Bharat Jodo Yatra lacks support of Cong's own leaders on social media: Ravish Kumar says in FB post
New Delhi: Senior Executive Editor of NDTV and Magsaysay Awardee Journalist Ravish Kumar on Saturday made a critical analysis of the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra and added that the rally was missing the support and promotion of the party’s own leaders and supporters.
The mega rally is missing from the social media posts of Congressmen themselves, which is a curious development, Ravish Kumar said in a Facebook post.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra reached its 1,000-km mark in Ballari on Saturday. The padayatra, planned for a total of 3,570 kilometers, was launched in Kanyakumari on September 7. Saturday was the 38th day of the Yatra.
Ravish Kumar said that, in an attempt to analyze the coverage of the rally, he checked the publicity given by the members of the party on Twitter and the reactions to the posts.
“I assumed that the Congress leaders, activists and supporters would be tweeting and retweeting posts and videos on the Bharat Jodo Yatra to ensure the presence of the party rally news on their personal handles. This would also show us the efforts of the Congressmen on publicizing the mega rally of their party,” he said.
“A little more than one lakh people, including journalists like me, follow ‘BharatJodo’ Twitter handle. One of the tweets pinned on the handle had been retweeted 281 times, while 616 people had liked it. I checked 20 to 30 posts on Twitter and found that every post is shared, approximately, by 200 to 500 Congressmen,” he added.
Further, Ravish Kumar asked, “But does the Congress have only so many members? Also, the party has its own television channel – INCTV – just like the BJP. The Twitter handle of this channel is followed by fewer than 70,000 people. The videos posted on the handle too are supported or liked by a small number of people.”
The video posted and pinned on the primary Twitter handle of the Congress party, which is followed by 88 lakh people, has been watched by 7,300 people but liked by 1,231 people and retweeted by 611 people, said Ravish Kumar.
“This shows that the Congress leaders and activists are disinterested in publicizing the Bharat Jodo Yatra!” he pointed out.
“Ironically, it does seem on Twitter that the Bharat Jodo Yatra of the Congress has raised a whirlwind, as there are several videos posted. Jairam Ramesh handles the publicity of the rally and his Twitter handle is followed by fewer than 2.5 lakh people. Jairam Ramesh’s Twitter handle shows him campaigning for the party and simultaneously attempting to fight against the BJP government regarding the Kashmir issue. He seems to be retorting to the fake claims and accusations made by the government and drawing the attention of the media along with keeping an eye on those spreading fake news about the party. Ramesh’s handle gives the notion that the party is getting more aggressive in its approach. Its aggression does not seem altogether hollow, given that the Congress leaders have been walking on the streets of various places on foot for 37 days,” he has added.
Yet, Ramesh’s Twitter handle is in no better state than that of his party, said Ravish Kumar, adding “In some cases, I also felt that a tweet moves merely between Ramesh’s handle and the Bharat Jodo handle!”
The election to the post of the Congress president is underway, Shashi Tharoor being one of the contenders, said Ravish Kumar. The number of people following Tharoor’s handle is, however, approximately on par with the number of followers for the Congress Twitter handle. Tharoor’s handle is followed by 84 lakh people, while the Congress handle has 88 lakh followers.
Tharoor tweets and retweets news on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, said the senior journalist, adding, “Of the earlier 20 posts on Tharoor’s handle, however, 19 were to campaign for the Congress presidential election and related to the manifesto. Meaning, only one tweet on the handle of the Congress member who was hoping to be president of the party was related to the biggest rally in the history of the party. Yet, Tharoor does not post on the Yatra frequently. It is only after about 25 posts that he retweeted a video from Rahul Gandhi’s handle. This too is generally a tweet related to unemployment. Undoubtedly, all this gives a feeling of Tharoor overshadowing the Congress on the handle.”
Next, said Ravish Kumar, he checked the Twitter handle of Mallikarjun Kharge, who is followed by less than a lakh people. “His first tweet too is about the poll, although the second is a video by himself of Rahul Gandhi hoisting the Indian tricolor. Kharge spoke of the Congress ideology and growth in years till his 11th tweet. The next two posts were videos on Rahul Gandhi during the Yatra – his own tweets rather than retweets of others’ posts,” Ravish further added while comparing the two frontrunners of the Congress Prez polls.
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Sahitya Akademi invites submissions for 2025 Annual Translation prize
New Delhi: In a bid to acknowledge literary translation excellence across the 24 Indian languages that it promotes, the Sahitya Akademi has issued a call for submissions for its Annual Translation Prize 2025.
As per a recent press announcement, literary translations released between January 1 2019 and December 31 2023 qualify for consideration. This award is bestowed to recognize translators who cross linguistic barriers and make regional literary treasures accessible to a larger audience.
Translators, publishers and literary enthusiast are invited to submit one copy of the translated work along with duly filled application form. May 31 2025 is the last date for submissions.
Visit www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in and http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in for details on eligibility criteria and application forms along with guidelines.
