#DemocracyAdda: The Battle For Bihar Has Gone Online, But How Ready Are We?

Gearing up for State Assembly Elections, scheduled in October 2020, Bihar is the next battleground. Not just the pandemic, already existing issues, ranging from education, employment, gender, and more have now come under the microscope, with parties vying for voters’ attention. Who are the voters though?

As the youth takes centre stage, being added to the voter’s list every day, how do we make sure the young people are heard? In collaboration with Twitter, #DemocracyAdda brings the voices of youth in Bihar under the spotlight and connects them with their elected representatives to directly raise issues that affect them.

September 18 saw the second Live panel, focusing on the digital and social media push by various parties. The panel included Janata Dal United (JDU) spokesperson, Dr Amardeep, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP’s) Nikhil Anand, along with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson Dr Nawal Kishore, and Indian Youth Congress’ Vaibhav Walia.

From how prepared the parties are in their social media and digital push in the run-up to the state elections, to how social media has been used to mobilise the youth and more, this live panel gave us a peek into what goes into the thought process of our political parties.

BJP’s Nikhil Anand started the conversation with his experience of setting up virtual communications during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Under our state president, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal ji, we reached out to many activists through digital media which proved to be worthwhile. We also made use of video conferencing. Initially, it took a little time for us to understand all this, but later we were able to reach our people,” he said.

According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data, only 59 people out of every 100 people had a mobile connection, and Internet penetration in Bihar, by the end of 2019, was 32 subscribers per hundred people.

When the pandemic has made us all move online, how can we imagine the election process going virtual?

RJD spokesperson, Dr Nawal Kishore, said that despite low internet penetration in Bihar, efforts are being made to reach the masses. But the bigger challenge will be voter turnout amidst the pandemic. “Our biggest goal is to gather more and more people through digital media,” he said.

Talking about how parties are trying to reach the older generations, Indian Youth Congress’ Vaibhav Walia spoke about how young people have become influencers in their homes and are helping elders make voting decisions in a digital age.

How will you be able to listen to any youth issues of Bihar? How will they change their perspective? We asked the panellists. “Nowadays youth is well connected with social media. Everyone tells their friends and relatives from wherever they get information. Things travel. Nowadays the strongest social media is WhatsApp, after that, people are well versed with YouTube. We make one-minute videos or any graphics and take them to the people,” said Indian Youth Congress’ Vaibhav Walia.

The audience members piped in with many questions, from the use of social media, to the state of progress and development in Bihar, and more. Will women’s access to health and healthcare become a priority for parties, asked Saumya Jyotsana, highlighting how menstrual health is a big issue. BJP’s Nikhil Anand assured that they will work towards making it a part of the public agenda.

Many people listening in had one very pertinent question: What about fake news?

“How can citizens protect themselves from fake news amidst the online campaigns?” asked one audience member.

“Fake news is spreading a lot these days, and voting will be even more troublesome. In such a situation, people might just spread fake news more. When the state of education in Bihar is not good, the literacy rate is very low. In such a situation, how will we know whether this is fake news or not? How will we be satisfied that the things you are telling are really true?” asked Mumtaz.

“Fake news is a menace and I would like to thank fake news busting websites for making people aware of fake news,” replied BJP’s Nikhil Anand.

When asked if after voting and the elections, they will remain active on social media Or if it will become a one-way conversion, JDU’s Dr Amardeep said, “We cannot back down from this because we have the means to listen to people.”

“Even after elections, if we want to stay connected to the youth, we understand that we need to use social media to communicate with them. If they air grievances online, they will definitely be responded to,” Dr Amardeep said.

The conversation also touched on what parties plan on doing to empower farmers in Bihar which is primarily an agrarian state. “Parties need to make a roadmap that ensures support to the farmers, special crops are built on and the middleman culture is ended,” said Dr Nawal Kishore.

Adding to this, Vaibhav Walia spoke of the (now passed) bills pertaining to agricultural reforms, and how they are working on spreading awareness among farmers and encouraging them to speak up, demand accountability from the government.

Bring the conversation to an end, we asked the panellists if they think social media provides a level playing field for all parties and candidates, considering the amount of money often spent by parties.

“It is not a level playing field, but the regional party is the original party. They live and work with the people and are connected to them beyond social media,” said RJD’s Dr Nawal Kishore.

“If you speak the truth, then the budget doesn’t matter. It will reach the people,” added Vaibhav Walia. BJP’s Nikhil Anand said that there is some level of balance with social media and that it is a “new lesson and experience for all of us on running election campaigns in a new way.”

What do politics and elections mean for the youth? The advent of social media, and the way the pandemic has changed our lives, have left its mark on how campaigning and elections work. Has it made the whole process more democratic, or has the playing field been made more uneven? These are some questions we hope to answer, and more, in the next editions of Bihar’s #DemocracyAdda. Stay tuned!

You can catch the full discussion here:

Youth Ki Awaaz would be continuing to raise issues and creating dialogue around the upcoming Bihar Elections through a series of features and interviews with leading political leaders for the State as a part of Democracy Adda Bihar. Be a part of the conversation here and follow live updates on Twitter #DemocracyAdda.