Viscerally hated by his opponents but with a mass following that is the envy of many longtime politicians, the man behind the BJP’s IT cell will now be applying his tender ministrations to West Bengal for the 2021 Assembly poll.
His party’s recently-anointed president, JP Nadda, having retained Bihar for the BJP-led NDA after a couple of initial electoral setbacks, has given Amit Malviya a key role in the battle for Bengal by appointing him as one of three prabharis (in-charge) for the state with the expectation that he will help deliver for the BJP a state which it has long aspired to govern.
Known for his use of technology, social media and digital platforms to amplify the party’s message and build a viable counter-narrative to what he has often termed the predominantly left-liberal mainstream media in India, the calculation behind his appointment seems to be that Malviya will bring to the table his trademark no-holds-barred style which will shore up the party’s core support and help in attracting undecided voters towards it.
It bears repetition that in a Covid-19 world, while mass rallies and street-corner meetings will certainly not disappear, digital platforms will be the key battleground. In any case, with even 18-yearolds being allowed a vote in this country, there is a vast constituency between the ages of 18 and 35 which consumes nearly all its information online, including content from publications and television.
Adding spice to the mix is the fact that the ruling two-term Trinamool Congress in Bengal faces significant anti-incumbency, its blatant wooing of the minority vote has been pounced upon by the BJP to begin effectively consolidating the majority against the ruling party, and that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a seasoned political player herself, is not only working the grassroots as has been her wont but is also making a determined bid to ensure her party’s effectiveness in the digital and social media narrative doesn’t lag.
To this end, the TMC has been working with political-electoral consultant Prashant Kishore for a while now and his role is expected to grow exponentially as the date for the Assembly poll draws closer. At a time when the media has lost its role as a good-faith facilitator between those vying for political power and the citizenry ~ in the sense of being a trusted institution for the gathering, professional processing and disseminating of information ~ the direct-contact, nofilters principle of social media is in play.
While this has reduced leading newspapers, television channels and digital platforms to feeding off and reporting on the tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram photos and leaked WhatsApp group chats of political parties, it has also fundamentally changed how a narrative is built and/or destroyed. Those with the technical know-how and political nous to manage it, such as Malviya, are the key.