Selfie sticks replace musclemen in election battlefield

Deepender Deswal

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Hisar, January 23

The high-pitched electoral campaign in the Jind byelection is being carried out in full glare of social media.

In the era of smartphones, canvassing is being streamed live on social media platforms including Facebook and YouTube. This “power” of smartphone has apparently replaced muscle power which used to be the main “strength” of candidates during campaigning a decade ago.

Almost all the candidates hitting the electoral campaign in Jind are accompanied by youngsters who are armed with selfie sticks for livestreaming each and every move of their leaders.

A decade back, the scene was quite different. ‘Pehalwans’ used to accompany candidates during village-to-village canvassing. “The ‘pehalwans’ are no longer required in the game of politics. Social media is a powerful tool nowadays. We are making optimum utilisation of this power to reach out to the maximum number of people,” said a media manager of one of the candidates in Jind.

Professionals in social media circles have found a remunerative opportunity in the Jind bypoll. Jaipal Singh, a resident of Intal Kalan village, said, “During a public meeting, I spotted about 10 youths standing around the candidate and beaming his speech live on Facebook”.

“Gone are the days when wrestlers used to be in demand. Politicians used to hire us on a fixed daily wage for the entire period in the elections. We used to be the shadow of the politicians during the campaign and later were assigned polling booths on polling day for effective voting in favour of our candidate,” said a wrestler who wished not to be identified.

Virender Singh, a trainer who runs an ‘akhara’ in Chhara village of Jhajjar district, said that wrestlers are no longer interested in such petty works now. “Earlier, the wrestlers had to struggle to meet their expenses. Nowadays, wrestlers have lot of job opportunities. Besides, they are also concerned about their image and status,” he added.

The authorities too had taken strict measures to curb the practice.