The Indian National Congress (INC)’s Kerala unit seems to have got the social media game down pat this Lok Sabha election. With its nearly one lakh followers, the party unit’s X (Twitter) handle is being lauded by a section of netizens for posing incisive and well-researched questions on the social media platform, forcing opponents to respond. Their memes, which primarily draw humour from popular Malayalam films, poking fun at everything from the Election Commission (EC)’s inaction against hate speeches to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘close relations’ with the Adani group, have found resonance with X users opposed to the BJP.
“So who is running this handle after all?” X users have been wondering, with some even calling for those behind INC Kerala’s X handle to take over all of the party’s social media accounts at the national level.
Vijay Thottathil, a member of Kerala's digital media cell and social media influencer, tells TNM that these changes happened over the past year, specifically after the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC)’s former digital media convener Anil Antony left the party and joined BJP. Congress Kerala had subsequently formed a new social media team, with Sarin P taking over as convener.
“It was in March 2023 that we formed the new digital media cell,” says Vijay. “We did not have a strong support system earlier. Even during the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, which was a huge event for the Congress, Anil never took the initiative to post anything on social media handles."
There is currently a 26-member team, including Vijay, that decides the social media strategy across digital platforms for the Congress in Kerala. “Our social media strategy is platform-specific,” Sarin tells TNM. “On Instagram, we make an effort to convey issues in a manner that appeals to youngsters specifically. On WhatsApp, it’s mostly forwarded messages derived from the posts on Instagram, X, or Facebook. There are people who like to read a lot. For them, we write extensive and factual narratives on specific political concerns.”
For X (@INCKerala) specifically, where the party unit seems to be finding most success, they have a team of around eight people. “Subhash and Ranjith, who are based in Bengaluru, handle the primary work alongside me on X,” Vijay says.
The ‘X’ strategy
X, typically, is the go-to social media platform for politicians and journalists to set political narratives world over, but as Sarin and Vijay point out, it hasn’t been as well established yet in Kerala where people still turn to Facebook for political discourses. “In Kerala, politics is said to happen mostly on Facebook. Even the online media in Kerala mostly engages with the content on Facebook. One could wonder if it’s because we haven’t updated to the times yet, or if it’s simply that Malayalis are reluctant to accept change,” says Sarin.
Vijay says that if they share a Malayalam post on X, they may hardly get 80-90 likes.
That’s why Congress Kerala decided to focus on national-level topics over state issues on X, a decision that has since worked out well for them. “If we share an English-language post on a nationally relevant topic, we now typically get around 1,000- 2,000 likes. We have consistently reached that many people over the past couple of months,” he says.
Besides, Sarin says, netizens in X seem more informed on political matters. “People on X have an inquisitiveness to know what is happening behind the curtains.”
The likes and reposts that Congress Kerala rakes in on X are almost on par with the responses that the INC India handle gets, despite the fact that the national handle has more than 10 million followers. The Kerala handle’s reach could also be because of its use of English language, which ensures that it reaches a wider audience beyond language barriers unlike the national handle that usually posts in Hindi.
The posts made by Congress Kerala have so far been successful enough to warrant direct responses from Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, BJP’s IT cell convener Amit Malviya, and BJP’s Gujarat unit.
For instance, the INC Kerala’s ‘expose’ of sorts on the Vande Bharat trains was one of its most successful posts yet. In a thread of posts, the handle detailed how the data on Vande Bharat trains highlighted a “concerning trend regarding economic disparities” in India, further explaining how the exorbitant rates were leading to the trains running empty. “We’ve decided to prick the ‘Vande Bharat’ bubble. Analysis of IRCTC booking data reveals that over 50% of Vande Bharat runs either operate with empty or partially filled seats,” it posted on X.
Within hours, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw retaliated by saying, “It’s time to prick the bubble of Congress lies. Occupancy of Vande Bharat trains on 7th May is 98%. Occupancy in FY 2024-25 (till 7th May) is 103%. Does Congress want Vande Bharat to stop?”
The Congress Kerala handle, in turn, pointed out that the Minister’s response was missing context, further explaining how a train’s occupancy rate can exceed 200% and how these rates can vary. The party also challenged the Minister to release occupancy data for 51 trains individually in a table, and proceeded to send daily reminders to him in the coming days. There was, however, no further responses from Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Their more recent post, analysing why the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train is “a disaster in the making,” has also garnered a significant audience.
Sarin says that once people understand ground realities and begin discussing them, the government can no longer control the narrative. “That is the policy we are sticking to on X as well. We have given our small social media team a free hand. They put in the work and connect to the audience clearly and directly. We have no need to resort to peddling fake propaganda narratives,” he adds.
Vijay says the important thing is to set a plan for Congress to stick to, and hit where it hurts. “The [BJP] is running a PR agenda based on Vande Bharat, claiming that Modi has done something extremely good for Indian Railways with the introduction of these trains. But the fact is that because of Vande Bharat, a lot of other important aspects of the Indian Railways are taking a hit. Those trains are not running at full capacity in many stations, while the trains that are actually running on full capacity such as the Rajdhani, Shatabdi, or Garib Rath are not being given proper attention. They are overcrowded and unhygienic, and often the security facilities are also not up to date,” he says.
The strategy, essentially, is to zero in on the areas where the Modi government has been lacking and holding them accountable, he says.
Also read the TNM series on the Indian Railways, curated by Maria Teresa Raju, with reportage from the five southern states:
Sometimes controversies arise, and voices of dissent against the handle’s content come from within the party too. “But our convener Sarin has always had our back. Even when people ask us to delete our posts claiming the official handle of INC Kerala shouldn’t be posting them, we stand our ground and assert that this is relevant when we know we are right,” he says.
There have, however, also been instances where the handle faced backlash and deleted their post, notably after they were called out for sharing what was considered an anti-vaccination narrative. The team had shared the post in the wake of a revelation by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, that its Covid vaccine can cause a very rare blood-clotting condition called Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS). Several X users pointed out the danger of a political party taking an anti-vaccine stand, further citing studies that proved the net benefits of the vaccine, after which the team deleted the post.
The memes, especially, have been some of the most well-received content that Congress Kerala has so far put out. If one of them calls out the EC for allegedly “sleeping” instead of taking action against rampant violations of the election code of conduct, another mocked Modi for seemingly betraying Adani, whom the team called his “best buddy”, by insinuating a secret alliance between Rahul Gandhi and Adani. “We realised early on that humour is an element that can help us connect with people. Ultimately, our aim is to bring issues to the audience’s attention in such a manner that it is easy for them to understand and reflect upon,” Sarin says.