Social media today is seeing lot of debate happening between the two big political parties of India – Indian National Congress (INC) and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). As a result most of the times a wrong message is being sent across because of thoughtless statements made by politicians and Congress has decided to pull a plug on it.
According to a story published by India Today, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has banned party leaders from saying anything without an all-clear from two coordinators and that to 24 hours in advance before releasing it to the media. This would mean that every leader from the Congress party has to get permission from the coordinators – Deepak Amin and SV Ramani. Apparently, anyone flouting the new norm will face action.
The new rules come at a time when the Gandhi scion had recently emphasized to party spokespersons to “speak positive” as national elections draw closer. He stated this while inaugurating a Congress media conclave being held recently in Delhi. The two day workshop saw around 200 delegates attending it.
The same event saw speakers like Union Minister Shashi Tharoor and Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari who provided tips and emphasized that due care should be taken while using Twitter.
Congress party has been late in the game but of late they are getting the medium quite right. These measures would provide breaks to the regular controversies that are happening over social media.
Recently the party was in an embarrassing situation after former Minister of State Govt of India for Home, Communication and Information Technology and present General Secretary for the Congress, Shakeel Ahmad tweeted what the NIA had stated in its charge sheet – that the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen was formed after the Gujarat riots.
The tweet that was directed to the BJP and Narendra Modi’s camp was picked up by the media and made headlines. The issue trended on Twitter and BJP again got a chance to play with the reputation of Congress online.
However, I’m not sure if these new rules apply to senior leaders like Digvijaya Singh, who not only has a big mouth on all mediums but even supported Shakeel Ahmad’s controversial tweet.
Image courtesy: telegraph.co.uk
Read more: