Washington Post exposes WhatsApp's influence on recent Karnataka elections in Coastal Karanataka
Discusses how hate peddled on WhatsApp contributed to Fazil murder case in Surathkal
Exposes how Yashpal Suvarna’s image was “cleansed” using WhatsApp machinery by BJP
(Disclaimer: The report "Inside the vast digital campaign by Hindu nationalists to inflame India" was originally published by The Washington Post on September 26, on their official website. This story is analysis of The Washington Post report.)
In a recent report by The Washington Post, the significant impact of social media on India's political landscape is examined, with a focus on its role in the Karnataka Assembly elections held in May. The article, published on September 26th, reveals how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and affiliated Hindu nationalist groups leveraged platforms like WhatsApp to advance their political agenda.
Initially, these WhatsApp messages conveyed positive narratives, including infrastructure development and welfare programs, typical during election campaigns. However, as the May elections approached, the messages took a darker turn, discussing alleged religious violence and the influence of Hindu girls by extremist groups.
The report highlights the case of Sachin Patil, a 25-year-old bank teller, who received around 120 political messages daily across six WhatsApp groups, serving as a constant reminder to vote for the BJP.
The BJP, with its vast membership of 180 million, effectively utilized social media, particularly U.S.-based platforms, to spread divisive and often false content, aligning with its Hindu nationalist agenda.
The report also touches on concerns about hate speech and misinformation in India and the challenges faced by Silicon Valley giants in policing or addressing such content.
Furthermore, the report discusses the Biden administration's pursuit of India as a counterbalance to China, despite concerns about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's consolidation of power. Recent events, such as Canada's accusations of Indian involvement in a Sikh separatist's potential assassination, have raised questions about Western nations' relationships with India.
The Washington Post conducted extensive investigations during the Karnataka elections, providing insights into the BJP's messaging machinery and the activists behind it. The report reveals their strategies to exploit the concerns of India's Hindu majority and their use of a vast network of 150,000 social media workers to disseminate content across WhatsApp groups.
The BJP effectively harnessed an extensive messaging infrastructure to convey messages highlighting their achievements and criticizing their main political rival, the Indian National Congress party, directly to the mobile devices of hundreds of millions.
However, alongside the party's official online efforts, a covert campaign operates in tandem, as revealed in comprehensive interviews with BJP members, campaign strategists, and party supporters. This secretive operation involves collaboration with content creators who manage "third-party" or "troll" pages, specializing in crafting provocative posts designed to quickly gain traction on WhatsApp. These posts often present a false narrative depicting India as a place where the Muslim minority, constituting 14 percent of the population, is portrayed as a threat to the Hindu majority. The report underscores that this false narrative implies complicity by the secular and liberal Indian National Congress party in alleged abuses and violence against the Hindu majority. The implicit message is that voting for the BJP is the only way to ensure justice and safety.
The Washington Post report added that India currently boasts the largest WhatsApp market, with over 500 million users. The platform's potential for fueling polarization and inciting violence has been recognized by social media researchers, government officials, and WhatsApp itself. However, the inner workings of the BJP's WhatsApp network have remained largely mysterious to political scientists and opposition parties, making it challenging to replicate the party's digital success.
According to Rutgers University professor Kiran Garimella, who has studied WhatsApp's role in Indian politics, other Indian parties and countries like Brazil have attempted similar strategies. Still, the BJP was the first to master WhatsApp on a large scale, requiring substantial resources, planning, investment, and a top-down commitment to building this infrastructure. Yet, a significant portion of the activity within these groups remains inaccessible, with no visibility for outsiders.
The report highlights the influential role of "Astra," who generated polarizing WhatsApp posts that circulated widely in coastal Karnataka. Local BJP candidates sought Astra's support during their campaigns, despite his infrequent appearances at rallies. Astra's militant online presence even made BJP leaders cautious about being perceived as too moderate towards Muslims.
Poojary, a.k.a. Astra, runs an anonymous troll page feeding highly polarizing and incendiary content into WhatsApp groups. (Samyukta Lakshmi for The Washington Post)
Sudeep Shetty, head of social media for the BJP in Udupi district, emphasized the importance of figures like Astra, referring to them as "secret weapons" that outshine the official BJP accounts.
“Wedged between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats mountain range, the twin cities of Mangaluru and Udupi boast top universities and historic temples. Along tidy village roads, Muslim women cloaked in body-length black niqabs walk past Hindu priests resting under sacred fig trees. Ethnically and culturally diverse but conservative, affluent yet a hotbed of religious friction, the coast has always stood apart from the rest of Karnataka state,” the report adds.
In the 1980s, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a paramilitary organization aligned with Hindu nationalist groups, rose to prominence. The RSS initiated social programs, nurtured political talent for the BJP, and promoted the Hindutva ideology. This influence extended to hard-line groups like the Bajrang Dal, known for confronting and assaulting Muslims on accusations of cow smuggling, advocating interfaith separation, and clashing with Muslim activist organizations, often citing "love jihad."
As young men took to the streets, political parties engaged in intense battles at the ballot box. Over the past seven years, the BJP and Congress, the two major parties, have conducted their political campaigns on WhatsApp. While Congress appeals to some Muslim voters, its leadership is primarily Hindu.
Ajith Kumar Ullal, the BJP's social media head in Mangaluru, led an enthusiastic effort from the party's downtown office. At 59 years old, Ullal oversaw a social media team of nine volunteers responsible for a coastal Karnataka region with a population of 1.5 million. This team included a copywriter and three graphic designers who crafted attention-grabbing picture posts, well-known for their shareability on WhatsApp.
Volunteer fieldworkers played a pivotal role in the BJP's WhatsApp campaign by combining voter registration data with door-to-door information to add residents to WhatsApp groups. In total, the BJP enlisted 150,000 workers to manage WhatsApp activities for the state election in Karnataka, according to Vinod Krishnamurthy, a former head of BJP social media in the region.
Ajith Kumar Ullal, the BJP's social media head in Mangaluru, personally belonged to 200 WhatsApp groups and expected new posts to reach hundreds of thousands of residents in his coastal district within an hour. He emphasized that every BJP volunteer with a mobile phone played a role as a social media warrior.
Ajith Kumar Ullal, 59, the BJP's social media head in the port city of Mangaluru. “Each and every BJP volunteer who has a mobile is a social media warrior,” he said. (Samyukta Lakshmi for The Washington Post)
The transformation in political communication began in 2016 when Reliance entered the telecommunications sector, offering unlimited free data to new customers, triggering a price war. This shift turned India's mobile data market from one of the most expensive to one of the cheapest globally within three years.
In the late part of that decade, BJP officials focused on amassing extensive databases of phone numbers and streamlining their messaging efforts. During an election in Gujarat state, the party used Python code-based software to exploit WhatsApp's web interface for distributing attack ads to tens of thousands of recipients easily, as revealed in an internal presentation.
In 2018, WhatsApp's engineers introduced new message-forwarding limits in India in response to the proliferation of rapidly spreading rumors that led to mob violence and other tragic incidents. WhatsApp also implemented technical changes to curb mass messaging.
The BJP's success was attributed more to organizational discipline and manual labor than extraordinary technology, according to a former campaign manager.
An internal field study in 2020 revealed that Indian WhatsApp users frequently encountered content promoting conflict, hatred, and violence, with a primary target being Muslims within WhatsApp groups. This internal study warned of the likelihood of anti-Muslim rhetoric in upcoming elections. However, despite internal awareness at Meta, no effective solution has been found to monitor or moderate the private platform, according to a former Meta employee.
In response to inquiries about Meta's actions to address divisive political content on WhatsApp, Meta spokeswoman Bipasha Chakrabarti mentioned measures such as limiting message-forwarding and using spam-detection technology to counter automated mass messaging. Regarding awareness of online campaigns in Karnataka, Chakrabarti emphasized WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption and declined further comment.
As the campaign season began, Ajith Kumar Ullal, the BJP's social media head in Mangaluru, initially included The Washington Post in one of his WhatsApp groups, primarily sharing conventional campaign messages about government achievements and public services. However, as the election date approached, the tone of the campaign shifted dramatically, with the WhatsApp group becoming filled with incendiary posts and appeals to religious bias. Ullal likened this shift to a cricket strategy, where the big hits are made in the final overs.
One of the posts in the group compared Congress politicians to Tipu Sultan, an 18th-century Muslim king often criticized for alleged violence against Hindus. Another post portrayed a Hindu vigilante, arrested for allegedly beating a Muslim man to death in March, as a "victim of conspiracy."
While BJP staff typically didn't create such inflammatory content themselves, they actively spread it, as explained by Ullal's deputy, Akshay Alva. Certain messages might not be directly endorsed by the party but were nevertheless circulated by troll pages.
In April, as the BJP's state assembly candidates officially launched their election campaigns, Sunil Poojary led a team of four. Poojary, using three Android phones, was tasked with generating a continuous flow of image posts bearing the Astra logo and disseminating them across 30 WhatsApp groups.
Astra had recently achieved several viral successes. Poojary framed the election as a battle between nationalists (BJP) and terrorists (Congress). He circulated a photo depicting a Muslim man touching a statue of a goddess revered by a pivotal swing vote community in the state. Additionally, he confessed to editing a speech by a local Congress candidate to falsely imply praise for Muslim rulers.
Poojary clarified that he didn't profit from Astra posts, but his influence soared significantly due to his social media endeavors. Despite being a 10th-grade dropout without prior regular employment, he gained a unique level of influence. The chief minister of Karnataka shared Astra posts on Facebook, and Poojary claimed to receive calls from other high-ranking government and party officials.
In April, the BJP's state leadership made an unexpected move by selecting Yashpal Suvarna, a local businessman with a controversial history, as a candidate for the state assembly. Suvarna had gained notoriety in 2005 as a local leader of the Bajrang Dal group for an incident involving the humiliation of two Muslims transporting cows.
Suvarna at the Malpe rally. His campaign used Whatsapp posts to brag of his ties to the hard-line Hindu nationalist group Bajrang Dal. (Samyukta Lakshmi for The Washington Post)
Initially, Suvarna's campaign team intended to use WhatsApp to improve his image and emphasize his "humility." However, Yatish, Suvarna's personal assistant, had doubts and sought advice from Astra.
Poojary, the social media strategist, advised against this approach. He argued that a significant portion of the voters consisted of young men who favored a more assertive candidate. Moreover, the Congress party hinted at potentially banning the Bajrang Dal if elected. Consequently, Suvarna's team shifted their strategy, sharing assertive posts featuring Suvarna alongside an imposing image of Lord Bajrangbali, the deity associated with the Bajrang Dal, and highlighting his affiliation with the group across approximately 1,000 WhatsApp groups.
As per the report, Poojary played an active role in leveraging communal incidents to bolster the BJP campaign in Karnataka. One such incident involved a series of communal killings that had shaken the region the previous summer.
In July 2022, a Muslim teenager was killed in a confrontation with members of the Bajrang Dal. This incident resulted in the retaliatory killing of a BJP volunteer by local members of an Islamist group, as confirmed by Indian law enforcement. Poojary and several other right-wing influencers actively propagated content seeking retribution for the volunteer's death.
A few days later, on July 28, Mohammed Fazil, 23, was brutally murdered by four masked individuals near a bustling highway crossing north of Mangaluru. Police stated that Fazil was chosen as a random target solely because he was Muslim. During a Bajrang Dal rally, a Hindu nationalist leader openly proclaimed that Fazil's killing was an act of revenge. The report mentions that the extent to which heated WhatsApp discussions played a role in inciting this violence remains unclear.
Mohammed Fazil, 23, was hacked to death in July 2022 north of Mangaluru after calls by right-wing influencers for a revenge killing. Police said Fazil was randomly targeted as a Muslim. (Samyukta Lakshmi for The Washington Post)
In hindsight, Poojary, reflecting on the events months later, acknowledged that he believed the anger fueled on WhatsApp had played a role in the violence and that he justified violence in the name of Hinduism.
Similarly, Santosh Kenchamba, the operator of the influential Rashtra Dharma troll page, admitted to advocating for revenge killings. He explained that this was part of an ongoing "civilizational battle" pursued by online activists, aiming to transform India into a Hindu state where Muslims would have a defined role.
As the election intensified in April, the report highlights that Poojary continued to propagate baseless claims on WhatsApp, alleging that Muslims, with the support of the Congress party, had been responsible for the deaths of numerous Hindu activists.
As mentioned in the report, one of the recipients of these pre-election messages was Patil, a bank teller. While chatting with friends near the site where Fazil was tragically killed, Patil, a middle-class young Hindu, expressed that he had known Fazil from their school days.
Patil conveyed that in his upbringing, he didn't perceive Fazil or most Muslims as a significant threat. However, over the past five years, he had grown increasingly troubled by the WhatsApp content depicting Muslims as potential dangers. He mentioned hearing anonymous voice recordings on WhatsApp supposedly featuring Muslim extremists planning harm against Hindus. As the May election drew near, he received warnings of potential violence if the Congress party emerged victorious.
According to the report, Patil and his friends, who relied solely on WhatsApp for news, ultimately reached a stark conclusion: "Hindus are in danger."
The report highlights that as the campaign reached a crescendo in early May, Prime Minister Modi led a massive rally on the coast. Poojary, among the attendees, initially felt somewhat bored as Modi spoke about the economy. However, as Modi's speech intensified, he fervently rallied against the Congress party's proposal to ban the Bajrang Dal.
Modi thundered, "When you press the button in the polling booth, punish them by saying, 'Hail, Lord Bajrangbali!'" The crowd, including Poojary, erupted in enthusiasm.
Despite Modi's last-minute rally, the report notes that the statewide election ended as a disappointment for the BJP. Television analysts attributed this setback, in part, to internal party disputes, allowing the Congress party to secure enough seats to control the Karnataka state legislature.
In a quiet neighborhood north of Mangaluru, Patil, who had voted for the BJP, expressed concerns about Hindus' safety with Congress in power, fearing that "Muslims will be emboldened."
However, the report mentions that the BJP performed exceptionally well along the coast, where figures like Poojary and Ullal had inundated screens with divisive content. The BJP won all but two of the 13 contested legislative seats in this region.
In the red clay hills, Poojary, while relieved about the BJP's local victories, admitted to concerns about potential charges of libel or spreading false information, given Congress's control over the state police. Nevertheless, he continued to post content comparing the new Congress state government to Tipu Sultan and warning about violence, suggesting that his social media activities would persist.
In his office, Poojary remained engaged with his team, his phone constantly buzzing with WhatsApp notifications. He concluded, "The Muslims have won, for now," excused himself, and returned to his work.
(Disclaimer: The report "Inside the vast digital campaign by Hindu nationalists to inflame India" was originally published by The Washington Post on September 26, on their official website. This story is analysis of The Washington Post report.)
Mohit Rao and Shams Irfan contributed to this Washington Post report which was originally authored by Gerry Shih.
About this story
Design by Anna Lefkowitz. Visual editing by Chloe Meister, Joe Moore and Jennifer Samuel. Copy editing by Gilbert Dunkley and Martha Murdock. Story editing by Alan Sipress. Project editing by Jay Wang.
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Plea in Madras HC calls for SIT/ED/CBI probe into Gautam Adani's indictment in US bribery case
Chennai: A plea has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking the establishment of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or directions to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the corruption charges against Indian businessman Gautam Adani. The plea follows Adani’s indictment by the United States Department of Justice in the Eastern District of New York on bribery charges.
Filed by Advocate and Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi President ML Ravi, the plea alleges that Adani, along with other businessmen and power distribution companies in India, was involved in a scheme to bribe Indian government officials. The bribes were reportedly aimed at securing lucrative solar energy contracts with Indian entities. According to the US Department of Justice, Adani’s group paid USD 265 million in bribes, primarily to officials in Andhra Pradesh, to secure contracts with state electricity distribution companies between 2001 and 2023.
Ravi criticised the Indian authorities for their silence on the matter, despite the exposure of the corruption by foreign agencies. He argued that the lack of action by Indian investigation agencies undermines public trust and hinders national development. He called for a thorough investigation to uncover the full extent of the allegations, asserting that public officials had abused their power for personal gain, in violation of their duties.
