NEW DELHI: It took a decade to register a perceptible presence on various social networking and interactive digital platforms, though the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) decided to foray into the glamorous world of social media in 2014.
The party, which was once regarded as holding a conservative approach to computerisation, is successfully competing with its rivals in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The party’s multiple handles and social media pages in states have managed to generate a buzz around the election campaign; notably, the West Bengal unit is leading from the front.
In the state, the CPM has already made a debut in using artificial intelligence (AI) as a campaign tool for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Last month, it unveiled an Artificial Intelligence (AI) avatar named ‘Samata’ which means equality. She will read the news bulletin twice a week in English and Hindi.
According to the social media team leaders, Samata is an attempt to convey West Bengal narrative to comrades in other states.
Visible change in the determined functioning of social media teams—being run solely by the volunteers and comrades of the CPM-- can be gauged with the fact that dozens of updates including visually appealing info-graphics, campaign videos, reels, short documentaries and candidates’ electioneering programmes are being posted on different platforms regularly every day. Besides conducting live-streaming of major events and press conferences, updates are posted on social media platforms in real-time.
“We started very late in comparison to other political parties. It was very tough to make new things happen because of the understanding of the party. The money was also a constraint. We actually set up new offices and engaged volunteers and comrades. Paradigm shift took place in the party’s rank and file,” said an associate of the social media team of CPIM, privy to the matter.
The CPM decided to use social media in 2014 during the party Congress held in Vizag. Despite a slow start, the CPM’s social media team ran a reasonably well campaign on digital platforms in 2019 elections, however the volunteers suggested West Bengal assembly elections in 2021 was a good show.
Prakash Karat, senior member of the CPM Polit Bureau said that use of social media and innovative technology is the need of the hour. “Today, the majority of youth are using different social media tools. They read and consume news also through social media,” he said.
Seminars and conclaves were conducted to explain the functioning of digital platforms, and volunteers and comrades were given training. The efforts bore fruits and West Bengal has a dedicated social media team in all 22 districts except one. It has booth-level volunteers on 50 percent of booths.