BJP’s digital campaign receives tremendous response
Pramod Kumar
According to reports more than 1.5 crore people have already joined the Mission and more are connecting every day. About 50 lakh of them have joined through the missed calls only. Apart from it, around 10.5 lakh online volunteers are dedicating their time and money to further the cause of Mission 272+. The prime motivation behind the entire campaign is that the people see these elections as the historic opportunity to transform the nation.
About 160 seats of Lok Sabha are influenced by the voters connected with the digital world. Therefore, under the Mission 272+ the BJP has identified all these160 seats and has started the campaigning accordingly. “According to our study, these elections have three different types of seats. On 160 seats (with post modern voters) the digital media, including the social sites and internet, will be among the top two-three priorities. There are about 200 seats in semi-urban areas where the digital tools will be among the 5 to 10 areas of priorities. On the other remaining seats (mostly in rural areas) the digital is low priority and different means of campaigning are being deployed,” says BJP IT Cell national convener Shri Arvind Gupta while talking to Organiser in New Delhi.
Undoubtedly, person to person contact always remains the top priority of BJP in terms of communicating the message, the digital effect cannot be ruled out in this age. “Digital technology is the medium for us to organise the followers on line, but the efforts are happening on ground too to achieve the Mission,” said Shri Gupta.
This overwhelming response from the digital world can surely be credited to the BJP IT Cell’s four years relentless efforts. The volunteers have been doing lot of hard work in building the party’s presence on social media. “Today when most of the parties are busy in building their presence on online, we have already developed a solid foundation in the last four years. All our leaders and party units are on social media like facebook, twitter, websites, etc. We have launched most of the innovative things like launching our own internet TV channel, live audio bridges, connecting all our State offices, building online membership and online volunteering platforms,” adds Shri Gupta.
The impact of all these activities is that lakhs of people, already connected to social media, want to give more time for the Mission 272+—both on the ground and online. “Actually, they needed guidance on what kind of work they can do. So we embarked upon a full volunteering platform called “India 272+”, where a person who wants to volunteer time—either online or on the ground. There are thousands and lakhs of people who are being organised around the Parliamentary constituencies all over the country. Those who cannot spare time on the ground are contributing through online. There are many online volunteers who are working on the ground also. They organise local Manthan Sabhas, door-to-door campaign, donation drives, organise Chai par charcha, etc.,” added Shri Gupta.
The second important activity taking place under the Mission 272+ is the formation of Coordination Groups of online volunteers to work with the local leaders in generating content, designing campaign, managing messages, profiling booths, etc. Another important effort, which can change the entire scenario of the corruption ridden democracy, is the Donation Drive, including online donation or the mobile based donation. A very big effort is taking place throughout the country under ‘Ek Note, Kamal Par Vote’ campaign. This campaign was launched by party president Shri Rajnath Singh on January 14. “We basically take one Rs 10 note from each follower or volunteer and the amount is transferred directly to the party account through credit card or the net banking. The response is highly motivating,” Shri Gupta said.
These online followers are successfully being brought to the ground also. We witnessed it during the Modi’s Mumbai rally where over 40,000 people, registered online, turned up to the rally. After the rallies, these volunteers also help the local teams building social media presence in local areas. “We can take the example of Delhi where there are 7 Lok Sabha constituencies. We have more than ten lakh followers in these constituencies. Now we are trying to spread them in all the seven constituencies,” says Shri Gupta. The party has successfully connected around 1.5 crore followers (including the following of all leaders) on social sites and efforts are on to ensure that these followers are spread on maximum seats. All these followers remain connected almost everyday.
When asked how the people giving missed call are contacted, Shri Gupta says, “We have full proof mechanism to keep them engaged. We know just sending thanks SMS after getting the call is not enough. We particularly ask them what and how they can help in this Mission. Our thinking is that every worker of the party should be given work. These are all new age workers, who have made it a people’s campaign. The volunteers are running it with their own resources,” Shri Gupta said.
The entire campaign seems to be well managed, motivating and encouraging. The party has made the best use of the mobile phones. When one gives a missed call, he/she gets a response from the call centre, especially created all over the country. If one gives donation he/she is given a thanks voice call, and if one offers volunteering he/she is regularly given IVR for doing certain things or reaching at the particular place for joining the activity. It is an integrated campaign where all vehicles of digital media like phone, internet, social sites, etc have been used for the best. “Our four years efforts have now confirmed the saying that ‘the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in the war,” added Shri Arvind Gupta.
p Over 1.5 crore followers throughout the country, and still counting
p More than 10.5 lakh online volunteers active across the nation
p Over 50 lakh people connected through missed calls only till February 5, 2014, still counting
p Over ten lakh online followers in Delhi alone
p ‘EK Note, Kamal Par Vote’ too proves a big hit
Chai par Charcha from Feb 12, to target two crore people
From February 12, 2014 the BJP is going to launch a unique voters’ awareness campaign Chai par charcha (discussion over tea) across 1,000 locations in the country. Shri Narendra Modi will himself launch the campaign nationwide the same day. The party expects to dialogue with at least two crore people through the interactive sessions at tea stalls.
The campaign is seen as a reaction to the Congress taunt targeting Shri Narendra Modi, who used to sell tea on trains as a youngster. “We hope to reach out to two crore people through this Chai par charcha. 10 to15 rounds of chai stall campaign have been planned. The sessions will be held every five days,” said Smt Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha while briefing the mediapersons in New Delhi. During the campaign, the BJP leaders including Shri Modi would address the people gathered at tea-stalls at selected locations and later answer their questions concerning the nation.
The campaigns will take off at tea-stalls between 6 PM and 8 PM when people are back from work. Every such discussion will have a theme. The first such discussion, which Shri Modi will address at Ahmedabad, is on the theme of good governance. The campaign, launched through Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), an NGO supporting Modi, will also be translated into local languages in the states where Hindi or English is not the local dialect, but Shri Modi will answer in Hindi. A video album and poster related to the campaign has already been launched.
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