Parties build social media base to counter ruling BJP

Mumbai: Social media has turned into a battleground for all political parties in the state. After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used it effectively in 2014 general and assembly elections, all other political parties have started using the platform. Now the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnriman Sena (MNS) have built a strong base on social media.

Thirty youths in the state receiving notices for criticising the state government on social media and MNS chief Raj Thackeray launching his Facebook page have become the talk of the town.

The BJP, which understood the power of the social media to reach out to the masses, is ahead of other parties. But taking a cue from the BJP, other parties have also successfully built their social media teams.

“We have seen that social media is influencing people’s perception. The BJP maligned our leader with fake content in 2014. Now we are generating content to make people aware of our work,” said former MP and social media team head of NCP Anand Paranjape.

Congress state chief Ashok Chavan is building a social media team of his party in Maharashtra. “We had people with us. We didn’t have a presence in the virtual world. The BJP misled people because there was no counter to its content.” said Mr Chavan.

Shiv Sena had also built a social media team which helped the party in the civic elections in February 2017. “Now we are countering the fake and misleading information spread by BJP successfully. It is helping us to connect with people as well as putting our side before the public in a strong manner,” said Amit Pandit, a member of social media cell of Shiv Sena.