Hardly few months ago, we couldn’t even imagine The Indian National Congress (INC) matching up their social media skills with the Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but today the party after many false starts is finally making the ruling party sweat on Twitter.1
With more than 4.5 Lakh followers on their official id along with multiple handles@INCLive, @WithCongress @OfficeOfRG, Congress is now making high frequency updates – marking its online presence in the virtual space, which was until now totally dominated by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
So, when Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi after his 56 days sabbatical protested against the land acquisition bill. Unexpectedly, we could see trending hashtags like#KisanVirodhiNarendraModi. Same thing happened when he gave a speech in the parliament on Net Neutrality, #RGForNetNeutrality started trending. And when he planned his padyatra in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra where he visited the homes of farmers who had committed suicide, his Communication team ensured that all eyes are on RaGa. Unexpectedly, here too we saw trending hashtags like #KisaanMitraRG. This was no coincidence, but a well planned social media strategy just like BJP and AAP. Yes, after drawing a lot of flak for their social media strategy, Team INC has now undergone a revamp.
They are not just keeping a track of what is trending but also ensuring that they keep a hawk’s eye on Narendra Modi’s national and International visits. This is the reason why we see trending hashtags like #GappuInMathura, #GappuInChina, #EkSaalJantaBehaal, and #GappuTieTieFish. No wonder, after the royal entry of Congress on social media, Narendra Modi has gone viral as Gappu.1 He was initially being termed as Feku.
Congress is using the same weapon which was used by Narendra Modi, that is social media. However, this time it is not Pappu but Gapu Modi in the radar. Incidentally, while, many of the hashtags are well planned by the Congress party, a good number of unbiased netizen is joining the trend by sharing their own grievances against the PM.
If Narendra Modi wants to stop this social media revolution set up by Congress Communication head Randeep Sujrewala, he has only one option and that is to finally be productive. Being rhetoric will no more help India or fool the Indians. It is high time Modi stop taking the support of PR stunts – It is the right time to change from #Gappu to #Modi4U, not just on Twitter but in a real sense, literally!
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