Rise of Right Wing on Social Media

Rise of Social Media(SM) and the simultaneous rise of Narendra Modi (Right Wing) at National level may be co-incidental but not unconnected. Mr. Modi is the pioneer of using SM for political gain. I remember 2014. Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was ubiquitous on Twitter and Facebook. Congress was nowhere in scene. All the HashTags belonged to Sangh Parivar. The result declared and it was disaster for Congress. The Grand Old Party reduced to its lowest tally at 44 and Saffron Party bagged its maximum seats i.e. 282 in the Lok Sabha. I am nowhere near in saying that only social media was responsible for this kind of performance of BJP or Congress per se, but it’s equally true that it has played a massive role in shaping the narrative.

Here comes the 2019 General Election. This time all the opposition parties, especially Congress, are conscious about this fact and have invested huge capital in building narratives on SM. Hence, their presence are much more evident than compare to 2014. But they are still outnumbered by BJP supporters. Congress generally accuses BJP IT Cell for its own failure to match them up with them, even when they had hired Cambridge Analytica Ltd (CA) an English political consulting firm which combined data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication during the electoral processes. (Source: Wikipedia)

Reference:

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/cambridge-analytica-pitched-election-strategy-to-congress-boss-met-rahul-gandhi-say-sources-1838229

So I would like to find out the reasons why BJP or Sangh Parivars presence are so pronounced on Social Media. BJP, an offshoot of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is a right wing party. It appeals to Nationalism, resurrection of India’s glorious past and wants to reinstate it as “Vishwa Guru”. They are often considered as Hindu Party, as much of its rise is attributed to Ram Janm Bhumi Andolan. Many label them as sectarian but if you ask any RSS person, they will define Hinduism in larger context. According to them, anyone who resides in India is a Hindu same as someone wh0 resides in Germany is German, in Russia is Russian etc.

Huge Membership:

Sangh was established in 1925 on Vijayadashmi and its rise has been slow in initial years yet steady. It has established organization in nearly every sphere of life. From student union (ABVP) to trade union (Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh), from Swadeshi Jagran Manch to Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra, all are different branches of it.  BJP is a political organization in similar fashion. All these organizations function separately under the auspice of RSS. These organizations have huge membership. Say ABVP is world’s largest student union. Vidya Bharti, an organization of schools and academics has the highest number of schools in India. BJP itself has the highest membership in the world among political parties. All these members share the same ideology and hence form a formidable team when it comes to representing Right Wing ideology on Social Media.

Breaking the Monopoly of Congress /Left Leaning Media:

The conception that media works as bulwark for democracy has hit several low during Congress regime. Many journalists propagated the agenda of Congress, sometime in disguise and sometime openly. Many of them got preferential treatment as well as national awards for being favorable to them. This led to the simmering discontent in general mass. They needed some platform where they can vent out their feeling. Social Media came to their rescue and they utilized it to fullest.

Exposing Double Understands:

Media Houses, at times, considered themselves as the only repository of Knowledge and considered general mass sheep, which needs to be guided by some shepherd.  

Let me show what I meant by double standards of Media Persons, by giving a contemporary example. Recently people from two different communities, who were accused of mass murder, were acquitted by the Courts of India. See the tweet of two famous journalist of India and try to find the difference.

Any literate and rational person can easily understand the double game played by them.

Hence we can see that the domination of traditional Media has met with a serious challenge from SM. Now the journalists, which are often seen as some who wants accountability from other domains of governance such as Executive, Judiciary or legislative, but when it comes to their accountability they often take refuge in “Freedom of Press” or “Freedom of Speech and Expression.” Social Media, despite its several shortcomings, has a huge potential to make them accountable. Gone are the days when only microscopic minority, the left intellectuals, who had captured the influential positions in bureaucracy or in Media Housed and tried to impose their ideologies on majority of the people. Now with the rise of education and greater awareness of biased, motivated ideologies, people chose their on course and this is probably, the essence of democracy.

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