Political parties take to social media to claim supremacy

Vikram Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 1

Media war has escalated among different political parties in the state on various social sites to claim their supremacy over each other.

Soon after the BJP-PDP coalition break-up on June 19, different political activists took to social media highlighting the failure of the erstwhile government and eulogising their parties’ political supremacy.

Leaders in opposition have started addressing media and questioning the tall claims of the earlier government in containing militancy and bringing development to the state.

Some of the social site handlers have also gone a step ahead in morphing leaders’ visuals with defamatory slogans, branding each other as traitors and blackmailers.

The political parties of the erstwhile government are not far behind in back lashing the opposition charges and terming them as a frustrated lot.

“It is their frustration which is being reflected on social sites. For the past 70 years, these parties have been playing with the emotions of the people by offering them false hopes. BJP’s overwhelming support to the common man has frustrated their nefarious designs and exposed their anti-nationalist approach,” said Jaidev Rajwal, in charge of the social media cell of the BJP.

He said the BJP had the strongest social media network in the country, which was focused on highlighting the Modi government’s developmental works and did not supports any sort of mudslinging or negative campaigning.

A senior Congress leader termed BJP’s claim as face saving statement, saying while in government, the party failed to take up even one development work. “Except superfluous and derogatory uploading on social sites against other parties, let the BJP come up with one work exhaustively competed in its three years’ tenure in government,” he said.

Nasir Aslam, provincial president, National Conference, dismissed BJP’s claim as a hollow slogan. “Take the present situation of flood threat in the state. Has its social media or IT cell come up with any comprehensive plan for any eventuality? Besides, what was its strong network doing when Jammu and Kashmir regions were inundated in the 2014 floods?” said Aslam.