J&K | Internet ban gone, political parties tap into social media big-time

Creative Reels, social media teams

Doing the rounds on social media is the trendy theme song of Resurrection Ertugrul, a popular Turkish historical television series, used in campaign Reels. Works of well-known poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, such as Bol ('Speak Up'), and 'punch lines' of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan are widely adapted for social media campaigns.

The parties are even appropriating once-popular Hurriyat slogans to establish a connection with the masses.

Major political groups such as the National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the lesser-known People’s Conference (PC) and the Apni Party (AP) appear to be in tough social media race. Guiding them are professional photographers, social media teams, and media consultants.

NC's extensive set-up

The NC, for instance, claims to have formed dedicated communications and social media teams that are using multiple digital platforms to convey the party’s message to the target audiences, both existing cadres and prospective new-age voters.

Reliable sources informed The Federal that the NC has over a dozen analysts in its social media wing, headed by a female party member. Furthermore, the party has a research and analysis team alongside a literature and history department.

The party’s communication team is subdivided into a traditional media cell and a separate social media wing that has additional state and provincial spokespersons as its members. The party’s communication is supervised by its chief spokesperson and communication in-charge, Tanvir Sadiq.

“In today’s age of technology and Big Data, the NC is not shying away from using digital platforms to engage and communicate with its robust cadre, and especially with the youth in the age bracket of 18-40,” Tanvir Sadiq told The Federal. “Our new-age influencers are actively using YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) to reach out to the party’s followers and sympathisers.”

Catchy slogans

The NC has drafted a slew of new slogans like ‘Badlega Hal, Apka Kal’ (Plough, the NC’s party symbol, will transform your future); ‘Resilience starts here, for rights and dignity’; ‘From struggle to strength, fighting for our rights’ etc.

Besides this, the party has produced a song, NC hamari shaan hai, Kashmiriyat ki jaan hai ('NC is our pride, Kashmiriyat is our soul'), and an anthem, Hai Aman ki Dhara, NC ('NC is a stream of peace') to propagate its messaging.

Ruhullah Mehdi, the party’s candidate for the Srinagar parliamentary constituency, is using the hashtag #DilKiBaatDilliMain and talking about D5 strategy (Dignity, Dialogue, Development, Democracy and Diversity) on all social media platforms.

Omar Abdullah's following

The Facebook page of the party’s vice-president Omar Abdullah has 116,000 followers. He also enjoys an enormous following on X (formerly Twitter) with 3.1 million followers.

During his latest election rally in north Kashmir’s Gurez area, Omar Abdullah, in a veiled dig at PC’s Sajad Lone and AP’s Altaf Bukhari, said: “Some parties are being helped behind the scenes by the BJP. We just need to understand who these people are. People need to know who is playing this game here. It will be known who is conniving with whom and who is involved in conspiracies against Jammu and Kashmir, weakening the voice here and helping BJP to succeed.”

Abdullah’s narrative was amplified by the party’s communications team on multiple platforms in a trice.

‘Striking a balance’

The PDP, on the other hand, claims that it believes in striking a fine balance between the conventional and new-age election drive. A party insider told The Federal, “Our focus is not on an artificial campaign or corporate public relations. Our election campaign is more organic. We rely on door-to-door drive and person-to-person contact.”

Waheed Parra, the PDP’s candidate for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, talks about protecting land, regional identity, dignity, and breaking the cycle of silence and fear in the Kashmir valley.

Najmu Saqib, a PDP young spokesperson, told The Federal, there is a “sense of disenchantment” across Kashmir’s every nook and cranny and people feel they have been disempowered by the very “institutions of democracy”. The challenge, Saqib added, was to reverse this and instill a “sense of hope” in the people so that they cast their vote and “fight to protect their faith, identity, and culture”.

'Newfound' access

The PDP uses digital platforms and traditional media to send its message across to people.

“All channels of communication were broken here during the last five years, primarily due to unprecedented curbs imposed in the aftermath of the invalidation of Articles 370 and 35A, and partly due to the COVID pandemic,” Saqib told The Federal. He contended that his party was at the receiving end of the “coercive tactics” allegedly employed by the BJP to cause “fracture in the PDP”.

Another party insider informed The Federal that the PDP is “trying to fight the fear” and for that purpose, the party workers are actively engaging with the region’s young population.

Media advisor

With a focus on young leadership, the PDP has engaged Iltija Mufti as media advisor of the party president and former chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Iltija, who happens to be the daughter of Mehbooba Mufti, is seen addressing crowds in various parts of Kashmir.

Not very well versed in the Kashmiri language by her own admission, she addresses women in Kashmir’s rural geography in Urdu and English languages, and sometimes in Gojri language in the Poonch region.

A vocal critic of the BJP, she has given multiple interviews to the regional and international press since August 2019. Nowadays, Iltija appears to prefer being interviewed by lesser-known social media influencers than professional journalists.

Involving social media influencers

In one of her recent interviews, uploaded on The Typewriter Live on April 17, Iltija was interviewed by Jaavid Khan in a programme named Trust Talks. No politics was discussed in the social media programme, as it largely focused on her personal life, the pets she loves, moments of sadness and joy in her life, marriage plans, and her relationship with her mother (Mehbooba Mufti).

Avoiding professional journalists appears to be a deliberate tactic by Kashmir’s regional parties to broadcast their message in ‘soft interviews’ conducted by their sympathetic social media influencers who neither seek accountability nor ask any tough questions of them. They only put forth their narratives without being cross-examined. Journalists are being kept at bay as far as hard interviews are concerned.

About a year ago, Iltija also started her live video programme named Aap ki baat, Iltija ke saath ('Your conversation with Iltija'), claiming that she wanted to encourage the people of J&K “to speak up”. Her party, PDP, would regularly release a newsletter named Speak Up to connect with the masses.

Switching onto Facebook Live

The PDP is using various social media platforms, particularly Facebook Live. Mehbooba Mufti’s Facebook page has 153,000 followers.

One can watch stories, reels, and videos being uploaded regularly with slogans and hashtags such as Ghar Ghar ki Aawaz ('The voice house-to-house'), Insha Allah Mehboobi Mufti (God willing, Mehbooba Mufti) and Mujhe Aapke Dard ka Ehsaas Hai ('I feel your pain'). One of her recent campaign videos was viewed 418,000 times while the usual videos attract between 20,000 and 30,000 views.

On X platform, Mehbooba Mufti has 395,000 followers.

“For our party’s internal communication, we are relying mostly on WhatsApp. However, Facebook Live is our preferred mode of communication for external communication. This does not mean that we don’t use Instagram, X, and other platforms,” Najmu Saqib added.

PC catching up

Sajad Lone is not lagging behind as far as his party’s election campaign is concerned. From multiple mobile phone numbers, the PC sympathisers are reaching out to civil society, journalists, and potential voters with Lone’s ‘narrative of development’.

The PC is also influencing voters by amplifying messages on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Lone has 51,000 followers on X.