Tread cautiously on social media: Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: At a time when the use of social media seems to be generating controversy as much as facilitating communication for political parties, BJP’s likely prime ministerial candidate, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has described it as the most powerful channel for a leader to reach out to people but cautioned about trolling, rumours and fake sites.

Modi said on Sunday, when asked about complaints over trolling, in an interview with a news agency, “What was the word you mentioned just now? Ah yes, “trolling”. It reminds me of how disinformation would be used by nations against each other, by planting false stories and creating havoc during wars. It is unfortunate that some vested interests are misusing the power of social media to indulge in a similar effort.”

The BJP, which had on Friday organised a meeting of its volunteers and members of IT cell, one of the 20 committees set up under Modi’s leadership as campaign committee chief, plans to assemble over a lakh volunteers to connect with the electorate through platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and mobile phones, and mobilise voters for the party. The message from party leaders was to focus on policy issues rather than individuals while ideating on cashing in on social media to reach out to voters.

The recent controversy over its Rajya Sabha member Chandan Mitra’s tweet on Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen had forced the party to dissociate itself from the demand that Sen’s Bharat Ratna be revoked due to his criticism of Modi.