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Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal are both strengthening their digital teams to counter each other on social media in the run up to the 2026 assembly elections in the state.
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While the TMC has launched an initiative to engage volunteers who would be termed as “digital joddhas” (digital warriors) to take on the BJP in the digital space, the BJP has set up special legal team to extend legal support to its digital warriors to the booth level who are often allegedly “harassed” by the police for their social media posts.
“Political battles are fought not just on the streets or in Parliament, but increasingly in the digital space, where Bangla-birodhis (anti-Bengal forces) are spreading fake narratives,” Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the TMC, recently told the media.
Earlier this month, Banerjee launched an initiative named “Ami Banglar Digital Joddha” (I am a digital warrior of Bengal) to strengthen the party’s online presence and counter the alleged coordinated misinformation.
“Once a volunteer registers himself for the program his details would be collected and he would be assigned a specific role. They would be engaged in three categories – content creators, social media managers and digital amplifiers. There would be a preliminary introduction and orientation following which the volunteers would have to undergo a four-week online and offline training,” said a TMC leader.
TMC leaders claimed that around 50,000 volunteers have already registered for their program. The registration will continue till November-end.
“Even though the volunteers won’t get any salary, there would be rewards and remuneration for them based on their performances,” said a TMC leader.
Data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) earlier revealed that in 2021, West Bengal recorded the highest number of cases against fake news on social media. The last assembly elections in the state were held that year. Assembly elections are scheduled in 2026 again.
While across India at least 179 such cases were reported, West Bengal alone accounted for 43 such cases followed by Telangana with 34 cases and Uttar Pradesh with 24 cases.
Back then the TMC and the BJP blamed each other for the rise in such fake news cases in the state.
The BJP, meanwhile, has set up a special media cell to provide legal support to the volunteers and party workers right up to the booth level if they face any police-harassment for their social media posts.
“We are in the process of setting up a special team of lawyers who would extend legal support to our digital volunteers right up to the booth level if they face any kind of harassment by the police. Often it has been seen that police send notices to our volunteers for their social media posts and harass them,” said Saptarshi Chowdhury, BJP’s social media in-charge in West Bengal.
A senior BJP leader said that while Amit Malviya, BJP’s national IT cell head, has already held a meeting in this regard, a larger meeting would be held soon to chalk out a more detailed plan for the digital war ahead.
“This time a lot of content would be generated using AI to flag the failures of the TMC government such as deteriorating law and order situation in the state, corruption and crime against women,” said a BJP leader.
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