This post is as much about how to become a BIG SOCIAL "MEDIA" HOTSHOT as it is about Politics. However, you will have to stay with me till the end.
Post Nehru, Congress has been a coterie of sycophants of the Gandhi dynasty. The sycophants were cultivated by Indira Gandhi, who if not for her assassination, would perhaps not have acquired such haloed afterglow. And she cultivated her sycophants in the media too ...
Also many of the media owners and journalist latched on 2 her wagon. Owners of Navabharat, Lokmat, Rajasthan Patrika, Sakal, Deccan Chronicle were card calling Congress members or Congress Nominated Rajya Sabha members or hv been very openly conspicuous in thr support 4 Congress.
And it's not so surprising that most of the narrative in the press even today is led by Congress or is Pro-Congress. And more surprisingly they get amplified by the BJP supporters by their negative rants against them.
Considering their higher statistical base as of now, the Bhakts get too riled up with anything that is anti-BJP. They start trolling the so-called Liberal journalists who have tenuous, if not direct, links to the Congress.
They Troll them till they start trending big-Like this incidence of Naseeruddin Shah. His detractors point out Bollywood's adulterous relationship and complicity with the D Gang and the underworld and its fraternity having no moral compunctions about it.
But that is not the point. The Trolls railed on Naseeruddin Shah and he was a trend for 2-3 days. And some of the negative tweets are so extreme that they add more credence to the pro-Congress/anti-BJP narrative.
Its become a Virtuous or Vicious cycle depending upon which side of the political fence you are on. Social Media success is ensured if there are a huge number of people who loathe you. You are not a Social media icon if you have 100 supporters,
but if you have 1 Million people hating you, you are still bigger than a person with a fan following on 900k. The stature of Sagarika Ghosh, Rajdeep Sardesai, and Barkha Dutt belies their quality and depth of their tweets. Even before Radia Tapes,
it was an open secret that some of the notable media stars were clearly Big Fixers. Yes, there are lots of media houses and journalist who still have managed to retain their independence. But like always there are only a few of them.
And it is the BJP's turn nw 2 rope in media managers. Bt they hv been failing miserably. Except 4 Republic,Zee, they haven't been having much luck here. yes, it wd b naive 2 believe most of the folks rooting 4 Congress or who are anti-BJP are conscientious followers or objectors.
While they do hide by disclaiming whataboutery, they have been partly the reason why we have so little political choices today. While those apprehensive of Modi are in a hurry to anoint Rahul Gandhi as a Savior,
what Rahul G has only demonstrated that he can only do best what he has been tutored to do. With him in the saddle, it will always be the shadow players who control him who will control India.
The conscientious stance of certain media folks smacks of duplicity because the stories about the rise of Hindu terror and faux development is very selective and ratcheting up of things to suit the narrative rather than bring out the truth.
Modi perhaps will never be PV Narasimha Rao or Vajpayee, under whom the Indian economy really broke the trend of being a laggard. The anti-BJP media folks can't claim a holier ground since they have been silent all these years for exactly the same crimes that Congress
or other parties have been guilty of. Be it annual communal violence in Congress-ruled states before elections, using minorities as vote banks, neglecting economic growth, promoting dynastic politics. propagating incompetence - Those opposing Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chief never
complained abt Pratibha Patil as President or for that matter Sonia or Rahul as head of a hallowed party jst 4 being part of the dynasty. Whataboutery again, but with all inconvenient truth tht gets shoved under the carpet, a little bit of whataboutery is in order.
Anyway, the point is how to win an election using social media. And how to be social media stars. It doesn't matter which part of the political fence you are on. Its all in the numbers. If you do not have the numbers, just provoke the constituency which has a large following.
Suppose you have 100 followers and the other party has 1000 followers. Statistically speaking only 5-10% would be active socially. Of which some will be moderate, some will be fanatics, and some would be completely unhinged.
All u need is 2 target Fanatic supporters and the loony ones. Suddenly this group which would be about 10% of the 1000 will start trolling you. They will, in turn, provide more grist for your mill to further provoke and polarize and paint this group of 1000 as unhinged and loony.
Next time you will have 400 people trolling you. If you are good at needling, you will soon have your million followers. Don't worry about the Trolls. Remember without them you were nothing. Troll them till they Troll you and make you their Arch Nemesis.
Spread fear about freedom of speech and democracy in danger. Since you are not in China, Russia or under the rule of Lalu, Mayawati, Mulayam, Owaisi, Mamta, Shiv Sena, Congress CPM, nothing much will happen to you.
People forget easily that Rajiv Gandhi too tried to bring in draconian press laws during the Bofors clamor. India is still a secular and democratic country. One of the acid tests for democracy is when people can openly tell they are afraid and the government is very dangerous and
nothing happens except more Trolling on both sides. You will not hear such voices in non-democratic countries. It will help BJP and other parties who want to provide non-dynastic, development-led politics not to get into the same trap as Congress.
Power is never eternal and historical hindsight is very brutal and dispassionate. Not even Gods have been spared being brought down as villains. So political parties and leaders have to be even more circumspect if not forward thinking.
