Bharatiya Janata Party Information Technology Cell commonly known as 'BJP IT Cell' or 'BJP Social Media Cell' is a department of the party to manage social media campaigns for the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

(BJP).

History

BJP was the first political party in India to acknowledge and use the power of social media in mobilizing public opinion. The twitter account for BJP leader

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

(then

Chief Minister of Gujarat The Chief Minister of Gujarat is the chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. The chief minister's ter ...

) was created in 2009. In contrast the twitter account of senior

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

leader

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...

was made in 2015.

Organization

Amit Malviya Amit Malviya is an Indian politician serving as the national convener of the IT cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Early life Malviya is from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. He completed his BBM from Dayalbagh Educational Institute and PGDM Finance M ...

is the incharge of BJP IT Cell.

Methods

BJP orchestrates online campaigns through its social media cell to intimidate perceived government critics. Sadhavi Khosla, a BJP cyber-volunteer in the BJP IT Cell said that the organization disseminated misogyny, Islamophobia and hatred. The network of volunteers of BJP take instructions from BJP IT Cell and two affiliated organisations to troll users who are critical of BJP. Journalists and Indian film actors are also among their targets. In November 2015, a Muslim film actor from India,

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi films. Through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian ci ...

expressed concern about rising intolerance in India in response to political events in India that included violent attacks against Muslims and

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

s, and the absence of swift or strong condemnation from the country's ruling

(BJP) Modi government. Khosla said that BJP responded with an online campaigns through its social media cell to intimidate Khan. Khan advertised for Snapdeal. Modi supporters bombarded the company with orders and later cancelled them. The campaign led to Snapdeal dropping Khan for its advertisement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally follows several Twitter accounts known for sending abusive social media messages. Ministers of his Union Cabinet have also endorsed some of them. Derek O'Brien (politician), a member of Parliament had raised the topic in raised the topic in Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house. He had questioned why Narendra Modi followed cyber-bullies on social media. O'Brien had said "We are mainstreaming hate". He also asked if

Modi administration The premiership of Narendra Modi began on 26 May 2014 with his swearing-in as the prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He became the 14th Prime Minister of India, succeeding Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress. Modi' ...

would issue advisory asking government officials to stop following Twitter users that regularly send abusive messages and obscenities. Government had not answered the question. In December 2020, Twitter took restrictive action against Amit Malviya, IT Cell in charge, and tagged his post as 'manipulated media'. This was the first time Twitter took restrictive action against an Indian political personality. Malviya had posted an edited video of an incident from

2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest The 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest was a protest against three farm acts that were passed by the Parliament of India in September 2020. The acts, often called the Farm Bills, have been described as "anti-farmer laws" by many farmer unions ...

that violated Twitter policy towards fighting the spread of doctored media.

History

Organization

Methods

References

Citations

Further reading