By Sidharth Mishra
Political analysts and media studies scholars world-wide attribute credit to social media for chief minister Arvind Kejriwal coming to power in Delhi in 2013 and prime minister Narendra Modi at the Centre in 2014. It’s true that Arvind Kejriwal, coming from an engineering background, was the first to understand the power of digital technology and turned it into the sinews of his start-up Aam Aadmi Party.
Narendra Modi, given that he is a keen and sharp student of politics, looking at the assembly poll results in Delhi was quick to grasp the power of social media. He made use of it during the 2014 general election, which helped him to come to power with a thumping majority.
The Congress on the other hand refused to learn from the debacle of Delhi in 2013 and went unprepared into 2014 general elections on the social media front. No wonder it lost miserably. Congress leadership failed to fully understand the complexities of a social media success story and continued to commit ‘harakiris’.
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