Social media has power to change narrative: Amit Shah

Observing that the social media can change the narrative, BJP president Amit Shah today asked the party's social media volunteers to counter the Opposition with proper data ahead of the 2019 elections.

Addressing a meeting of the BJP's social media volunteers in Deccan area of the city, Shah also said that the BJP's "golden age" is yet to come as southern states as well as West Bengal are still not under its belt.

"Amitji exhorted the social media volunteers to be prepared for the 2019 general elections and asked us to concentrate on updating ourselves with proper data to counter the opposition," said one of the volunteers who attended the meeting which was not open for the media.

Shah asked the volunteers to do a comparative analysis of performance of all the state governments and the Central government, and take it to the common people, the participant said.

"If (NCP chief) Sharad Pawar talks about farmers, we should say (with the data in hand) that during your time, these many suicides of farmers took place and during the Fadanvis government, there is a 35 per cent dip in the farmers suicides," he said quoting Shah.

Another participant quoted the BJP chief as saying that the Central and Maharashtra governments have done a lot for the people in the last four years and that the volunteers can go to the voters with pride.

"Shah said that with the BJP having power in maximum states and also at the Centre, it is the largest party in the world.

"(However) I still do not believe that this is the golden era of the BJP, as the party is yet to conquer West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana," he said quoting Shah.

He said Shah termed social media volunteers as cyber warriors and underlined that the social media has the power to change the narrative.

Shah asked them to do minute planning, analyse data, and ensure better internal communication, the volunteer said, adding that the BJP chief also said that the party volunteers have to be more assertive given the presence of the Opposition parties on the social media.