Meet Prodyut Bora: The man who shaped BJP's online strategy

Suave and deferential, this Yale World Fellow 2013 is unlike the typical Indian politician. An IIM Ahmedabad alumni, Prodyut Bora, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party national executive member, is the first graduate of the elite institution to join full time politics. Bora came into the limelight in 2004 as he was the first chief of the party’s IT Cell and is considered the pioneer behind BJP’s online presence. He did try his electoral luck in 2012 Assam Assembly elections when he unsuccessfully took on Congress leader and state Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari constituency in Guwahati. [caption id=“attachment_1444567” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  BJP national executive member Prodyut Bora. Image courtesy Prodyut Bora’s Facebook account[/caption] To the surprise of many, Prodyut Bora was denied a ticket from the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency this time as the party reposed its faith in veteran sitting MP Bijoya Chakravarty. Bora spoke to Firstpost about the Narendra Modi wave in Assam and the online scenario of Indian politics. Edited excerpts: You are the brain behind the emergence of the BJP in its online avatar. What kind of impetus is the online effort is giving to the efforts on ground? The Internet has made massive changes to electioneering wherever it is available particularly in the urban areas. For a constituency like Guwahati city, it will definitely make an impact. Nowadays more or less everyone among the youth possesses a smartphone. This has made it easy to access to anyone connected to the Internet.  Social media has become a favourite medium by choice particularly of the youth and we can reach them through that. What percentage of online support do you believe will turn into actual votes for the BJP? There are also allegations that BJP hire people for trolling. What do you have to say about that? There is nobody in the world who has been able to measure the conversion rate of online popularity into actual voting on the ground. Although I can tell you that even if a fraction is getting converted it is always good enough for the party. And for your query on trolling I can tell you with conviction that it is not done at the state level in Assam. I do not know if it is done at the national level. What are the major improvements that you have noticed in the online campaigns - from LK Advani in 2009 to Narendra Modi in 2014? There is no doubt that the online user base has expanded exponentially in the last five years. Facebook and Twitter have triggered an explosion of sorts. In fact, five years ago no one could even think there would be updates in Assamese on Facebook. Today it is a reality. The growth is tremendous without any question. What kind of competition is the BJP facing from other political parties in the online arena both nationally and the state level given that junior Gogoi has also launched a site of his own? First of all, one must accept that message is the king, and not so much the medium. Once upon a time—in the early 80s—TV was a niche medium. Today television is a mass medium, and the Internet is a niche medium (but on its way towards becoming a mass medium). Therefore no matter what other parties do online, we are leading as far messaging is concerned. Our message of ‘development’ trumps all others. As regards junior Gogoi, launching a website on the election eve would make little difference. For instance, I still do not know his URL. How big will the online platform grow for Indian politics in the future, say for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls? Can we expect an online blitzkrieg? You can expect the Internet to be a mass medium by the next election. Coming to Assam, do you think there is a Modi wave in the state? What difference has Modi made to the state unit? Assam is certainly experiencing the Modi wave. Modi is the first person who is actually giving hope to the people. Assam has its own set of perennial problems like annual floods, continuous erosion and scarcity of drinking water. People have started to believe that he can solve these outstanding local problems which are quite serious in nature. Modi has aptly described Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi by saying only being Tarun (young) in name does not help but one has to be young in thoughts. Modi has indeed established the connect by communicating with the people in the language of the common man. What are the other major poll issues that your party is focusing on? As you know the term ‘security guards’ has become synonymous with Assamese boys who have gone out of the state in large numbers in search of employment. Our aim is to prevent this exodus by generating enough employment avenues. Moreover, Assam has been facing intrusion from illegal Bangladeshi migrants for a long time now. But we want a very clear distinction between Muslim migrants and Hindu refugees. There is a huge chunk of the Hindu population from Bangladesh in Assam who fled the country facing atrocities for being the religious minority in that country. We want them to be accorded refugee status in a similar manner given to the Tibetans in India as per a UN convention. The party has already passed a resolution in this regard. Why is the BJP poaching Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leaders? Is this because of the leadership crisis as you recently mentioned in a newspaper article? In fact, your state party president till the other day was a prominent AGP leader? There is no harm in admitting that we did not have enough leaders. It is a fact that we are not yet strong in large parts of the state. Lower Assam and Upper Assam have remained a blank area for the party for a long period of time. That’s why the party has fielded Chandra Mohan Patowary who joined us recently from AGP in Barpeta. Patowary has a strong base in Lower Assam. In the last Assembly elections in 2012, we had a vote share of nearly 12 percent in the state. This time we are trying to make the party formidable. Let’s wait till the results to find out if the vote share of BJP increases.