(This is my lecture on Social Media and its use as a tool by political parties given at an International Conference organised by Makhanlal University)
Respected
Vice Chancellor sir, Anil Dave ji,
Vikas ji, friends of the media and all those present here, a very warm morning
to you all
Today
is 15th Dec, the death anniversary of the Iron Man of India, Shri
Vallabh Bhai Patel. I would pay my humble homage to one of the greatest
visionaries of modern India. He was an Indian and will remain to be an Indian,
in spite of all the efforts to confine him to a region.
1.I
would like to congratulate Prof Kuthiala and his entire team for organizing
this conference and deliberating on such an important issue. Currently the
entire country is going through a political metamorphosis where the rules of
the game are changing everyday. New dimensions are coming up and the way
politics was perceived even a decade back has changed drastically. When I
started off in this field, a lot of things were un-thought of and there was
certain style of politics that was practiced across the board- a top to bottom
approach where you had a coterie who took the decisions and it was left for the
entire party to follow. A direct interaction between the 10th tier worker and a
member of the august group was unheard of but now all these perceptions have
been turned on their heads. This is ladies and gentlemen what social media has
done to politics.
2. Now
this is all within a party, what about “Social Media and Politics”? In the
bygone era there were tea stalls, paan ki dukan, nukkads, mohallas which had a
very special place in politics. Adda was a big thing, if I may borrow this term
from Bengal, where anything and everything was discussed. Politics was and
still remains “the” topic of discussion and as joked in Bhopal that you can sit
at Kamla Park and decide from a corporator candidate to a presidential candidate
over a cup of tea. However with the internet and mobile phone revolution- all
thanks to the vision of a gentleman called Rajiv Gandhi- now this entire
discourse has shifted on Internet and Social Media sites. It all started with
Orkut- then Facebook- Twitter- now Whats App, We Chat, Vibgyour, Google
Hangout, Youtube Channels- you name it and there is an app to help you
communicate. What these social media sites have done is they have widened the
platform of discussion. You are now no longer confined to Raju tea stall or
choursia paan bhandaar. And this is so far the only media which is self
regulated as cyber laws in India are not very stringent. If somebody ever
argues with you on Freddom of Speech and how it is being curbed, just leave
them on a social media site and enjoy.
Now
coming to the main theme of today’s discussion that is Social Media and How
Political Parties are using it as a medium of communication. The first thing
that political parties did with this media was they shared ideas, events,
created a buzz about something. Slowly it was used as a PR machinery for the
party as well as for individuals. There are enough examples of individuals who
are purely creations of social media and some have even reached the stage of PM
in waiting. Political parties are also using this media for spewing venom at
their rivals. Now the question is till the time we continue with “meri saree
teri saree se safed kaise” banter it is fine as this does not endanger the
grain of democracy.
However
a few recent incidents have demonstrated that there is a certain section which
is using it spread communal disharmony. I am talking about the Muzzafarnagar
riots where two mentally sick people belonging to one of the largest National
Party shared an old video from Pakistan which went viral on the social
networking sites and what happened next is something we all know. Another
incidence is about a couple of years back when North Eastern people were
targeted in the south over some fabricated story that went viral on these
sites. Both these incidences show the ugly side of Social Media and Politics.
On
the brighter side we have “AAP” which has its genesis in social media. The
entire Ramleela Maidan movement was operated from social media and today we
have Arvind Kejriwal as one of the most important political figure in the
country especially in Northern India.
Nirbhaya
case is also an eye opener for all the political parties as it showcased social
dissent over a very brutal, heinous crime and how all the parties had to accept
the might of this media. The new Anti Rape law was formulated only after this
incidence.
3.
How Congress party is using Social Media? At the outset I would like to say
that YES we were late in understanding the reach and influence of this media.
People like me were exceptions in the party and were branded as uber urban with
limited reach. But as soon as the top leadership understood the might of this
medium of communication, it has lapped it up and now the grand dads of this
grand old party are very much active on social media.
There
are two fronts on which we are using social media. Firstly, to communicate with
our own party workers and to give them inputs on various issues. For internal
communication we use What’s App, SMS and Khidkee. We constantly communicate all
over the country and we have been doing the same in Madhya Pradesh as well.
Khidkee is a social networking site only for party workers, especially the
Youth where they can voice their opinions freely.
Secondly,
on a larger scale we are communicating with the masses. We have official
Facebook pages, Twitter handles, Google Hangout sessions, Youtube Channels
where we are propagating our ideology, our achievements, making people aware of
true historical events, pointing out the corruption cases in the opposition
state governments, new initiatives of the party and the government. Like
yesterday we trended #studentsmanifesto and #INC4Lokpal. This helps a lot to
the strategy makers of the party. We also have Mouobile Apps about the party.
Rahul
Gandhiji, the Vice President of our party wants us to work on a volunteer
pattern where we are asking our party members to act as volunteers and connect
with people. He wants to bring in the positives and achievements of our party
in public domain. Congress is the oldest party of the country and we have to
let the younger generation know what our contribution has been in nation
building. Our party is trying to build rapport with the marginalized sections
of the society. We have been asked to open conversations with tribals, women,
minorities, dalits.
4.
The political parties have found a new way to interact but are the people fine
about getting bombarded with political discourse. If I talk as an individual
belonging to a political party I feel that it has helped me to get a better
understanding of issues and people. Common man finds himself connected to the
whole decision making process. Be it Egypt, be it a referendum on Right to
Food, be it coming up with a new Anti Rape Act, people have had their say. It
is only through Twitter and Facebook that people directly interact with say a
Shashi Tharoor, a Digvijaya Singh, a Jay Panda, a L K Advani, a Kapil Sibbal, a
Arvind Kejriwal to name a few. Let me recount an incident about how one of the
youngsters was tweeted back by Shashi Tharoor ji while his stay in Bhopal a few
months back that he would not be coming to the party office. The youngster was
not believed though but that is the power of social media.
There
are certain negatives too. A lot of people do not want to discuss politics-
period. They feel that a lot of closet journalists, megalomaniacs have come to
the fray who dilute important issues. They do not take seriously what is being
discussed on these platforms. This section only uses social media as a platform
for interacting with friends.
5.
I suppose that when the University decided on this topic for today’s
discussion, they must have somewhere thought about how social media is helping
or harming Democracy. Nao after 6 decades of being a Democracy, seeing the
highs and the lows, we know that we are a strong country and there is not much
that can be done to harm it. Communication, transparency are important facets
of Democracy. And I personally, very firmly believe that social media has
strengthened our Democracy. I will share how this transparency has come about. A
lot of media friends are sitting here and there was news of accident which was
blocked by the media but played extensively on the social media. I am talking
about an Aston Martin car belonging to one of the biggest business house which
was over speeding and rammed into an Audi and Elantra. The security guards
following the car came and took away the driver. However the next day the
entire matter was hushed up and none of the traditional media took up this
case. Another incidence is of how one of the Minister of the previous
government of Madhya Pradesh was not allowed to enter some villages for
canvassing and he ultimately lost the elections. This was also not focused by
other media was taken up in the social media.
There
are umpteen examples of how Democracy has been strengthened by this new media.
I would once again like to talk of the current phenomenon AAP. When they
started some 3 years back, they were anti establishment, anti democracy- who can
forget the graphic of their leader cutting the electric connection of a home.
But it is this very Democracy which has allowed them to form a party and fight
elections and hopefully form the government. I now sincerely hope that they
would now respect Democracy.
6.
In conclusion to my speech I would like to say that do not expect miracles
overnight. Do not put the weight on this new media of revolutionizing the
society. It is there only in about 100 cities covering just 1 percent population,
but surely it is creating a buzz. We have to give it time to mature, to bloom,
to make mistakes, to flourish. Let me end with a few lines of one of my
favorite poets Dushyant Kumar
कहां तो तय था चरागाँ हर घर के लिए
कहां चराग मयस्सर नहीं शहर के लिए
यहाँ दरख्तों के साये में धुप लगती हैं
चलो यहाँ से चले और उम्र भर के लिए
खुदा न सही, आदमी का ख्वाब सही
कोई हसीं नज़ारा तो हैं नज़र के लिए
वो मुतमईन हैं की पत्थर पिघल नहीं सकता
में बकरार हूँ आवाज़ के असर के लिए
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