New Delhi, May 10: The Congress has picked Kannada actress Divya Spandana alias Ramya to head its social media team in a bid to match the BJP's dominance on communication platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp.
The 34-year-old actress, who served as MP briefly after winning the Mandya Lok Sabha bypoll in 2013 - she lost the seat in the 2014 general election - had shot to political prominence last year with her "Pakistan-is-not-hell" rebuttal of then defence minister Manohar Parrikar. A Karnataka lawyer then filed a sedition case against her.
Responding to Parrikar's remark that "Pakistan is hell", Ramya had said: "I had gone there as a part of a young parliamentarians' group. People there are just like us. We were treated very well. I disagree with Parrikar's statement that Pakistan is hell. Pakistan is not hell."
The feisty actress had refused to apologise despite vicious attacks on social media.
Ramya replaced Deepender Hooda, under whose charge the Congress gradually enhanced its presence on social media but failed to challenge the BJP's supremacy.
Congress leaders conceded that the party could never take on the BJP with its modest army of 20-30 professionals, aided by volunteers, in each state. The BJP's social media machinery is manned by thousands of people.
Congress sources said Hooda was replaced as he was a politician in the traditional mould while the younger Ramya was better suited for social media.
Contesting the impression that Hooda was punished for poor performance, a leader said: "Ramya was chosen because we were looking for someone who understands the medium and is passionate about its use. It was more about her profile, outlook and instincts than political or academic credentials. She would probably feel the pulse of the new generation She will have to attune herself to the national discourse and learn the intricacies of national politics. for the new assignmentThe Congress held a two-day seminar in Delhi in October 2016 with the objective of expanding its social media infrastructure but no follow-up action was taken for want of resources. The Youth Congress's Twitter handle has 1.71 lakh followers.
Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala has 1.58 lakh followers. Young leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia, R.P.N. Singh and Sushmita Dev have 1.48 lakh, 74,000 and 23,000 followers, respectively. None of the leaders is too active on Twitter, the reason behind the low number of followers. Scindia has tweeted only 938 times in the past four years.
Among the senior leaders, Digvijaya Singh is the only one to have made an impact on Twitter. Not deterred by heavy tolling on a daily basis, Digvijaya has made over 6.5 lakh followers and tweeted over 14,000 times. Salman Khurshid had started off with vigour but slowed down after being abused.
The star in terms of Twitter followers in the Congress is Shashi Tharoor. He has over five million followers, but rarely has Tharoor taken up the cudgels for the party on social media.
Ajay Maken has lately become active on social media but restricts himself to Delhi politics. Leaders like P. Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel, Abhishek Singhvi and Kapil Sibal use the medium sparingly, only to comment on important issues.
