BJP builds social media campaign on anti-Taliban sentiments in Uttar Pradesh

BJP is building a social media campaign on anti-Taliban sentiments primarily to target the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has emerged as a focal point in the social media campaign of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in view of concerns over human rights violations. The BJP is building a campaign on social media primarily targeting the Samajwadi Party (SP) accusing its principal rival in Uttar Pradesh of indulging the appeasement of Muslims. The messages shared on party-run social media handles and groups on instant messaging platform WhatsApp show that around one-fourth of the posts in the last two weeks were Taliban related referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “strong personality” and projecting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as a strong Hindutva brand against these forces.