Cyber commanders organise media workshops to educated ‘Cyber Sainiks’
ENARADA, NEW DELHI
By Ajay N Jha
In a bid to tap the sizeable youth population of the country ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Modi has given the task of mobilising them through social media to general secretary Amit Shah. Shah’s brief is to reach out to potential voters, especially the youth, through social media.
In Gujarat, Shah has been a part of the campaign team of Hindutwa poster boy in Gujarat through Twitter, facebook and Google Plus.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy has been given the task of reaching out to people through radio campaigns. Murlidhar Rao will be responsible for mobilising the youth, including the party cadre, across the country.
General secretary Dharmanedra Pradhan, General secretary (organisation) Ramlal and Rajnath Singh’s political advisor Sudhanshu Trivedi have been given the charge of organisational mobilisation and holding meetings of workers and office bearers belonging to the lower rungs.
JP Nadda has been given the charge of mobilising professionals like doctors, engineers, government servants, retired bureaucrats and IT professionals as well. Mr Mukhtar Abbads naqvi has been given the task of preparing “ vision Document” keeping the Muslim minority in mind.
The larger canvas
Modi commanders appear to be convinced by a study which says that Social media is likely to influence 160 Lok Sabha seats in the next general elections,”There are 160 high impact constituencies out of the total of 543 constituencies, which are likely be influenced by social media during the next general elections,” the study by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and Internet and Mobile Association of India has said.
Method in madness
In face of Isharat Jahan ‘fake encounter” onslaught by the Congress and other parties, Modi has been desperately searching for a ‘moderate Muslim face in Gujarat’ to impress upon the Gujarati Muslim Population about his development agenda and social acceptance.
This was visible from his Statement in Mumbai last week when he said that he wanted at least 48 lakh email ids from Maharashtra and specially Muslims to reach them and explain to them his concept of social security and inclusive development.
Cyber game Plan
1. Even as the Congress party honchos are in the process of cobbling up a team to combat the Modi onslaught, Modi has already prepared a team of at least 7500 Cyber warriors across the country who have been working in an aggressive way and pumping in tons of ‘Hail Modi’ materials, quips and quotes on a variety of issues and subjects on a daily basis. The Congress guys are incredibly slow and often, out of sync. They neither appear intelligent not crisp and Sharp. Janardan Dwivedi as AICC media Chairman was a disaster because neither he understood the value and importance of social media not he was himself tech savvy in any way. Ajay Maken is better but he still needs to catch on a few things.
2. These Cyber warriors have already created more than 100 social forums and associations including ‘ Narendra Modi Army. Narendra Modi 4 PM, Bharat Maa Ka lal, Bond of India 2014, Rambo for 2014, Modi Hit and Fit for 2014 and many others. Modi’s Cyber commanders keep on organizing such media workshops across various states to educate and enlighten these ‘Cyber Sainiks’. Yet the biggest problem faced by them is that while they keep singing swan song for Modi, the people from Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra apart from Tribal dominated states like Jharkhand and Chhattishgarh don’t seem to be influenced by such games. Modi’s cyber Army has remained, by and large, ineffective in these areas because of so many factors and reasons. Even BJP workers in most of these States don’t read what is written on these social media sites. The Congress party seems to have woken up now and it would take quite long to even reach nearer BJP social media propaganda machine. Forget matching them up.
3. Modi’s cyber commanders have already prepared Android and IOS applications for conquering the social terrain in the hope that they would win the battle against the Congress in 2014. Yet the fact remains that if Modi has not been able to win over the public of Gujarat till now, what can he and his team do at the national level with the stain of 2002 riots on his face. Even today, more than 48 percent voters of Gujarat don’t like him and vote against him The Congress party has not been able to build up a formidable opposition in Gujarat during last 11 years and for that the factional politics and a few other personalities have been responsible. But no one dares to speak against them because they are extremely close to Congress President and fear severe reprisal.
4. Modi’s cyber Commanders have already indulged in Goebbels way of propaganda warfare and stooped to the crass level on facebook. Their Hindi comments on the party and the Gandhi family in particular is not only uncouth, uncivilized but unparliamentary as well. They have brought a huge disrespect to Hindi language as such. Their commens like “ Are you a congressi? Loyal Dog of 10 Janpath” and so on are extremely abominable and at times, communal too. Yet the Congress party has not been able to protest this “outburst of lingual dirt and muck” which goes on unabated. The Congress party supporters are seen often beating a hasty retreat in the face of such fiercely communal and crass BJP supporters. They should protest for a blanket ban against such dirty and filthy language. But they are still in a state of stupor.
5. Civilized societies have a respectable level of pun and satire against the rival political parties. There is a healthy respect and some kind of civility in the tone and tenor of language and expressions as well. That was not happening in BJP earlier. But with Modi’s advent, the attack on Congress and the uses of phrases, proverbs and idioms have touch a new low. That is highly unhealthy and uncouth and it has a terrible impact on the minds of younger lot. Is Modi Cyber Army trying to pollute the minds of the younger generation of India and there should be a nationwide outrage and indignation against it. The Congress party media managers still seem to be oblivious of such rot having been set in. They should expose the Modi and Moditwa as a proof for spraying cultural muck and filth and spraying wrong and unhealthy cultural insects into their minds.
6. Modi brigade as well as the cyber troopers of RSS have been widely publicizing the myth through media and internet that “ EK Baar mauka Sabko Milna Chahiye”. Questions are asked as to what is wrong in giving one chance to Modi as well?. This kind of propaganda has been going on for the last 3 months everywhere now. In reality, this is more like a fascist slogan which has less to do with common logic and programmes.
7. In fact, this slogan is also a big proof of the failure of the RSS and its fascist brigade which has tried to thrive on the plank of Hindutva and Moditva. It is an extremely dangerous kind of call that would take the country backward by years again. Amit shah’s indication in Ayodhya about the return to temple politics is fraught with many dangers all over again. It has all the portents of diving the country once again the communal lines. (The Congress leaders seem to be unnecessarily obsessed with Modi and his every utterance. The same was the case with Amit Shah’s quip at Ayodhya on the question of Ram temple. Within minutes of his statement, a battery of Congress leaders, paper-tigers and byte-troopers started pouring their vitriol against Shah instead of carefully calibrating their plan to fail the Temple agenda.
8. The BJP leaders have been writing everyday on social media sites and forums that “ Gujarat has been communal violence –free’ in last 10 years’. At the same time, it always keeps reminding people of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 in Delhi and communal violence in a few other cities. The fact is that the people of Gujarat and particularly the Muslim community there have not yet forgotten Modi’s progrom of 2002. Would those affected people would ever forget what they lost then? For that matter, have the Jews across the world even today forgotten what they faced in Hitler’s Germany in 1930s and 1940s. Have the people from Hindu, Muslim and Sikh community completely forgotten the pain of partition in 1947.? Certain wounds keep festering throughout the life and that stigma of Gujarat riots would continue to stick on the face of Modi for ever. The Congress party spin Doctors have not been able to articulate that part in the way they should have been. They have not been able to educate the people of India that a person like Narendra modi who practiced the politics of elimination( Haren Panya) political vendetta and victimization( Shankarsinh Waghela, kanshiram Rana and keshubhai Patel) and character assassination( Sanjay Joshi) would not be in the best interest of the country.
9. The biggest challenge before the BJP and Modi is to prepare and produce a Vision Document for the Muslims in the country. It remains to be seen if Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi would be able to go even a few steps beyond what Rajiv Gandhi has thought for them or what Prime minister Manmohan Singh has enunciated a 15 point programme for their upliftment and betterment apart from the recommendations of the Sacchar Commission. As of now, Modi government in Gujarat does not seem to have done much on that 15 point programme but it did have the 2002 communal carnage to its credit. !! This is a great opportunity for the Congress party to Modi and his team to bury in the sands of yamuna and oppose and obliterate his communal agenda. Its credentials vis a vis the minorities has been far impressive. But its failure to implement them in letter and spirit and that is the reason why a major chunk of Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar voted for Nitish and Mulayam Singh. The Congress party would have to win the confidence of the Muslims in these States and for that, a fresh approach is urgently required. People like Salman khurshid and Shakeel Ahmed cannot connect and communicate with orthodox and conservative Muslim voters. The Congress party would have to discover and plunge in more earthy and local Muslim leaders to connect and communicate with them and win their vote and support.
10. As of now, the BJP appears to be making the most of only two weapons- Modi and the Cyber media warfare. The BJP has been using social and cyber media more like a propaganda machine than a means of effective communication. They have succeeded in their mission to a great extent in urban and in some semi-urban segments as well. The Congress party has certain sections of voters who have been traditional in nature and it should try to re-connet and nurture them. Cyber warfare becomes meaningless in at least 46 percent voters of the rural India where there is neither regular power supply nor internet connectivity.
11. Modi’s media managers already appear to have conceived and concluded that they are going to win 2014 LS polls because of aggressive cyber communication and propaganda campaign apps. They think, SMS, internet and e-mails would be the most potent weapon in this round of polls. BJP would take a massive lead in that and get more number of seats. However, the fact remains that traditional and contemporary means of communication is even today more effective than the cyber hype and hoopla. Voters of semi-urban and rural areas prefer their candidates to come to their homes on the door- to- door campaign and solicit their votes. Traditional communication mode has always been more effective than otherwise. The Congress party’s record may have been poor in the use of cyber space as compared to BJP but its tally of score in last few elections at State and parliament levels has been far better.
12. Modi’s corporate managers and a few internet companies have been creating the buzz and hype that social media would be playing a predominant role in many states in the coming LS polls. The same kind of hype was created by Modi’s PR companies like( APCO worldwide and Nikon Media) about Gujarat’s Global investment Mela which was supposed to have brought in investment worth Rs 20,000 crore. In reality, not even 20 percent of those quoted investment could reach Gujarat even today. Modi’s promise of making Gujarat “vibrant” proved to be as hollow as “producing a full moon in the blistering afternoon”. The same kind “of brand building and management exercise” is already on for Modi.( The Congress party should remind itself of the branding of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev frenzy built up through media and cyber campaign fizzled out soon.) The voters would not like to be cheated all over again through such campaigns. They would rather prefer to see the real and would not like to be conned yet again. But there is no doubt that Modi’s popularity is on the top among the voters in the age group of 20 to 35 years across the country and they would certainly catapult him by many notches if they vote for him.
(Posted on July 11, 2013 @ 6.30pm)
(Ajay N Jha is a veteran journalist from both Print and Electronic media. He is the President and CEO of WICS Global Communications. His email id is Ajay N Jha <ajayjha30@gmail.com> )
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