BJP president Amit Shah addresses the party's social media workers in New Delhi
BJP president Amit Shah today met with the party's social media experts in Delhi and asked them to avoid committing the "mistake" of posting fake content online to avoid losing credibility, people familiar with the matter said.
Addressing the BJP's "social media warriors", Mr Shah said they should highlight the achievements of the four years of the Modi government.
"The party president asked us to avoid committing mistake of posting fake pictures, data and messages on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. He said such action endangers our credibility before the people," a participant, who asked not to be identified, told news agency Press Trust of India.
The meeting held at the New Delhi Municipal Council or NDMC convention centre was attended by 300 people, each of whom has over 10,000 followers on social media platforms.
The interaction was planned in view of growing significance of online platforms in creating perception, which is important in politics, he said.
Amit Shah also asked the workers to use their social media posts in analysing and comparing the achievements of the Modi government with those of past Congress government, he said.
Workers and volunteers of the BJP's social media team meet in New Delhi
The BJP president insisted on expanding the party's reach on social media by encouraging people to increase the number of their followers on Facebook and Twitter, and ensure "maximum" visibility of their posts and tweets, one of the social media workshop participants said.
The BJP's road map for the 2019 election was discussed at a meeting of the key decision-making of the Delhi BJP unit, people familiar with the matter said.
Earlier this month, hours after his speech at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur, a morphed picture of former President Pranab Mukherjee surfaced on social media. In the photo, Mr Mukherjee is seen raising his hand up to his chest in the RSS way of salutation along with leaders of the organisation. In reality, Mr Mukehrjee had stood in attention.
The image prompted his daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee to say that as she had feared and cautioned her father against, the "dirty tricks department" of the BJP-RSS was at work in full swing.
"See, this is exactly what I was fearing and warned my father about. Not even few hours have passed, but BJP/RSS dirty tricks dept is at work in full swing!" she said, retweeting a tweet showing the "morphed" picture of Pranab Mukherjee performing the RSS salute along with its leaders in Nagpur.