GOING AGGRO ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Getting their social media act together, the Congress creates an ecosystem to churn out well-crafted content on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, ruling the charts across platforms

- Kaushik Deka

On the intervening night of November 7-8, when the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) was crossing over to Maharashtra from Telangana, Congress social media chairperson Supriya Shrinate, who was camping in Himachal Pradesh for the assembly election campaign, was wide awake well past midnight.

The former journalist is no stranger to a nocturnal routine, but for the rest of her team stationed at Delhi's 15, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road (GRB), the night was pregnant with anticipation. They had been alerted about some captivating visuals that would arrive from the Telangana-Maharashtra border. Eventually, those dramatic videos of Rahul Gandhi led BJY yatris entering Maharashtra at night, the blazing mashals (torches) in their hands breaching the engulfing darkness, landed at their work stations.

After some quick editing, a few WhatsApp exchanges between Shrinate and Srivatsa Y.B., who looks after the social media accounts of Rahul Gandhi, and a go-ahead from Jairam Ramesh, AICC general secretary in-charge of communications, Congress social media handles across various digital platforms came abuzz with images of Rahul Gandhi's night march in the homeland of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. By the time the members of the GRB war room left for home, it was 3.30 am. The next batch was set to take over at 6 am.

This was just another day in the lives of the Congress social media warriors, particularly after the BJY began on September 7. The yatra-a nearly six-month-long foot march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, covering nearly 3,500 km-is unprecedented in terms of scale and outreach in the postIndependence history of the country. Every day, it generates moments not seen during political events such as election rallies-men and women of all age groups and social strata walking alongside Rahul Gandhi, the face of the Congress, holding his hand, embracing him, even weeping on his shoulder.