Jubilee Post News & Views
Utkarsh Sinha
Will the era of roadshows and show of strength via massive rallies on large ground and be over? What about Mayawati and Modi rallies with lakhs of people in the ground. Will they be a thing of past, where lakhs of people stand to see and listen to them, on the roadside?
Well coronavirus has made the world understand the meaning of a new phenomenon ‘social distancing’. The fear of coronavirus has instilled in the mind of people so much that if the religious gathering and queue around liquor shops is ignored then the common man has himself learned social distancing and is maintaining it unless compelled under some important reason.
There were reports that politicians make mockery of social distancing and social media reacted and it is obvious that people stuck in the lockdown never appreciated this act by politicians. The fear of coronavirus is such that parties may not claim crowd gathering for the next two or three years. Hence the formula of showing opponents strength via crowd will be under the wraps for sometime.
The roadshows of politicians will take a back seat. The politicians will have to think then on how to manage supporters and how to reach out their messages to the people.
For now Rahul Gandhi has found way for this. He is using digital mediums. He had held discussions with two big economists and also conducted a press conference. His digital teams managed to highlight these events on social media platforms. This means a large section of the society was listening to Rahul Gandhi. His press conference on May 8 had 30 lakh viewers in all.
Coming live on social media is nothing new but in times of lockdown the other opposition parties are yet to pick up this medium. Akhilesh Yadav had his team projecting his rallies on social media but at present the Samajwadi Party is lacking on this front.
The BJP has also taken to social media platforms and used them to the helm. The party had cyber warriors who were addressed directly by Amit Shah. At present several videos of Narendra Modi are seen on social media going viral.
So will the way for politics will broaden after coronavirus. Yogesh Yadav, youth leader in Samajwadi Party agrees to it. Yogesh says there is little time left for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. It might not be possible to hold massive rallies. IN such a situation technology can come to rescue. Even for party meetings video calling options can be explored.
Senior journalist Hemant Tiwari says in this period people have seen all aspects of democracy and no promises alone will make an impact upon them now. Every section of the society is watching who are doing something for them and on the basis of this only they will make up their mind for the election.
Hemant Tiwari agrees to the power of social media. Hemant says social media of not limited just to the cities but it has reached to the villages. Even politicians are bound to use it. If they can not do crowded meetings then social media is the option. BJP has jumped in to the arena long back and hence is seen leading.
General secretary of Uttar Pradesh Congress Vishwavijay Singh also agreed to the change. Vishwavijay Singh believes that in the coming days politics will change and it will merge technology with the traditional ways of politics. All the parties will have to make the roots strong and motivate workers to make contact at personal level. Also social media teams will have to be made strong.
Vishwavijay says the recent effort of Rahul Gandhi is part of this strategy. he said the interaction by Rahul Gandhi with Raghuram Rajan and Abhijit Bhattacharya has given a message among people.
BJP leader Amit Puri takes this debate forward and says in each era there some change and improvement but there is one significant thing for the politician which is to make contact with the people at personal level. Social media had knocked in politics long back. Now the challenge is to make and sustain a live contact.
Another big question is if the coronavirus remains for long will further changes will be coming. rajya Sabha elections were postponed and assembly elections are due in several states. Also the Bihar elections are nearby. Will these elections also be postponed?
There are numerous questions that time will answer.
