Why bother about media, when there’s social media, say JDS poll ninjas

“Because the national media and a section of regional media are not giving enough space to the JDS and HDK, this war room was necessitated,” 25-year-old Shreyas Chandrashekhar tells Newslaundry. “Becoming really strong on social media became a necessity for us. And, in the past five to six months, we have been able to turn the tables in our favour.” 

Chandrashekhar is part of a 50-member core team of Janata Dal-Secular’s (JDS) war room in Bengaluru.

Before we dwell into the JDS’s war room and the “lethal tool” it is using against the Opposition, here is a brief initiation into the regional party for those living outside Karnataka. 

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s JDS could hold the key in the upcoming Assembly polls. His son and former Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy (HDK), is the chief ministerial candidate. In 2006, after rebelling against the party, HDK toppled the Congress-JDS coalition government and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  He was sworn in as the 18^th Chief Minister of the state subsequently even though Deve Gowda refused to give his “blessings” to the development.  

Even today, the father regrets his son’s decision to join hands with “a party like the BJP”. But, 12 years later, the father-son duo is revving up the ante against the BJP and the Congress with a hope that they will decide who will form the next government in Bengaluru.

Back to the war room. In the hope of meeting JDS leaders, we went to the party’s JP Bhawan headquarters in the state capital. The huge party office wore a deserted look, although the polls are barely two weeks away. We were handed over a mobile number of the person who runs the war room. 

A meeting was fixed. We were asked to reach a Starbucks outlet. From there, we were guided to an apartment, where we met Shreyas. We were told not to reveal the building’s address. 

The 25-year-old graduate took us to a flat from where the entire JDS campaign is being run and tracked. The people at work are between the ages of 20 and 35 years. A majority of them look like genuine volunteers. 

“All of us have left our jobs and have been running this campaign for the JDS from here for the past five to six months,” Shreyas, who until October 2017 was a data scientist with a prominent MNC in Bengaluru, says.  

While a bunch of young workers, we were told, was monitoring local media, another four to five were closely looking at their laptop screens, tracking the movement of LED vans being used to present the party’s vision and poll promises to the people. Behind them was a giant whiteboard. The names of constituencies in which these vans have been deployed were written on it. The election day countdown was etched in big bold letters in red on the side. 

Another set of 10-15 volunteers was busy designing election posters and editing videos to be uploaded on social media pages.

Notably, only Shreyas was allowed to interact with us. Other quotes came off the record. “When we lost the 2013 polls, the preparation had started from then itself. Like-minded and talented professionals, who were our party supporters, were tracked and were brought on board,” says Shreyas. “We don’t bother much about national media. We track the Kannada news cycle – because it has the highest viewership.” 

This room also serves as the party’s “emergency response centre”. 

As the elections draw near, mud-slinging and the trend of trading charges and counter-charges are at their peak. “Any news which is against us, either on channels or on social media, the emergency response is shot from here,” says Shreyas. “If it requires a statement from any specific candidate or leader, we bring them into the loop.”

Keeping a track of the Kannada news channel is a part of their job.

Another member, who did not wish to be named, says, “This team directly reports to HDK, and, at times, also gives him suggestions on what to speak at public meets – based on the analysis that we do here.” 

The party has put an efficient resource management plan in place. “Around 114 constituencies have been identified where we have a strong chance of victory,” a senior member of the team says. “A 100 LED vans have been deployed in these constituencies.”

That the JDS has a reasonable shot at winning these constituencies have added to speculations about a hung verdict. If it manages to win anything more than 30 seats, the party will be set for a key role in government formation. 

What’s interesting is the party’s past relations with BJP are making things difficult for the team’s IT wing. Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi has rhetorically said that the ‘S’ in JDS stands for ‘Sangh’ [BJP’s parent body Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh].

There is a strong belief that the JDS might join hands with the BJP if May 15 produces a hung Assembly. The Congress party state leadership has played a key role in propagating this agenda. When asked who do they aggressively counter, the response from Shreyas is: “We are equally ruthless against both.” 

While he makes us count the mistakes that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has made, his stance against the BJP seems less aggressive. But he did express his angst against the BJP’s previous government under BS Yeddyurappa – which was marred by charges of corruption.

“Amit Shah’s call to hoist BJP flags at the homes of BJP workers and sympathisers boomeranged because it was given in the month when we celebrate our Karnataka pride. JDS picked it up and made it a huge issue against them,” Shreyas says. This was six months ago, he adds. 

When asked how they counter the communal agenda of political and fringe groups, His response is: “We are simply promoting our development plank and key promises. It is doing wonders.” 

The JDS has launched an Android-based game which shows key poll promises of the party as the players clinch the Karnataka assemblies stage by stage.

The JDS has its natural mass appeal in the rural belts – specifically in the Mysuru region. Despite this, their social media presence remains on par with the two national parties. Even though HDK’s official page has far fewer Facebook likes compared to Yeddyurappa, he is in front of the incumbent CM Siddaramaiah. 

Yeddyurappa has 17.57 lakh likes on his page. HDK has 2.3 lakh likes and Siddaramaiah only 1.73 lakh. It important to note that the reaction to videos and graphics on HDK’s official page is humongous compared with the other two.

“We are your [HDK] media – one of the Facebook frames created by our team did wonders for us,” Shreyas says. According to his team, JDS supporters know that the media is biased against them and so they push pro-JDS or HDK content on social media. If we go by numbers alone, many of their videos could be categorised as having gone viral – considering the limited audience they have.

The JDS supporters have successfully tweaked the clarion call of IPL’s RCB fans— “Ee Sala Cup Namde [This time the Cup is ours]” to “This time the Vidhan Soudha Cup is ours.”

The production team associated with HDK is running a video campaign, which includes videos of their “flagship promises”—24-hour electricity supply, jobs, and Rs 6,000 monthly stipend for pregnant women [till 12 months] and Rs 5,000 pension for those above 68 years.  

Several fan pages and some covert ones [not directly named after JDS] are managed by the party which helps them peddle all sorts of agenda. “We can’t attack the opposition parties the way we can do that from unofficial or fan pages,” says a senior member of the team. These include a spoof drawn from Kannada movies showing HDK thrashing his political rivals.

Newslaundry accessed one of the unofficial pages being managed by the war room – and results for past 28 days are here:

Shreyas’ team has a piece of advice for the saffron party. “The BJP is trying to just copy-paste the formula which worked for them in Uttar Pradesh. That’s their biggest blunder,” Shreyas says. “The BJP should understand we are one country with different cultures. They are forcing their tried-and-tested formulas of Uttar Pradesh, here in Karnataka. Why? Just because it’s another big state like UP. And so far they have  failed to build a single strong narrative against the Congress government in the state.”

The young batch of graduates working from this hall-like apartment is proud of one important feat. They claim to have delivered 4 lakh direct messages to individual voters. The formula includes sending one message every day to 4 lakh voters on a rotation basis. 

Making random calls seeking feedback from voters and JDS local leaders and workers is another mammoth task they have been executing. While they gear up for the polling day, one question makes them uncomfortable – What if there is a hung assembly? Should the JDS form an alliance government and, if they do end up taking that road, how will they deliver on the promises made ahead of the polls? 

If Kumaraswamy listens to this bunch of his charged-up supporters, he will not form an alliance government. But, just like their top leadership does, they insist that the JDS will clinch the majority mark. Ask them why and they say: “Those 20 months were just a trailer of Kumaranna’s [HDK] administration. The complete film of pro-people policies will start with the victory of the JDS.”