Though the Bahujan Samaj Party does not believe in the power of social media, and asks its cadres to stay away from it, the party seems to be getting enough support by several unofficial accounts oper
Though the Bahujan Samaj Party does not believe in the power of social media, and asks its cadres to stay away from it, the party seems to be getting enough support by several unofficial accounts operated by its supporters on different social media platforms.
Many BSP leaders, without disclosing their names, have set up party accounts on social networking sites, and are keeping the supporters abreast of party activities and the views of party supremo Mayawati.
One of the dozen-odd pages on Facebook, titled “bsp4up”, posted the portions of Ms Mayawati’s speech at a rally in Agra on Sunday, and also slammed the media for not showing long shots of crowds at the rally. The page also has excerpts from her Rajya Sabha speeches and press conferences.
Apart from having many cartoons and pictures lampooning the Modi government, the page has slogans like “Bahujan samaj bachana hai, Haathi wapas lana hai” and “Bachche ki zid, Maa ka pyaar, 2017 mein aayegi BSP ki sarkar”.
Another Facebook page, “BSP — The Rising Power of India”, a closed group, has around 22,000 members. A number of other web pages like “BSP News”, “Bahujan Samaj Party — BSP” and BSP Allahabad, continued posting party activities. No senior BSP leader admitted to knowing about the party’s presence on social media.
“We believe in contacting our voters directly, not through social media. These pages must be made by the party supporters, though the BSP does not operate any official account,”said a senior party functionary.
The supporters are also all over Twitter. Among the most active new handles are @MayawatiUP, @BSPUttarPradesh, @BspUp2017, @BSP4UP, @bsp_2017, @Bspmission_2017, and @BSPSocialFeed.
“We can’t stop our supporters from projecting the party on social media,” he added.
A Facebook page, ‘BSP Youth NRI Unit France-EU’ — on which the Rohith Vemula issue figures prominently — is apparently operated by the BSP supporters overseas.
A few months ago, Ms Mayawati expelled her party candidate from Aligarh, Sangita Chaudhary, who posted a photograph in which she was seen touching the BSP president’s feat.
