Mufflerman Vs Modimania: AAP beats BJP in the social media game

The fact that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making the BJP stretch itself beyond imagination during the election campaign is now an open secret, but it now appears that the ‘Mufflerman’ may actually be moving ahead of ‘Modimania’ in the art of using social media. With a no holds barred campaign in full swing in Delhi, the fledgling army of the AAP has been consistently putting pressure on the BJP to follow rather than lead the online campaign.

The “Upadravi Gotra” (clan of trouble makers) advertisement of the BJP against AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal is the latest example of how the latter has put BJP in the dock. The advertisement published on Monday, 2nd February has a caricature of Kejriwal where he is termed an anarchist and goes on to call the likes of him as “Upadravi Gotra”, Kejriwal belongs to the Agrawal caste, a business community. AK has asked the BJP to apologize to the whole “Agrawal” community and he will knock the doors of Election Commission against BJP for making casteist remarks. “People of Delhi do not like politics of abuse and caste. People will give their reply on voting day” he wrote on micro blogging site Twitter.

Much of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s success over UPA during the 2014 general elections was touted to be an effective social media campaign. Not that much has changed in the BJP’s strateg; they have deployed almost 50 people per constituency (70) apart from a central team that oversees the direct operation and reports to BJP president Amit Shah. But it seems the AAP is still a few steps ahead of BJP in this game. Right from his questioning Modi on Delhi’s statehood just before his first election rally in early January on Twitter to the latest “Upadravi Gotra” remark, Mufflerman as used social media in an effective way to nullify any advantage that BJP sought to run away with. With almost 7 million voters in Delhi who throng the online world consisting mainly of youth, it is an important focus area for all political parties.

When Kiran Bedi took centre stage in BJP’s scheme of things, AAP resorted to creating hashtags on Twitter where they promoted those interviews which showed her in poor light, especially the one in which she left in the middle and used the hashtag #iRunBedi to counter the pro Bedi hashtag #IronLady. Earlier, some BJP-friendly groups had started a hashtag #Mufflerman last year to make the former Delhi chief minister into a laughing stock, but it was soon overtaken by AAP volunteers who have turned it into an open admiration forum for Kejriwal on Twitter now.

“Studies now show that social media matters, especially in urban areas like Delhi. Awareness is really high in this segment and the last general election also helped BJP garner additional 5% votes” says Ishan Russell, Managing Partner at The Image People. “AAP looks more focused in its online campaign, and is definitely giving the BJP a run for its money in this election” he adds.

Kejriwal had again upset BJP’s campaign targeting their advertisement where anti corruption crusader Anna Hazare was shown in a garlanded photo. “Nathuram Godse killed Gandhiji on this day in 1948. BJP has killed Anna in its ad today. Shouldn’t BJP apologise?” he wrote on 30th January this year. This set off a chain reaction as the war of words intensified between the two parties.

While BJP plans to unveil their vision for the year 2050, lack of a manifesto is harming their carefully cultivated image of Modi-Shah combine. Opposition parties have been criticising them for making only promises while staying away from releasing an official manifesto. The last minute induction of Kiran Bedi may have been a masterstroke to blunt AAP’s ire against Modi, but it lacks the cohesive approach that one expects from BJP. AAP has gone from strength to strength with an android gaming app Muffler Man and mango radio to keep people in tune with the party’s latest news updates.

The same medium that contributed to BJP’s success in 2014 has now come to haunt them in 2015. Even as we read this, #MyCMKejriwal and #PersonalAttack have started trending over #ModiPMBediCM, need we say anything more?