New Delhi, May 20: With the BJP registering a thumping victory in the general election, significant credit goes to the party's online campaign to tap the general psyche by connecting with millions of youngsters.
Vikas Pandey, a 30-year-old software architect, headed the social media campaigns like "I Support Namo" on Facebook and Twitter, as a volunteer for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
He said the credit for such success should be shared by countless volunteers, mainly students and retired people.
Son of Gorakhpur mayour and BJP leader Dr. Satya Pandey, he said he involved himself with the political campaigning after meeting Modi in 2010. During this first meeting Modi asked him to make better use of the social media for the party's political success. Since then he started devoting his professional expertise as a 'swayamsewak' (RSS volunteer), without any fees for person or his fellow volunteers' services.
Pandey said the social media played a vital role in the current election in not only getting the BJP's desired message across but also influencing the public imagination at large to vote.
"Though Facebook was our main focus, we also got many volunteers from Twitter and Google+," Pandey said.
Asked whose baby the online campaign was, Pandey said he felt inspired by the Aam Aadmi Party's success in the 2013 Delhi assembly elections to turn the tables by getting non- partisan, self-motivated volunteers from the social media.
The rest was the team's dedication and determination for success.
"Our target was the middle and the upper middle class," Pandey said.
Due to these people, he said, "our team of volunteers could bypass non-favourable or negative views expressed in the mainstream media against the BJP or Modiji to reach out to voters directly".
"On Facebook, we have pages like 'I Support Namo', 'SanghParivar.Org', 'RSS', among others with over 45 lakh (4.5 million) likes. On Youtube, we started Narendra Modi's official Youtube channel, now India's most popular online political channel. And the 'I Support Namo' channel, which is now India's second most popular.
"On Twitter, I run many IDs such as @sanghparivarorg and @isupportnamo with more than 1.5 lakh followers," he said.
Asked about the secret of such an effective campaign in the polls, Pandey said it was all about "smart planning and team work, and in-depth knowledge of technology".
Since Facebook has an estimated 90 million members in India and Twitter has 30 million from India, he said they played a huge role in the polls.
The "I Support NaMo" page on Facebook now has over 23.5 lakh likes and its posts are read by over 2.5 crore people per week at times, "which is more than most of the newspaper readers", Pandey noted.
Pandey also worked during the Delhi assembly polls.
He said he has worked with various cells of the BJP in several state elections in the past."I created various ideology-related groups on Orkut with over 500,000 members in 2008," Pandey said.
Asked about the number of people involved in the NaMo campaign, he said: "We provided thousands of volunteers to the 'Vote for India Mission 272+' through social media networking in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon and reached out to around 1.5 lakh voters.
"Our volunteers reached out to one lakh voters in Mumbai, to 20,000 voters in Shimla, to 50,000 voters in Pune, and to around 50,000 voters in Varanasi in the last one month."
Pandey, who dedicated the success to his team of volunteers, said that though activities on the ground have stopped, "future communications will be maintained so that they help spread the good work done by the government and even help in upcoming state elections".
Search
How BJP's online campaign proved vital for success
May 20, 2014
India sees spike of 24,248 COVID-19 cases, tally reaches 6,97,413
News Network
July 6,2020
New Delhi, Jul 6: India's COVID-19 tally neared the 7 lakh mark with 6,97,413 cases after 24,248 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As per the Health Ministry, there are 2,53,287 active cases in the country while 4,24,432 patients have been cured or discharged. While one patient has migrated.
425 new deaths were reported in the last 24 hours in the country due to COVID-19, taking the number of patients succumbing to the deadly virus to 19,693.
As per the Health Ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the most impacted state from the infection with 2,06,619 cases and 8,822 fatalities due to the virus. Tamil Nadu in second place has a total of 1,11,151 cases and 1,510 fatalities.
The national capital's COVID-19 cases are also nearing the 1-lakh mark with 99,444 coronavirus cases and 3,067 deaths.
The total number of samples tested up to July 5 is 99,69,662 of which 1,80,596 samples were tested yesterday, informed the Indian Council of Medical Research on Monday.
Comments
Add new comment
- Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
- Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
- Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
- Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
India, China military commanders to discuss ongoing dispute along LAC in Eastern Ladakh today
News Network
June 6,2020
New Delhi, Jun 6: Military commanders of India and China are scheduled to meet today at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), to discuss the ongoing dispute along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.
The Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps of the Indian Army Commander Lieutenant Gen Harinder Singh will meet his Chinese equivalent Maj Gen Liu Lin, who is the commander of South Xinjiang Military Region of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to address the ongoing tussle in Eastern Ladakh between the two countries over the heavy military build-up by the People's Liberation Army along the LAC there.
The two sides have held close to a dozen rounds of talks since the first week of May when the Chinese sent over 5,000 troops to the LAC.
On Friday, officials of India and China interacted through video-conferencing with the two sides agreeing that they should handle "their differences through peaceful discussion" while respecting each other's sensitivities and concerns and not allowing them to become disputes in accordance with the guidance provided by the leadership.
In the last few days, there has not been any major movement of the People's Liberation Army troops at the multiple sites where it has stationed itself along the LAC opposite Indian forces.
India and China have been locked in a dispute over the heavy military build-up by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) where they have brought in more than 5,000 troops along with the Eastern Ladakh sector.
The Chinese Army's intent to carry out deeper incursions was checked by the Indian security forces by quick deployment. The Chinese have also brought in heavy vehicles with artillery guns and infantry combat vehicles in their rear positions close to the Indian territory.
Comments
Add new comment
- Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
- Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
- Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
- Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
BJP corporator alleges rape by then BJP MLA for over 20 years
News Network
February 28,2020
Thane, Feb 28: Former BJP MLA Narendra Mehta was on Friday charged for allegedly raping and harassing a woman corporator in Bhayandar, which is in the Thane district near Mumbai, on Friday, police said.
His associate Sanjay Tharthare has also been charged in the case, they said.
The district rural police lodged an FIR against Narendra Mehta, who resigned from the BJP three days ago, and his associate, an official from the Mira-Bhayandar police station said.
No arrest has been made till now.
A video of the corporator purportedly speaking about the alleged harassment and abuse she suffered at the hands of Narendra Mehta went viral on social media two days ago, the official said.
The corporator has alleged that the abuse is going on since 1999 and her family is facing threats from him, he added.
Narendra Mehta and Sanjay Tharthare were charged under relevant section of the Indian Penal Code for rape and other relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, he said.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik demanded the immediate arrest of Narendra Mehta, saying it is a "tragedy" that the BJP, which raises the issue of women's safety in the state, has not taken any action against its leader.
"Law and order issue will arise if such a person (facing rape and harassment charges) roams freely. He should be arrested as soon as possible," Mr Sarnaik said.
The Thane legislator also termed Narendra Mehta as "Marathi-hater" and alleged that he had once questioned Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's culture.
"I wonder why the BJP did not take strict action against Mehta, it needs to introspect," Mr Sarnaik said.
Comments
Add new comment
- Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
- Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
- Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
- Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Comments
Add new comment