The chat between me and Jason *reference the article in Global Post)
Participants:
-------------
Jits Gajaria, Jason Overdorf
Messages:
------
Jits Gajaria: And after Ghose used that term, more and more youth
started asserting themselves as IH or right wing.
Jits Gajaria: I have always maintained that disagreements have full
space in democracy but abuse does not. I have called up abusive
tweeple more than a few times for crossing the line. I feel abuse
weakens your argument and chance to win a debate
Jason Overdorf: In what ways do you think the pro-Congress bias
manifests? We certainly see a lot of articles slamming Manmohan Singh
for kowtowing to the coalition, and plenty of anti-dynasty pieces and
articles about Rahul's incompetence....
Jits Gajaria: Well.. To give a simple example, the silence of national
media on death of a terror accussed in a jail in Maharashtra. Had it
been a BJP ruled state, national media would have been all over it
unlike the current near silence. If you observe carefully, anti-BJP
news are amplified and positive stories from BJP states either
downplayed or grudingly accepted
Jason Overdorf: Or is the national media just automatically tilted a
bit toward the ruling party? Things seemed pretty cosy in the days of
"India Shining," the Gujarat riots notwithstanding.
Jits Gajaria: If you compare the 2 periods, media has a lot more
traction and viewership today. Also the kind of criticism the govt
should take for the current state in India, is not coming from media.
A simple Q - even a kid knows this govt can't do anything without
Sonia Gandhis permission. Why is then media shying from questioning
her? Sonia Gandhi's NAC is largely responsible for the mismanagement
of economy, how many media houses have bothered to call that out?
Jits Gajaria: Maybe more than pro-Cong, Media is pro-Gandhi family
Jason Overdorf: What have been the biggest successes of the Hindu
right (or whatever) in social media? (i.e. Any big wins?)
Jits Gajaria: They have been able to offset and balance out a lot of
false stories. For eg - when Business Standard published an op-ed on
Guj showing Guj growth story a myth followed by rediff and BBC, the
counter in form of data and facts given by a twitter used Vijay
(centerofright) was so spot on, all had to withdraw their stories
because their data was wrong ( or intentionally fudged). Many such
cases of levelling the information fields
Jits Gajaria: And even traditional media houses will have to accept
that information field is getting levelled or they risk being called
out for their unintentional or unintentional bluffs
Jason Overdorf: Do you agree that the Hindu right / Hindu nationalists
are more organized and focused in their use of social media than the
left / secularists?
Jits Gajaria: Hindu right\Hindu nationalists are a part of the
society. They generally represent the country's middle class... And it
is this class which is pre-dominant on the net given its upwardly
mobile status since NDA rule. Hence you will always see them more on
social media. Also they seem more organised because of a common sense
of hurt and disappointment vis-a-vis traditional media
Jits Gajaria: Let's not forget most of the people in this section a
Jason Overdorf: Fair enough.
Jits Gajaria: Are extremely nationalists in their own way
Jason Overdorf: One does seem to find that the right is more
passionate than the left about politics these days in the States as
well. Maybe that's true here, too. (Apart from in Kerala & WB ;-)
Jits Gajaria: Oh yes.. Maybe because there is hardly any Left left in
India.. Many seem to have moved towards centre and are enjoying fruits
of govt eg NAC
Jason Overdorf: One of the common threads in political discussions is
that the middle class is too small to make a difference. Are they
underestimating your potential?
Jits Gajaria: I think they are. There are 80 parliament seats in core
Urban areas and further 40 in semi urban. Also middle class is found
in rural areas too now.. Roughly I wud say middle class can impact
around 180 parliament seats if it comes out to vote
Jason Overdorf: Here's one more for you, then we can wrap it up...
What's your view of the 'battle for the youth?' Are the 'Internet
Hindus' a bigger force than Rahul Gandhi's recruitment drive? Are
your tweeters actually joining the BJP/RSS to get out there and drum
up votes? And can Hindu nationalism compete with regionalism / caste
politics in today's India?
Jits Gajaria: My theory is whenever economy is in doldrums, middle
class votes big.. Add to that the anti-corruption drives and it gives
you an angry middle class and 180 LS seats where they can swing votes
Jits Gajaria: To the last Q. Yes I think this is a much larger
platform to get youth into politics. Won't compare with Rahul's drive
since it has been found how numbers were highly fudged in TN n other
places. So don't know the result of Rahul model. But coming to social
media, I see more and more youth ready to make a switch from online to
offline too. On an average I get 3-4 requests a week for same
Jits Gajaria: Nationalism is the only thing that can take on regional
and casteist politics. Its a glue which binds the ppl and not divide
them
_______________________________________________________________
i wasnt able to save the chat before this since my Blackberry died for a few seconds but here I will just summarise what I said
On Internet Hindus - i feel the term is very derogatory and by using this term people are showing their bigotory and lack of intellect. Sagarika and others stand guilty of bigotory and racism by coining and using this terme
on whether RSS or BJP runs a cell for organised social media and if i have been ever aske to do it - no, the right wing on social media is an unorganised loosely knit group of people across globes who care for India. no organisation or party has so far tried to make special cells for it.
i rest my case
Participants:
-------------
Jits Gajaria, Jason Overdorf
Messages:
------
Jits Gajaria: And after Ghose used that term, more and more youth
started asserting themselves as IH or right wing.
Jits Gajaria: I have always maintained that disagreements have full
space in democracy but abuse does not. I have called up abusive
tweeple more than a few times for crossing the line. I feel abuse
weakens your argument and chance to win a debate
Jason Overdorf: In what ways do you think the pro-Congress bias
manifests? We certainly see a lot of articles slamming Manmohan Singh
for kowtowing to the coalition, and plenty of anti-dynasty pieces and
articles about Rahul's incompetence....
Jits Gajaria: Well.. To give a simple example, the silence of national
media on death of a terror accussed in a jail in Maharashtra. Had it
been a BJP ruled state, national media would have been all over it
unlike the current near silence. If you observe carefully, anti-BJP
news are amplified and positive stories from BJP states either
downplayed or grudingly accepted
Jason Overdorf: Or is the national media just automatically tilted a
bit toward the ruling party? Things seemed pretty cosy in the days of
"India Shining," the Gujarat riots notwithstanding.
Jits Gajaria: If you compare the 2 periods, media has a lot more
traction and viewership today. Also the kind of criticism the govt
should take for the current state in India, is not coming from media.
A simple Q - even a kid knows this govt can't do anything without
Sonia Gandhis permission. Why is then media shying from questioning
her? Sonia Gandhi's NAC is largely responsible for the mismanagement
of economy, how many media houses have bothered to call that out?
Jits Gajaria: Maybe more than pro-Cong, Media is pro-Gandhi family
Jason Overdorf: What have been the biggest successes of the Hindu
right (or whatever) in social media? (i.e. Any big wins?)
Jits Gajaria: They have been able to offset and balance out a lot of
false stories. For eg - when Business Standard published an op-ed on
Guj showing Guj growth story a myth followed by rediff and BBC, the
counter in form of data and facts given by a twitter used Vijay
(centerofright) was so spot on, all had to withdraw their stories
because their data was wrong ( or intentionally fudged). Many such
cases of levelling the information fields
Jits Gajaria: And even traditional media houses will have to accept
that information field is getting levelled or they risk being called
out for their unintentional or unintentional bluffs
Jason Overdorf: Do you agree that the Hindu right / Hindu nationalists
are more organized and focused in their use of social media than the
left / secularists?
Jits Gajaria: Hindu right\Hindu nationalists are a part of the
society. They generally represent the country's middle class... And it
is this class which is pre-dominant on the net given its upwardly
mobile status since NDA rule. Hence you will always see them more on
social media. Also they seem more organised because of a common sense
of hurt and disappointment vis-a-vis traditional media
Jits Gajaria: Let's not forget most of the people in this section a
Jason Overdorf: Fair enough.
Jits Gajaria: Are extremely nationalists in their own way
Jason Overdorf: One does seem to find that the right is more
passionate than the left about politics these days in the States as
well. Maybe that's true here, too. (Apart from in Kerala & WB ;-)
Jits Gajaria: Oh yes.. Maybe because there is hardly any Left left in
India.. Many seem to have moved towards centre and are enjoying fruits
of govt eg NAC
Jason Overdorf: One of the common threads in political discussions is
that the middle class is too small to make a difference. Are they
underestimating your potential?
Jits Gajaria: I think they are. There are 80 parliament seats in core
Urban areas and further 40 in semi urban. Also middle class is found
in rural areas too now.. Roughly I wud say middle class can impact
around 180 parliament seats if it comes out to vote
Jason Overdorf: Here's one more for you, then we can wrap it up...
What's your view of the 'battle for the youth?' Are the 'Internet
Hindus' a bigger force than Rahul Gandhi's recruitment drive? Are
your tweeters actually joining the BJP/RSS to get out there and drum
up votes? And can Hindu nationalism compete with regionalism / caste
politics in today's India?
Jits Gajaria: My theory is whenever economy is in doldrums, middle
class votes big.. Add to that the anti-corruption drives and it gives
you an angry middle class and 180 LS seats where they can swing votes
Jits Gajaria: To the last Q. Yes I think this is a much larger
platform to get youth into politics. Won't compare with Rahul's drive
since it has been found how numbers were highly fudged in TN n other
places. So don't know the result of Rahul model. But coming to social
media, I see more and more youth ready to make a switch from online to
offline too. On an average I get 3-4 requests a week for same
Jits Gajaria: Nationalism is the only thing that can take on regional
and casteist politics. Its a glue which binds the ppl and not divide
them
_______________________________________________________________
i wasnt able to save the chat before this since my Blackberry died for a few seconds but here I will just summarise what I said
On Internet Hindus - i feel the term is very derogatory and by using this term people are showing their bigotory and lack of intellect. Sagarika and others stand guilty of bigotory and racism by coining and using this terme
on whether RSS or BJP runs a cell for organised social media and if i have been ever aske to do it - no, the right wing on social media is an unorganised loosely knit group of people across globes who care for India. no organisation or party has so far tried to make special cells for it.
i rest my case
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