The Bharatiya Janata Party’s organisational revamp has brought along with it an apparently new social media push. Since Deepak Mhaskey took over as the social media convener, the political narrative on the internet is flooded with memes, satirical and humorous posts — all either furthering the BJP’s messaging or opposing that of the Congress. The party’s regional ambitions have also been accommodated, with handles of state units actively and aggressively participating in the renewed social media push.
BJP sources said there is nothing new to the party’s social media strategy. They said that the party’s core belief system has and will remain unchanged.
The X accounts of several BJP state units have been quoting, tagging, and reposting each other. These messages focused on memes, satire, and humour. Clips from Bollywood and Hollywood films are being used to target the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. This coordinated campaign has resulted in a social media frenzy, making it evident that the party has opted for aggression to disseminate its narrative. Several of the party’s state unit handles are pushing the ‘Dimagi Naxal’ narrative, which was coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They are also attempting to neutralise Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Smash The Patriarchy’ pitch. They added that innovation can be brought about in method, but there will be no change in the system’s functioning. The party will attack its opponents sharply through humour and satire, but there will be no indecent posts, the leader added.
The party’s sources, however, said there is nothing new to the party’s social media strategy. They said the party’s core belief system has and will remain unchanged. The party sources further said this system has evolved over a long period of time and has become institutionalised. The social media cell is not a shadow of any individual but reflects the party’s thinking, they said. A key directive is that the party will not resort to below-the-belt attacks like the Congress, the leader said.
