A new report from the Washington Post sheds light on how troll accounts, without a direct link to the BJP, have been instrumental in ensuring the party’s electoral victories.
The new Washington Post report highlights how troll accounts, which are not directly linked to the BJP, have been instrumental in securing the party’s electoral victories.
Pujari, aka Astra, operates an anonymous troll page that pushes extremely polarizing and inflammatory content into WhatsApp groups.
Sunil Pujari is now a known figure for sharing divisive content; he runs a right-wing X (formerly Twitter) account named ‘Astra,’ which means weapon in Sanskrit. According to a recent Washington Post report, in the heartland of the Hindutva movement, he is seen as a person whose work is feared by BJP politicians. Primarily, this is because he has a knack for spreading information—or, rather, misinformation. According to the Washington Post, some examples of his alleged actions include distributing a photograph of a Muslim man touching the idol of a revered goddess of a community with significant political sway in the state. He also edited a Congress candidate’s speech to falsely suggest he was praising Muslim rulers.
The Washington Post report states that a “parallel campaign” runs beyond the official BJP social media propaganda. BJP employees, campaign consultants, and party supporters revealed this during the rare and in-depth interviews included in the report. These interviews brought to light that the party maintains a secretive collaboration with content creators responsible for managing “third-party” or “troll” pages. These creators specialize in crafting inflammatory posts with the explicit goal of polarizing emotions and retaining the party’s core supporters on platforms like WhatsApp.
Pujari is, therefore, not a solitary figure but part of a highly skilled right-wing apparatus that thrives on right-leaning hatred and muscle. While Pujari has claimed he has not monetized his controversial social media posts, the account has certainly had a significant impact on him, considering he is a “tenth-grade dropout” with no regular job. In fact, his “Astra” posts were even shared by the Chief Minister of Karnataka, and he has also claimed to have received calls from top government and BJP officials.
According to the Washington Post, these polarizing messages have achieved their intended effect. They have successfully swayed Indians with ludicrous propaganda that accuses Muslims of conspiring against India and the Indian nation. An example of this is seen in his efforts for the BJP in Karnataka. This ‘Astra’ campaign led to electoral gains for the BJP, particularly in coastal Karnataka, where it won 11 out of 13 constituencies. One respondent in the Washington Post article mentioned receiving approximately 120 messages per day as the polling day neared—which he said were ‘reminders’ to vote correctly for the BJP.
The BJP is notorious for such tactics. In 2017, Swati Khosla, who at the time worked as a ‘volunteer’ in an IT cell led by a man named Arvind Gupta, stated that the IT cell is a vast network operating with ‘volunteers’ like her, whom they could dissociate from under any circumstances. In an interview with Caravan magazine, Khosla said that the National Digital Operations Corporation (NDOC) ran targeted campaigns using social media and instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Twitter. These campaigns were directed against individuals who dared to criticize the Modi government or the BJP. Khosla revealed that at the time, targets included celebrities like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, as well as esteemed journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt. Bollywood actor Aamir Khan had stated that ‘our country is very tolerant, but there are some people who spread malice,’ for which he faced targeted backlash.
Thus, former volunteer Khosla told Caravan magazine that following Aamir Khan’s comments in November 2015 about alleged incidents of intolerance in India, the cell launched a concerted effort to ensure Khan was removed from his deal with corporate giant Snapdeal. The BJP has been exposed multiple times for spreading hate. For instance, in 2022, social media trolls allegedly employed by the BJP accidentally revealed the background of their work when one of them prematurely shared an entire social media ‘toolkit’ that included tweets in both Telugu and English. The full toolkit was 15 pages long and contained multiple tweets defaming opposition leaders, with a flood of tweets using the hashtag #JPNaddainOrugallu on Twitter.
Similarly, the founder of Astra, Pujari, according to the Washington Post, is concerned about the potential legal ramifications of defamation and spreading misinformation, but the success he has achieved, especially since all five BJP candidates he supported on social media in coastal Karnataka emerged victorious, seems to have relegated everything else to the background.
This Washington Post report further shines a light on Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, and how Meta has repeatedly faced accusations of not taking adequate steps to stop the spread of hateful content and of being lenient with BJP leaders who violated its rules, presumably to protect commercial interests. Similarly, earlier this year, after the social media giant Meta released its annual report on human rights, Sabrangindia reported that activists said the social media giant had not taken sufficient steps to stop the hatred spreading on its platforms because there was no concrete plan. Just this June, a report came out stating that Elon Musk had said it was better to comply with local laws. This statement followed former CEO Jack Dorsey’s statement…
These examples illustrate that not only do social media giants face government pressure to bend to their demands, but it also appears they lack the willpower to implement changes to ensure that human rights are not violated on these platforms.
source: bhumkalsamachar
