There are no party flags, posters of leaders or party workers waiting outside the house located in south Delhi. But this is the place from where the Congress has been making its presence felt on social media for the upcoming civic body polls.
Over 30 people, mostly college students, work in two shifts from a basement office filled with computers to come up with ideas. If you’ve received a WhatsApp message or watched a video campaigning for a Congress candidate, the content was probably created and shot-off into the world by the team working away from the heat, dust and noise of the campaign. All workers however don’t belong to any agency. They are people belonging to the party brought together from across India.
On a visit to the office to ideate about the next lot of videos being made, Delhi Congress spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said the team had been carved out of a talent pool from across the country and all the work was done in-house.
This is the first time the Congress has built such a team for the civic polls.
Area-specific content
Ranajit Mukherjee from West Bengal who leads the team said they’d received excellent response to their social media campaigns.
“In Delhi, unlike other parts of the country, everyone has access to a smart phone. We generate area-specific content. The party workers from that area then spread that message. Many people have been engaging with the content and we make it a point to reply to messages received on Facebook and Twitter,” he said.
The team has started uploading two-three videos a day and popularising campaign events via Facebook Live. On dealing with trolls, Hasiba, who was earlier with the NSUI, said they were running a positive campaign. She said although there are many who used abusive language, they are forced to engage with those trying to spread fake news and statistics.
