The Congress and social media

When it comes to social media and the Congress party, one question is regularly thrown at us: why are you concerned about social media when India, a country of 1.2 billion people, has only 130 million internet users, that too with limited internet penetration in rural India?

The question is misplaced. It represents a fundamental lack of understanding of Indian politics, and the role of social media in the political practice of the Congress party. From the time of Rajiv Gandhi, who as Prime Minister introduced computers and modern technology in this country against strong political opposition, our party has always embraced newer tools and technologies. Social media is one of the tools in the political tool-kit of the party. It substantially augments but doesn’t replace other traditional means of communication and engagement---the physical contact, the print media, radio networks or the television channels. Unlike our political opponents, we are cognizant of Law of the Instrument: "If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."

In a fractious electoral democracy like ours where every single voter counts, 130 million internet users is not a number to be scoffed at. India is currently among the top three fastest growing Internet markets in the world. It also has one of the youngest online demographics globally (around 75 percent of its online audience is aged between 15-34 years), says Millward Brown. This three-quarter of the online audience substantially overlaps with the 120 million first-time voters in the 2014 General Elections.

But most of these 120 million voters, as per the 2011 census, will be coming from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal which are predominantly rural states. A lot of people believe that social media is a largely urban phenomenon and thus cannot impact electoral outcomes. While one can never predict electoral behaviour and outcomes, the number of internet users in rural India might come as a surprise to some of these naysayers. As per the latest IAMAI report “Internet in Rural India”, the number of internet users in rural areas is going to see a sharp increase by June 2014. The report says that there will be 46 million active internet users in rural India by the end of October 2013.

In fact, the social media strategy of the party is rather simple and straight forward. The first prong of our strategy is to counter the negative and misleading propaganda of our political opponents and their mouthpieces.

Similarly, whenever the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP has made one of his many tall claims---from education expenditure of China to growth rate under NDA rule to road construction under UPA---he has been immediately taken down by our party functionaries or volunteers. As a consequence of his lies being exposed regularly, we have the rather funny spectacle of him resorting to lofty rhetoric and demagoguery in his recent speeches, devoid of any facts or concrete data.

The second prong of our social media strategy is to inform and convince the undecided voter to support the policies and programmes of the Congress party and the UPA government. By engaging these people in a polite and informed discussion, whether through blogs, You Tube videos, Facebook updates or Tweets, our workers and volunteers have expanded the reach of the party to hitherto unexplored constituencies. The impact of this engagement is observed in the results achieved by the third prong of our social media strategy.

The third prong of our strategy, which is visibly manifest in our social media workshops at district levels, is to convert our supporters into committed workers of the party. The enthusiastic response from our online supporters to these workshops has been humbling. It has also convinced us that we are working on the right lines in connecting with people.

The last prong of our social media strategy is to guide, update and enthuse the core party workers to fulfill the political goals of the party. Congress party has a vast network of people working at the grassroots who due to their sheer numbers, can often go unheard within the party. To bridge that gap and keep channels of communications open to all, the party felt the need to have its own platform called Khidkee. It is a window of opportunity to every party member and volunteer to directly communicate with senior leadership, exchange ideas, share thoughts, and voice grievances. We regularly discuss and engage in a healthy debate on various government initiatives. The idea behind Khidkee was clear – openness and a voice for all within the organisation. The party is thus taking every single worker along at every step, and acknowledging their contribution to the party.

Structurally, the party has a very active communication team headed by party general secretary, Ajay Maken, ably supported by party secretary, Priya Dutt. This nerve centre of communications is backed up by the social media team headed by Deepender Hooda, Research wing headed by Sandeep Dikshit and various spokespersons. The same model is being replicated in all Pradesh Congress Committees, and will then be rolled out at the district level.

No one understands India better than a party which has been a part of life of every Indian, has seen the country’s highs and helped it through its lows. Moving forward, the party will continue its active participation on all the social media platforms but it will be in keeping with the party’s glorious 138-year old history and its contribution to this great country of ours. Dignity and truth will remain our pillars of social media interaction. The party has a huge support base which strongly believes in the party ideology. By ensuring the participation of these genuine voices online, we will succeed in building a culture of positive, polite and dignified engagement over serious political issues, away from the vitriol, misogyny and abuse unleashed by the paid army and hired agencies of our political opponents.

Priyanka is a blogger, columnist and is on the panel of spokespersons of the All India Congress Committee. Views are personal.