Congress launches 'Join Social Media' campaign; Rahul Gandhi says online warriors will counter hate
New Delhi, Feb 8: The Congress on Monday launched a 'Join Congress Social Media' campaign with an aim to have five lakh online "warriors" who, former party chief Rahul Gandhi said, will counter hate and "defend the idea of India".
The country needs non-violent warriors to fight for truth, compassion and harmony, Gandhi said in a video message that was streamed at the launch of the campaign.
Launching the campaign along with AICC social media head Rohan Gupta and party spokesperson Pawan Khera, AICC in-charge (Administration) Pawan Kumar Bansal said the aim is to have five lakh social media "warriors".
In his video message, Gandhi said, "As a young person you know what is going on. Nothing is hidden from you, in your schools, colleges and universities, you can see the oppression, you can see the attack on the idea of India."
"Look outside Delhi, you can see what is happening to the farmers. The backbone of this war on the nation is a troll army. Thousands of people who spread hatred and anger and are paid to do so. We also need warriors to defend liberal values, to defend the ideas of compassion, peace, harmony and affection," the former Congress chief said.
"Come, join this army. This is not an army of hatred, this is not an army of violence, this is an army of truth and this is an army that will defend the idea of India. We are building this platform for you to give you the tools to fight this battle and win it," Gandhi said.
Gupta, in his remarks, alleged that the Modi government is scared of social media and "we are giving a platform to the youth to raise their voice".
He said people can join through website, toll-free number or by WhatsApp.
Gupta said the party will take this campaign to people for a month and invite them to join. Then there will be a basic interview in all states and "we will give responsibilities accordingly", he said.
He said people can work at different levels -- district, state and national -- and they will be given responsibilities accordingly.
After a month of interviews those who do well will be given training, Gupta added.
In his remarks, Khera said when the BJP came to power in 2014, many criticised the Congress for not being on social media, and when the party became active on social media, many said it is not on the ground, but now "we are on both".
India needs non violent warriors to fight for truth, compassion & harmony. You are central to defending the idea of India.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 8, 2021
Come, #JoinCongressSocialMedia in this fight.
India needs you! pic.twitter.com/DhBsHMKU22
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Priyanka Gandhi: Cong's talismanic campaigner enters Parliament after 'long, long time'
New Delhi (PTI): Will she? Will she not? And on Saturday, she did. After years of frenzied speculation, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is finally entering the Lok Sabha after a resounding win from Wayanad with many a hope that she will re-energise her party and its dwindling electoral fortunes.
The 52-year-old, who joins her mother Sonia and brother Rahul as an MP in what is a rare instance of three members of a family together in Parliament, would visit Parliament as a teenager to listen to her father Rajiv Gandhi speak as prime minister. Four decades later, she joins as member herself -- her detractors crying nepo politics and her party supporters laying out the proverbial red carpet for a promise finally met.
She should have been a politician to the manner born given the Gandhi legacy. But Priyanka Gandhi took the long and winding way into mainstream politics. First were the questions of whether the mother of two would join active politics, and then whether and when she would contest elections.
In September 1999, she told a journalist her entry into politics may take a "long, long time". And it actually did. She took the plunge 20 years later in 2019 and was later appointed Congress general secretary.
Five years after that, Priyanka Gandhi begins her journey as an elected representative of the people.
With a winning margin of more than 4.1 lakh votes, she has surpassed the tally of her brother Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala.
Priyanka Gandhi's entry into Parliament comes at a difficult time for the party, which has been jolted by electoral defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra. It would be interesting to see if she is able give a much-needed fillip to the grand old party and help put it back on electoral track.
Often drawing comparisons with her grandmother Indira Gandhi for their similarity in looks and way of speaking, Priyanka Gandhi has been the go-to campaigner for the party since her entry into active politics and even before that when she campaigned for her mother Sonia and brother Rahul.
And more than both, she is the one who many say has the easiest touch when it comes to communicating with people, individuals and crowds, and also in articulating the party's viewpoint on a range of issues. That she is often seen with her brother, sometimes teasing, sometimes chiding and always affectionate, has added to the image of the convivial politician.
Frequently referring to her childhood, the pain of her father Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and her mother's grief, she steered the Congress' campaign during the general election, adroitly walking the tightrope between striking a familial chord and discussing national-level issues. She proved to be a strategist, orator and mass mobiliser -- all rolled into one.
Most of her speeches are akin to a conversation with the crowd, establishing a connect and giving people the impression that here was a person who was known to them, someone sharing her feelings and thoughts with them.
As star campaigner and strategiser, Priyanka Gandhi helped the Congress make impressive gains in some states as well as in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier in the year. Her campaign helped the Congress get 99 seats in the general election, up from 52 in 2019.
As the curtains came down on the 2024 general election, analysts totted up the numbers to highlight that she has proven to be the party's talisman. Priyanka Gandhi took part in 108 public meetings and roadshows. She campaigned in 16 states and a Union territory, and also addressed two party workers' conferences in Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
Priyanka Gandhi has often been projected as a possible challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi and also as a successor to Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi in the family pocket borough of Rae Bareli.
Soon after the Election Commission announced the Wayanad bypoll, the Congress declared that Priyanka Gandhi would be its candidate from the seat in Kerala. Rahul Gandhi, it decided, would retain the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh and vacate the Wayanad seat he won for the second consecutive time.
After her name was announced for the Wayanad bypoll in June, Priyanka Gandhi said, "I am not nervous at all.... I am very happy to be able to represent Wayanad. All I will say is that I will not let them feel his (Rahul Gandhi's) absence. I will work hard and try my best to make everybody happy and be a good representative."
"I have a good relationship with Rae Bareli as I worked there for 20 years and that relationship will never break," she said, adding that both she and her brother will work together in both the constituencies.
Priyanka Gandhi was made Congress general secretary in-charge of the crucial eastern Uttar Pradesh region in January 2019 and then general secretary in-charge of the entire state.
In December 2023, Priyanka Gandhi was made Congress general secretary "without a portfolio". She helped strengthen the organisation and led the party's campaign in Himachal Pradesh, where the grand old party wrested power from the BJP.
Born on January 12, 1972, Priyanka attended New Delhi's Modern School and the Convent of Jesus and Mary. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, and also has a master's degree in Buddhist studies.
Priyanka Gandhi is married to businessman Robert Vadra. The couple has two children -- Raihan and Miraya.
Her entry into Parliament has been long awaited by party's workers and supporters and they are hoping she will provide the booster shot the party needs in its difficult phase at the hustings going forward.
