Union Home Minister Amit Shah's critical comments were directed toward the latest waves of Rahul Gandhi video reels on social media, referring to them as nothing more than programme management. Shah moreover would determine an interview with ANI between managing the digital optics and genuinely communicating with the public.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, has kept the focus on the direct interaction with the grassroots while the Congress party is heavily weighted toward structured content through social media.
Amit Shah added, "Now, Congress tries to manufacture illusions after two back-to-back defeats in elections; however, at this point, its growing frustration has blended political judgment."
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Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the most handsomely prominent face on Instagram in the last few months, where his reels displaying outreach programs, sharp focusing critiques of government policies, and claims of 'vote theft' went viral. The digital rise of Congress, viewed in this light, has been especially glaring on Instagram, where it has left the BJP far behind in terms of gathering followers 9.5 million to 8.3 million.
Such online momentum corresponds to Gandhi's attempt to reframe himself as a young, accessible leader with the adaptation of messages for India's digital generation and he is out to use this intensive social media campaign to strengthen his ground-level campaigning, which includes the ongoing Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar.
However, even with the changes in social media, Amit Shah remains adamant that it cannot replace a person-to-person interaction with the people. As an indicator of this realization, he further stressed that the BJP had most remained at grassroots level since that ever attributed the party to winning elections again and again.
Meanwhile, the yatra of Rahul Gandhi continues to attract crowds and attention not only digitally but physically as well. One curious moment during the Bihar stretch of his campaign was when Gandhi was caught off-guard, embraced and kissed on the shoulder by a young supporter a reminder that while social media can amplify political images, it is still real-life human interactions that determine the authenticity of public life.
An increasing clash between BJP's traditional on-ground mobilization and Congress experimenting with the digital first campaign gives place to the larger picture in Indian politics whereby Realtime rallying gives way to a virtual platform. While this speaks to how Shah interprets Gandhi's strategy as illusionary, however, a clambering rise in today shows that social media cannot be overlooked in the nation's intersecting narrative. Whether social media will also prove fruitful in the voting box however remains a real test for Rahul Gandhi and his party.
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