Shillong: The lines have been drawn and the battle is playing itself out on Twitter. Since the
BJP's jibes at Rahul Gandhi for the $1000 jacket he wore to the 'Rally for Peace' or the chopper he did not take to Tura, the
social media battle has been hotting up in
Meghalaya.
Since they started out, the Twitter activity of the state units of both BJP and
Congress had been primarily Delhi-centric, mostly a series of retweets of the national unit or drab party activity updates. Rahul's visit to Meghalaya on January 29 changed all that. BJP's attack on Rahul and his sartorial choice at Congress's music rally went viral. "So @OfficeOfRG , soot(pun intended!)-boot ki sarkar with 'black' money fleeced from Meghalayan State exchequer by rampant corruption? Instead of singing away our woes, you could have given a report card of your inefficient govt in Meghalaya! Your indifference mocks us!"
The battle continued with BJP lashing out at Rahul for not taking a chopper to Tura. "Rock concert distraction tactics by @OfficeOfRG to take away focus of Meghalayan voters from real issues on ground!A prince can fuss over 'Fuddy-Duddy chopper' rides&cancel his Tura trip,but ever wondered how people in Meghalaya travel? Pics for your reference! #RibhoiRoadScam," it tweeted, along with photos of the unfinished road. Then, Rahul's comment — saying that the absence of women around Mohan Bhagwat in any of his photos and comparing that to Mahatma Gandhi, who is "surrounded" by women is indicative of the position of women in their respective ideologies — gave BJP further fodder. "We take offence to the insult hurled by @OfficeOfRG on Bapu's legacy with his comment! We take offence to Cong Prez outraging the modesty of women power, reducing their relevance to physical proximity to senior leaders! Congress dared to insult Matrilineal socitey of Meghalaya!" the BJP tweeted.
Congress did not lag far behind, taking on BJP for its earlier remarks about the state of healthcare under a chief minister who is a doctor, Mukul Sangma. Pointing out that Meghalaya has had a universal healthcare programme in place since 2012, it tweeted, "PM Modi, imitation is certainly the best form of flattery," it tweeted.
Both parties picked up pace and, after the resulting exchanges, so did their follower base. Between January 29 and February 6, BJP gained 500 more followers. BJP has been gaining traction with the hashtag 'TimeForChange', and Congress is rallying its forces around '#OneMeghalaya'.
Recognizing the importance of social media in bridging the gap between people and their leaders, BJP's thrust on the use of social media is evident. During his visit to the state in the first week of January, party president Amit Shah had said there will be a party office in each district of the state and all of them will have "social media rooms". BJP started training its district party units on social media use months ago. In the last week of January, it organized a social media conclave, addressed by social media and IT experts, for its party members.
The effort reaped dividends and by now, the state unit of BJP has built a broader follower base on social media. The Twitter handle of Meghalaya BJP, which had no presence in the state even until a while ago, was created in July 2016, two months after its first foray in the northeast with its victory in Assam. Now, it has 13,800 followers. The state unit of Congress, on the other hand, has just one-tenth the follower base of BJP on Twitter, at 1,374. On Facebook, BJP Meghalaya has 3,842 followers while Congress has half that, at 1,649. "Our target is to reach out to people, in every possible way," state BJP president Shibun Lyngdoh said.
While Congress in the state is yet to catch up, when it comes to individual party leaders, Congress is far ahead. Chief minister Mukul Sangma alone sweeps the social media arena with 1,26,131 followers on Facebook and more than 73,400 followers on Twitter. Another active social media user, Congress minister Ampareen Lyngdoh has more than 1,000 followers on Twitter. BJP state president Shibun Lyngdoh trails far behind - with 162 Twitter followers.
As a new entrant, NPP has been very active on social media, but its follower base is still limited - with 165 followers on Twitter, which it joined last month, and 783 followers on Facebook, where it has not made a single post since 2012. The onus of the party's social media presence, as of now, seems to lie on party president Conrad Sangma. The University of Pennsylvania alumnus has nearly 22,000 followers on Facebook and is quite active online.
NPP is the only regional party with a social media presence. Some of the oldest parties of the state - United Democratic Party (UDP) or the Hill State People's Democratic Party - do not figure online at all. "Social media activity is confined to urban and semi-urban areas because of low connectivity in the rural areas. So we focus more on engaging with people directly, in person," UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh said.
