New Delhi, Oct. 16: Rely on truth and reason while using social media, not on lies and abuses - that's the message Congress veterans sent out to youngsters at a two-day conference that ended on Friday.

Almost every speaker dwelt on the "troll menace" and advised the party's social media team to avoid getting embroiled in slanging matches with rivals. The effort was to convince the youth to keep faith in ideology, which would be their core strength.

Rahul Gandhi, who addressed the concluding session of the conference that was out of bounds for the media, said: "Don't stoop to their level. If you go there, they will defeat you easily.

"They have experience of that battle. You stick to your ideology and counter their lies with truth. Explain to the people the difference between Congress ideology and RSS ideology. That's enough."

The Congress vice-president argued that the 2014 election defeat was not a referendum on ideological positions. He claimed that the BJP had misled people through deception - by talking of inclusive development and selling false dreams.

Rahul, however, conceded that the Congress had not been ready for the challenge and had faced a backlash from elite and status-quoist forces that suffered because the UPA had channelled a lot of energy into empowering the lowest social strata. He was possibly referring to the rural job and food security schemes and the RTI act.

He encouraged party workers to be active on social media and spread "positive ideas" to counter negativism. Initially reluctant to join Twitter, Rahul got on board in April 2015 and now uses the platform to post crucial updates and inform people about his programmes. He now has one million followers.

Salman Khurshid emerged the most passionate advocate of social media. "You can't withdraw, escape when they abuse, insult and defame. You shouldn't dismiss every troll; engage them in a dialogue. Offer reason and truth in response to abuses and some of them can be won over easily," he told Congress workers.

Leaders stressed the importance of knowledge and fact in nullifying trolls. P. Chidambaram, who uses Twitter judiciously to post his articles and comments, briefed the participants on internal security. Anand Sharma spoke about the state of the economy.

The Congress leaders conceded that taking on the BJP on social media was tough as it had a powerful army of trolls. But the dominant view was that a difference could be made if more Congress workers signed up and senior leaders generated instant content.

Hailing the social media team for beefing up the Congress's presence on social media in the last two years, senior leaders stressed the need for more effort in the future. Separate social media teams are likely to be constituted in every district and Assembly constituency.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Leadership Initiative (JNLI), which provides training to the Youth Congress and the NSUI, held a special session on ideology, explaining the history of the Congress and the RSS since the pre-Independence days.