Politics 2.0 is the Politics of PR and Social Media
Politics 2.0 is the politics of PR and Social Media
COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the entire world in unimaginable ways. Our conventional wisdom is being challenged by it and demanding an entirely new horizon of thinking. The governing principle of society and state, the politics, too is set to undergo major transformation due to COVID related implications. Scholars have argued that the post-corona politics or the Politics 2.0 will have elements of conventional politics like debates around caste, religion, welfarism, capitalism, socialism, liberalism etc. but what will add new flavour to it will be the spatial dimension of this politics 2.0. We had conventionally associated politics with massive rallies, big dharnas and large gathering of people to support their leader, party, and ideology. However, all this has become extremely dangerous and difficult in the contemporary world where social distancing has become sine qua non to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Therefore, more and more politics will shift to the digital space from physical space. In this context, the decision by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), to hold digital rallies is welcome move and refreshing development in Indian politics, which has the potential to transform it completely. This politics requires a closer scrutiny along with the role of Public Relations and Social Media.
Public Relations and the making of New Politics
It wouldn’t be a hyperbole to say that the role of public relations is as old as politics itself. In the ancient Greek, the art of public speaking became the most important pillar of politics. The balanced use of emotions, facts and rhetoric made a person a fine politician. All great leaders have been great orators, be it Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi to Narendra Modi in our contemporary times. It is the speech that connected them to the people as they spoke the minds of the common man, whose voice was previously unheard and in the that leader they found someone who could convey what they had always thought and wanted. However, in the present times, Public Relations include much more than speeches. It included the role of media, social media, technology, marketing of ideas and the leader and dynamics of communication.Perception in politics is a key driver to take a successful election campaign home. Contextually, PR has emerged as a vital tool that ensures the idea is professed in the manner it should be.PR driven and technology backed political campaigns have buzzed the world over the past few years.To cater the needs of the politicians, several PR firms have therefore mushroomed up in the world that help them in reaching out to the public and creating a brand out of the leader.
Earlier PR was considered as a ‘bad’ world in politics. It was believed that politics should remain raw where politicians seek vote on different issues via rallies, conferences etc. Leader should not be ‘marketed’ like some commercial product, it was believed. However, with the changing times, this philosophy became redundant and obsolete. The new idea is that the greater the public relations or PR, the greater is the chances of acceptability and winnability of the leader and there are several examples. Using PR doesn’t mean that the leader is not competent enough to win. It simply means that the leader wants to reach out to new set of voters through new set of ideas and techniques. Ultimately it is the quality of the leader that has the final say. For example, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, both the parties BJP and Congress used PR to promote their leaders and philosophy. But it was the quality of Narendra Modi ji which was more acceptable to the people than his opponent Rahul Gandhi ji. PR can definitely help a good idea liked by more people but certainly not the one that is not even liked by a considerable number of people. By making catchy electoral ads, content marketing, mobile advertising the PR agencies make the leader’s presence felt in different place in various forms.
Role of Social Media in contemporary politics
One idea that has brought noticeable change in the style of politics is the use of social media. Social media has democratised the public debate that was earlier confined to a set of intellectuals, media personalities and opinion builders. Now, through the help of social media, anyone can raise his/her voice and make it heard to those required. In the Indian context, two politicians were quick to realise the potential of social media- Shashi Tharoor of the Congress and then Gujrat CM Narendra Modi of the BJP. In fact, it was the social media that helped Modiji’s rise both within the partyand among the common people. At a time when he was completely boycotted by the mainstream media, Modiji utilised Twitter and facebook to convey his message of good governance and development for all. His popularity in social media made him a force to reckon with. In a way it was a ‘revolution from below’, that made Modi’s rise inevitable. It was also the same time in 2013 when thentwo senior Union Ministers — Manish Tewari (Information and Broadcasting) and Kapil Sibal (Information Technology and Telecom) — disagreed on the report that stated that social media could influence 160 Lok Sabha seats in the elections of 2014. The result of their ignorance was the historic drubbing of the Congress party and several reports indicated the absence or negligible presence of the party and its scion Rahul Gandhi in social media that was responsible for this defeat. Indian youth had spent considerable time and got highly influenced by the social media campaigns of the BJP.
Even in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s dominant presence in social media and its well functional IT cell helped it in reaching out to the voters. It was led by the PM Modi himself who initiated the unique campaign of ‘Mai BhiChaukidaar’ by putting ‘Chaukidaar’ as a prefix in order to counter the negative campaign of accusation of corruption by Rahul Gandhi on social media by calling ‘ChaukidaarChor Hai’. However, Rahul Gandhi’s campaign boomeranged and BJP won the elections with even greater number of seats than its previous tally of 2014. Experts attributed this success to PM Modi’s fine election campaign, his PR and the fantastic use of social media beside other factors like his welfare schemes and a corruption free regime. Social media helped BJP reach out to those set of voters who were either undecided or were negatively influenced by a certain section of print and electronic media. They could easily find the realities in social media of what was told to them by the mainstream media.
Politics 2.0 will be more about PR and Social Media
As we move towards normalcy in post-pandemic era, our politics will be in a new avatar. It will be practised and contested more and more on digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Therefore, digital presence may become necessary but not a sufficient criterion for getting success in politics. New ideas will have to be brought in, new remedies have to be innovated and new connectivity has to be developed in the digital world. This is where PR would play a major role. Campaigns like ‘Chai Pe Charcha’, ‘AbkiBaar, Modi Sarkar, ‘Selfie With Daughter’, Virtual rallies will have to be encouraged so that safety of the people is not compromised while taking up the welfarian cause of the people. Elections will be more about which leader and which ideology connects with the masses in more unique ways. As internet reaches more and more people, their opinion will be shaped more by social media that mainstream media. It is also imperative that social media companies be kept under check so that there remains a level playing field for all the players and that the personal data of the people is not mis utilised by them to influence their political choices.
