New Delhi: Don’t get carried away, don’t indulge in communal tweets, don’t preempt judgement — these are some of the many ‘Dos and Don’ts’ given to BJP spokesperson and social media team, ahead of the impending final verdict in the Ayodhya title suit that is expected to be delivered any time before November 17, when Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi retires.
‘Cos new bunch knows not much: A meeting that took place in the party’s national headquarters in Delhi through Monday started with “educating” the TV faces of BJP about the case. “It is true that many of our leadership have been well verse with the long standing case. Like Ravi Shankarji (Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad) who knows about this case like back of his hands. Hence we never faced problem in putting a nuanced view. But spokesperson of yester-years like Prakash Javadekar or Ravi Shankar Prasad have larger and important role to play in the government today. And the party was convinced a sizeable section of the new breed of spokesperson are not that well versed with the timeline of the case. Hence the party decided to briefly make them aware of this century long legal tangle”, said a BJP functionary.
‘Don’t preempt verdict; follow PM, Shah’: While these TV faces that regularly ‘debate’ on the prime time were encouraged to ask questions, the core message that was communicated was this — don’t preempt the verdict in run up to the D-Day and don’t comment on judgement till a ‘party line’ is issued after the verdict is pronounced.
All of the attendees were asked to listen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and it’s working President J.P. Nadda’s comments on Ram Mandir issue to be ‘guided’. Moreover, the BJP seeks to hold regular daily briefings for its spokesperson at its media division in BJP to communicate the ‘party stand’ in as clear terms.
BJP legal eagles to do postmortem of Ayodhya verdict: Another source said, the copy of the judgement will be analysed with legal eagles within BJP, the moment the verdict will be out and a ‘gist’ will be prepared which will then be handed over to its spokesperson, on the judgement day.
Chances are, till that ‘gist’ is provided, BJP will keep it’s battery of spokesperson off TV glare. This is to keep the debate “factual” and so that the entire party “From PM to the spokesperson” speaks in one voice.
No Communal memes please: The social media too has been asked to be extremely careful from Monday evening onwards on every tweet it posts from its official Twitter handle @BJP4India. Social media chief Amit Malviya gave out the dos and don’ts.
No Communal undertones, no objectionable memes, no subtle rejoicing of verdict or questioning it, depending upon the outcome — were some clear messages that were given to the social media team of the ruling party in unequivocal terms.
The message is not just limited to social media teams handling the main Facebook and Twitter handle of BJP but also the state handles. Apart from very few top leaders, all other ministers have their own Social media personnel or teams. They too will be communicated the same.
These elaborate plan is to keep the law and order situation across India under check and in BJP, the ruling party can steer clear off controversies.
Earlier, PM Modi in his “Mann Ki Baat” urged the political class to help maintain ‘peace’ across India, just as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the party in a recently issued statement urged all to ‘abide by’ the verdict, whichever way it may come.
The RSS has also instructed all its affiliates including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad against taking out celebratory matches, if the verdict comes for the Hindu side.
(IANS)
Prasanta Patnaik