Leaving behind ‘old fashioned’ web pages and ‘Facebook’ accounts, the politicians of Jharkhand are fast catching up with their counterparts from other States, especially playing on the national turfs. Moreover, the top faces in the State are at different ladders where they have crossed lakhs leaving others just as starters.
As expected Chief Minister Raghubar Das is the front runner of the lot as far as his ‘twitter’ account is concerned, but unexpectedly AJSU Party supremo and ‘leader of youngsters’ Sudesh Mahto trails way behind.
At least 2,59,765 people officially follow the CM on the social media platform where he has mostly twitted ‘good works’ taken place under the primeministership of Narendra Modi and cursed bête noire in the Congress party- Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress president’s latest comment, reportedly offering JeM chief Masood Azhar lot of respect, has found mentioning prominently hinting that poll season has actually arrived and war has begun, at least on the social media.
No other leader in the State, considered not well acquainted with social media tools especially when majority of voters queue-up in rural or semi-urban polling booths, is anywhere close to the CM. His predecessor Hemant Soren is nearest to him.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha executive president has so far accumulated 11,300 followers on ‘twitter’ where he went on announcing his first public interaction scheduled for Wednesday. “I will connect through my twitter handle @HemantSorenJMM on March 13 at 3.30 in the afternoon with #TwitterChaupal. All my social media friends are requested to become a part of the programme,” writes the JMM chief and face of the chief minister from his party.
The most novice, if he can be said so as far as the use of the platform is concerned, is AJSU party president Sudesh Mahto with paltry 942 followers. Regardless he was quick to announce the settlement his party reached with its old time political ally and partner in the Government- the BJP- by sharing seat for the lined up parliamentary elections on twitter itself.
At the same time websites of the parties like AJSU and the JMM are mostly outdated or not updated while another participant the Babulal Marandi-led JVM has no official webpage registered for it. Marandi has appearance on ‘twitter’ followed by 5384 persons but not a frequent visitor. His last activity is about demise of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee dated August 16 last year. When asked about the new found love of the parties and their leaders, JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya says that ‘twitter’ directly connects with the people. “It is a two way communication where the person can also talk to the leader. This is unlike monologue. Websites provide certain set of information but ‘twitter’ is interactive. The leader can get a feel about what the voters’ aspirations and issues are actually.”
JVM on the other defended its lesser imprints on the social media. “We believe into door to door campaigning. Ours are the cadre based party to whom our leaders interact on day to day basis. These (social media) are getting importance now-a-days but still direct connect holds importance in the State like Jharkhand,” said JVM spokesperson Saroj Singh.
Indifferent to all these, the BJP is upbeat about the ‘fan following’ its leader and the Chief Minister has. “He is indeed the most popular face in the State. His stature is growing with every passing day. A dedicated team works on his ‘twitter’ account and keeps it relevant,” informs a senior party official.