Gujarat elections: #ModiHaiNa, BJP banks on PM

AHMEDABAD: It's Modi v/s the rest in Gujarat's assembly elections this year — as far as social media campaigns of both the major parties are concerned. Of the five standalone campaign videos posted on the BJP's social media accounts, four talk about Modi. The party has attached the ModiCheNe hashtag to the videos which say 'Modi che ne, Gujarat safe che' (Modi is there, so Gujarat is safe).

In another campaign video in the 'Hu chu vikas' series released by the BJP on Tuesday, a bookseller — played by Hindi and Gujarati film actor Manoj Joshi — attacks the Congress and castiest politics by alluding to Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor, and Jignesh Mevani. Joshi's character, identifying himself as ''hu chu vikas, hu chu Gujarat," recounts the Congress' KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) theory. The video, however, mentions only one name from the BJP — that of PM Narendra Modi, describing him as 'the Gujarati who is going to make India the best in the world.' The video attracted nearly 5 lakh views on Tuesday alone.

"Since 2002, this is the first assembly election without Narendra Modi in Gujarat. His long shadow is apparent though," said a social media analyst, adding that the BJP has stuck to the vikas plank and was amplifying the message in the PM's name. "Modi has visited the state multiple times in the recent past to mobilize party workers at the grassroots level," the analyst said. "If one analyzes the 44 videos posted on the BJP's social media accounts, the most viewed videos are related to the PM."

The Congress is relying heavily on its vice-president Rahul Gandhi to grab eyeballs. Gandhi participated in four rounds of 'Navsarjan Yatra' with the tagline 'Yuva Rozgaar, Khedut Adhikaar'. Apart from Gandhi, the only visible face on the Congress' social media accounts is that of technocrat Sam Pitroda who held multiple meetings online and offline for formulating 'People's Manifesto.'

Different strategies
The two main parties have vastly different social media campaigns. While the BJP's campaign focuses on Modi, a high number of posts are used to refute claims of the Congress. The Congress on the other hand has not posted any promotional video and has solely relied on videos of Gandhi's tours of Gujarat.

The analysis of the BJP's social media posts over the past seven days reveals the mention of Modi 11 times, and of other leaders including CM Vijay Rupani10 times. Twelve posts refute Gandhi's claims and attack the Congress through images and cartoons. The cartoons also feature Gandhi's pet dog Pidi, which is depicted with a mobile phone.

The Congress' social media accounts didn't post any promotional video over the past seven days. Gandhi features in 16 posts, tweets and retweets. Posts featuring other Congress campaigners including Gujarat in-charge Ashok Gehlot, state president Bharatsinh Solanki, and technocrat Sam Pitroda amount to 10. One post, talking about demonetization, criticizes the BJP.

Some of the most viewed videos on the Congress' Facebook page include Gandhi meeting farmers (1.8 lakh), diamond workers (1.46 lakh), rallies at Khedbrahma (1.2 lakh) and Mehnatpura (1.04 lakh).

Both parties have coined a few hashtags, most notably #ProudToBeIndian and #GarvSeGujarati by the BJP and Congress respectively.