrase "Sach Bharat" on one side and Rahul Gandhi's picture on the other, "Sach Bharat" being a counter to BJP's Swachh Bharat campaign.
In the past year, on Twitter, BJP's trending hashtag #BhookampAaneWalaHai was a direct jab at Rahul Gandhi. Congress's counter #KyaHuaTeraWada targeted Modi's 'Make in India' project and soon resulted in a Twitter trend of questioning the delivery of election promises by the government.
Some of the other trending hashtags in the past months have been #PriyankaEntersPolitics #ChowkidarNahiRozgarChahiye, #MannKiBaat, #JanKiBaat, #Pulwama, #NyayForIndia etc. Currently, a trending rhetorical hashtag is #RememberMeWhenYouVote which seeks to draw attention to victims of mob lynching and religious violence of the past five years.
Labelling a topic with a particular hashtag helps individual tweets add to a discourse which then becomes the dominant narrative. For example, describing Rahul Gandhi as "#Pappu" or “#Shehzade” would give the impression that he is an entitled person whose lineage rather than merit supported his political career, therefore casting doubts on his leadership.
A recent campaign led to BJP politicians and supporters changing their Twitter handles to include the prefix 'Chowkidar'. In a span of 24 hours, #MainBhiChowkidar was tweeted 88,100 times, and retweeted at least 76,300 times.
Again, this hashtag creates a narrative - a Prime Minister who has had humble beginnings and now wants to be the protector of democracy, telling every Indian that they have a space in his government. The campaign also wants to impress upon every Indian that they have the power to protect democracy and their own rights.
This is a concerted attempt to connect the aspirations of the general public to the goals of a political party while making them believe that they are not passive witnesses but stakeholders in the democratic process.
The BJP wants to reinforce its position of a nationalist party, which is not afraid to take bold stances to protect the country, while reiterating the "common man" image of Modi who is known for his video interactions with members of the public.
Modi held several "Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot" video interactions through the NaMo app with booth level workers of the party from September 2018. This kind of access to a political leader makes people feel connected and creates a sense of belonging.
On the other hand, the Congress campaign pivots itself on questioning the credibility of the government and its achievements. Highlighting the controversial Rafale deal, the Congress attacked the BJP with the counter hashtag #RafaleChorChowkidar.
A different example of how social media was being used came during Rahul's recent campaign visit to Tamil Nadu. The Congress President's posts were tagged #NammaThalaivarRahulGandhi. It was part of the recurring effort to shed the tag of privilege and establish Rahul as a young, driven, people's leader who cares for the common person.
The importance of social media lies in the fact that individuals are not just passive recipients of information but can be creators as well. The medium is also important because it is able to dispense political information to even those who are not actively seeking it. The speed and reach it offers make it rather effective in information dissemination, counter-campaigns, image and discourse creation. The best we all can hope for is to see its potential being harnessed to send out the right message.
Dr Sinjini Bhattacharya is an Assistant Professor in Political Science at St. Francis Degree College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad.