Is the tide turning?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no doubt pioneered the use of social media for political purposes in India. He is actually the leader in this respect not only in this country but has a high ranking in the world as well.Mr Narendra Modi started using social media for achieving his political ends when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. He perfected the use of political social media in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

It helped at the time as the then ruling party, the Congress paid very little attention to using and honing social media to reach the people and voters at large. The party thought that with its presence and reach all over India, there was no need to use social media to persuade the people and voters to support the party.

No doubt, the perception of corruption reaching its zenith during the Congress led United Progressive Alliance, UPA, rule was the main factor behind the Congress debacle in the 2014 general elections and the Narendra Modi led BJP’s spectacular victory. But Mr Narendra Modi’s hold over social media and the Congress absence in the sphere was also a crucial factor, no doubt.

There has been no looking back for Mr. Modi, and he has, if anything, been tightening his grip over social media in the years since he became Prime Minister.The Congress has taken steps, though belated, to enter the field, but it is nowhere near the BJP, so far as presence in the social media stratosphere is concerned.

Even at the start of his first term as Prime Minister, it is estimated that Mr Narendra Modi had over two crore followers on Facebook and nearly seventy lakh on Twitter. The numbers have grown over the years.The Congress and other opposition parties have tried to scale up their presence on the social media but the gap with the BJP remains huge and perhaps unbridgeable in the near future.

But nothing lasts for ever, as the saying is. The Narendra Modi led dispensation has an unprecedentedly huge presence in the social media sphere, but it may not turn out to be an advantage.There are reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s last address to the nation through the monthly programme ‘Mann ki Baat’ got more dislikes than likes. Reportedly, it became one of the most disliked video programmes in recent times.Prime Minister Narendra Modi not focusing on pressing issues is said to be the main reason for the huge number of dislikes.
In this difficult time, because of the Covid 19 pandemic, the people expect the Prime Minister to dwell on problems faced by them. They want discussion and perhaps solutions to problems such as unemployment, poverty and hunger. In stead, what they find is focus on peripheral matters which have no relevance to the problems faced by the general masses, especially the young.

There are reports that the trend of more dislikes than likes is continuing on programmes on BJP channels featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Faced with this, the option of like and dislike is being selectively disabled on such programmes, reports say.This may or may not be a temporary phase. The question remains - Is the tide turning.

(Political Analyst)