Form of words:
New Delhi: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has been under fire for the past one month mainly due to two high-profile incidents.
On 27 September, the police broke into a hotel in Gorakhpur, which is the chief minister’s home area, and alleged murder Kanpur-based businessman Manish Gupta.
Then a few days later, on 3 October, came the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, in which a convoy solved through protesting farmers and a local journalist. Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State (MoS) Ajay Mishra, was reportedly part of the convoy.
In both the cases the Chief Minister acted swiftly and offered compensation and government job in case of death of the businessman.
But the Uttar Pradesh BJP believes that it was able to contain the anger against him because of its IT cell. Sources in the IT cell said the party was able to counter the negative media coverage through its short clips spread through its vast social media network.
The party is now looking to expand its reach on social media. NS The BJP is in the process of nominating 1,63,000 IT coordinators and members for its social media units to be set up across the state.
With assembly elections due in 2022, the party is considering passing more material to its 1,918 IT cell chiefs Board-Level and 1.7 Lakh WhatsApp Groups in UP.
According to the party’s UP IT cell chief Kameshwar Mishra, the BJP’s digital army will work relentlessly to counter allegations leveled by opposition parties, publicize the government’s work and “deliver relevant content to the public on an hourly basis”. .
“It has been decided to appoint an IT cell chief and two co-convenors at each booth. There will be a team of at least five people, equipped with five smartphones, to forward election material from state and central headquarters on an hourly basis,” said Mishra.
“They will be responsible for spreading five to 10 original content across all platforms of social media every day.”
There are around 1,63,000 booths in the state.
Read also: From Vajpayee-Advani to Modi-Shah – how 2 BJP governments have dealt with their ‘tainted’ ministers
Strategy to reach 150 million people on WhatsApp simultaneously
According to a BJP IT cell functionary, the party’s digital army will control the entire election campaign through a two-pronged strategy. Any message, video speech, cartoon is the first to be sent from the State Headquarters of IT Cell Board-based units, which are shipped immediately afterwards Power CenterAnd from there it is forwarded to the booth level IT cell head. They are responsible for sharing all content.
27,000 near the party Power Center, each of which is made up of six to seven booths.
“We have around two crore WhatsApp groups to reach out to the masses. The party’s IT cell can make a video or any message viral to 150 million people with a single click. This is the most important means through which we mold public opinion by entering WhatsApp groups of the general public,” said a second BJP IT cell functionary.
For example, when PM Modi is addressing a rally, we make short clips of two minutes and reach it to 15-20 crore people in a matter of seconds. “When these messages can reach 15-20 crore people, we do not need TV channels or newspapers to take our campaign to the masses. But a huge effort is needed to deal with all this.”
According to an IT cell official, the state unit’s Facebook page has around 37 lakh followers, while it has around 26 lakh followers on Twitter. The party has also recently become active on Instagram where it is followed by 25,000 accounts.
“Recently, we have started three to four campaigns. it includes the difference is clear (The difference is obvious) one, presented as a comparative study based on graphics of the work done by the Akhilesh government with the Yogi government,” said UP BJP social media chief Ankit Chandel.
“Another campaign, Thought Imandar, Kama strong (honest thinking, solid action)It is based on the achievements of the Yogi government. The party on Instagram is showcasing the actions and intentions of the opposition parties through various cartoons.
According to party strategists, however, the real campaign will begin only after PM Modi intensifies his election campaign.
Experts say the social media push will only complement the election campaign, but cannot replace it.
“Social media and IT cells are effective only when there is no strong opposition leader facing the BJP in the states. It may complement the actual election campaign, but may not be a product in itself,” said Shashibhushan Pandey, professor of political science at Ambedkar University, Lucknow.
“BJP’s strong social media campaign in Jharkhand and West Bengal could not succeed in view of the largely anti-incumbency (Jharkhand) and strong leadership presented by Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal).”
(Edited by Arun Prashant)
Read also: BJP’s Big Social Media Counter – BL Santosh Asks IT Cell To Shut Down Yogi And Modi’s Plans
subscribe our channel youtube And Wire
Why is the news media in crisis and how can you fix it?
India needs free, unbiased, non-hyphenated and questionable journalism even more as it is facing many crises.
But the news media itself is in trouble. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism are shrinking, yielding to raw prime-time spectacle.
ThePrint has the best young journalists, columnists and editors to work for it. Smart and thinking people like you will have to pay a price to maintain this quality of journalism. Whether you live in India or abroad, you can Here.