RSS uses social media to recruit cadre in cities. ------------------------------------------------------ Taking the cue from mainstream politicians, members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are taking recourse to social media networks to connect with the young and find potential recruits. The effort by the Hindu nationalist group on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, coupled with an option for potential members to register on the RSS website, seems to be producing results. The number of registrations for joining the 88-year-old organization rose from an average 686 per month last year to 4,021 in July; it was 2,798 in August. The RSS, whose sangh parivar includes the political arm Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the religious arm Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), says the increase in online registrations shows that it does hold appeal for the young, who are the biggest users of social networks. India has more than 82 million users of Facebook and over 20 million are on Twitter. “The argument that young people are not joining RSS is not true. Youth wants to join RSS and that is why they are registering online,” said Manmohan Vaidya, who oversees media relations at RSS. “The people who are joining the organization through online registrations are in the age group of 25-40 years and most of them want to be involved in social work. They think that they can contribute to the society through an organization like the RSS.” Founded in 1925 to espouse a Hindu cultural renaissance, the RSS is an avowedly non-political organization active in areas such as education, health care and rural development. Blamed by critics for pushing an aggressive Hindutva agenda and fomenting communal unrest, it was banned once under British rule and thrice after independence. The RSS is courting users of Twitter, Facebook and other social media at a time when politicians from mainstream political parties such as the Congress and the main opposition BJP are trying to strike a chord with the young using such platforms. The number of first-time voters in the 2014 general election has been estimated by the Census of India at 149.36 million, explaining why political parties are wooing the young. At the RSS, it started as an experiment on 24 October last year when its chief Mohan Bhagwat delivered his annual speech on Vijay Dashmi and senior members of the organizations used various social networks to inform its cadre and people in advance about the speech. The experiment clicked and the total number of registration from 24 October to 6 November was 1,800. Before the annual speech of Bhagwat, online registrations from 1 October to 23 October numbered 494. “Since people are changing with time, we also have to change ourselves accordingly. We are a mass organization and therefore there is a need to constantly interact with the people,” said Surendra Jain, national secretary of VHP. Praveen Togadia, the international working president of VHP, is an active user of both Facebook and Twitter, said Jain. An older generation of RSS leaders and volunteers depended on morning or weekly meetings and physical drills organized by RSS shakhas (branches) to connect with each other. “When I was young, the morning shakhas used to be the place for recruiting young cadres. On one hand, the youth have moved online and hence you can say digital channels have become the new-age shakha for interaction and engagement,” said Rajesh Lalwani, founder of Blogworks, a social media consulting firm. “On the other hand, cities have grown in ways that allow less space and fewer opportunities for such morning gatherings. Hence the cadre recruitment has moved online,” said Lalwani, who interprets consumer behaviour, as seen through the prism of social conversations. “What’s important to note is that previously, shakhas used to play a crucial role not only as a platform to recruit but also to inspire young people to do good work for the nation and character building. This is an opportunity that needs to be looked into using the digital medium, to also inspire positive action and nation building,” Lalwani added. Members of the RSS who are involved in the online registration process say the monthly national average of online registrations is expected to be around 2,800-3,000 in 2013 as against 686 in 2012. The trend of connecting online with supporters started with US President Barack Obama’s election campaign about six years ago, said Jai Lala, principal partner at media and marketing services company Mindshare, a WPP agency. “In India, what happens is we still grapple with vast challenges to communicate with the masses. So the online media becomes an effective way to communicate with the youth and the working masses. The advantage is content online—be it positive or negative—becomes viral very fast, and we will see political parties use it much more,” he said. “Since it is continuous engagement it leads to a lot of things like, greater number of hits on your party website, more followers on Twitter, more support during on-ground rallies etc. However, whether this translates to greater votes is something I cannot predict. But overall, it is a very important strategy for the political classes, and its only going to grow in future,” Lala said.
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 07:43:11 +0000