BSP won't bank on social media for poll campaign

MEERUT: While most of the political parties with an eye on the UP 2017 polls have gone to great lengths to reach out to voters through social media -in fact the Congress early this week directed its workers in Uttrakhand, which also goes to polls next year, to get a smartphone -the BSP has said the party has no such plans.
“We believe in working at the grassroots level.Our aim is to work and not do halla (noise) like others on social media,“ said UP BSP chief Ram Achal Rajbhar. On Facebook, in comparison to BJP's 86.58 lakh, Congress's 38.55 lakh and SP's 10.74 lakh likes, BSP has just 3.63 lakh likes. Dalit leaders, however, said they are not sure if this is the right strategy “in this day and age“.
Dalit activist-writer-entrepreneur Chandrabhan Prasad, who is also adviser to the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told TOI, “Being active on social media will help them garner votes from youngsters. These days, even villagers use cellphone and anything people see on social media is considered the gospel truth. The move to ditch social media might harm them in the elections.“
The decision has come at a time when the likes of BJP have given an entirely new dimension to campaigning by using social media as one of its powerful tools.
UP is not entirely untouched by this trend as the ruling SP's promise of distributing laptops to students is said to have been their trump card in 2012 assembly polls.Many observers feel BSP's move could be counter-productive to aspirations of Dalit youth. A Dalit student said, “BSP should understand social media can be criticised but not ignored.“