Sunil Poojary is now a known figure for sharing divisive content; he runs a right wing X account which is named ‘Astra’, which means weapons in Sanskrit. Within the dens of the Hindutva movement, he is noted to be a figure whose work is feared by politicians in the BJP according to a recent report by the Washington Post. Primarily so because he has a knack for spreading information – or rather misinformation. According to the Washington Post, some of the examples of the work he has done includes having allegedly distributed a photo of a Muslim man touching a statue of a revered goddess of a community with significant political influence in the state. He has also edited a Congress candidate’s speech to falsely make it seem like he was praising Muslim rulers.
The report by the Washington Post notes that there exists a ‘parallel campaign’ beyond official social media fanfare of the BJP. This was revealed by BJP staff, campaign consultants, and party supporters during rare and in-depth interviews that the report included, which brought to light that the party maintains discreet collaborations with content creators responsible for managing what are referred to as “third-party” or “troll” pages. These content creators specialise in crafting provocative posts with the explicit aim of polarising sentiments on platforms like WhatsApp and at the same time maintaining the party’s core supporters.
Poojary therefore is no lone figure but part of a very efficient right wing ecosystem that thrives on hate and muscle power typical to the right. While Poojary has claimed that he didn’t make money from his controversial social media post, the account has certainly gotten him significant influence, despite being a “10th-grade dropout” without a regular job. In fact, his “Astra ” posts were even shared by the Karnataka chief minister, and he has also claimed to have gotten calls from top government and BJP officials.
These polarising messages have achieved their intended impact, as described by the Washington Post. He has been able to successfully influence Indians about the farcical propaganda that tries to accuse Muslims of conspiring against India and the Indian nation. For instance, this can be exemplified in the way he laid out a hand for the BJP in Karnataka. The BJP benefitted electorally especially in coastal Karnataka from this campaign by ‘Astra’, winning 11 out of 13 contested constituencies. One respondent in the Washington Post article has stated that nearing the day for voting, he received about 120 messages a day – which he said signified as a ‘reminder’ to vote right for the BJP.
The BJP is notorious for tactics like these. In 2017, Swati Khosla who worked as a ‘volunteer’ in the IT Cell, then headed by a man named Arvind Gupta, stated that the IT cell is a vast network that works with ‘volunteers’ like her, whom they can disassociate with at any circumstances. In the interview with Caravan Magazine, Khosla stated that the National Digital Operations Corporation (NDOC) orchestrated targeted campaigns using social media and instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Twitter. These campaigns were directed against individuals who dared to voice criticism of the Modi government or the BJP. Khosla revealed that the list of targets at the time included famous figures like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, as well as respected journalists such as Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt. Bollywood actor Aamir Khan had stated that ‘Our country is very tolerant, but there are certain people who spread ill-will’, to which he faced a targeted response.
Thus the former volunteer, Khosla, told the Caravan Magazine that following Aamir Khan’s comments in November 2015 regarding alleged incidents of intolerance in India, the cell had launched a concerted effort to make sure that Khan was removed from a deal with corporate giant Snapdeal. The BJP has been exposed several times for their outsourcing of hate. In 2022, for instance, social media trolls reportedly employed by BJP had accidentally revealed the background of their work, as one of them prematurely shared the entire social media ‘toolkit’ comprising tweets in both Telugu and English. The complete toolkit was 15 pages long and featured numerous tweets maligning opposition leaders and to flood Twitter with tweets using the hashtag #JPNaddainOrugallu.
Thus, similarly according to WaPo, the founder of Astra, Poojary is concerned about potential legal consequences for libel and spreading false information but however the success he has seen seems, especially as all five BJP candidates he supported on social media emerged victorious in coastal Karnataka, seems to have put everything else in the background.
This report by Washington Post further sheds light on Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, and how Meta has time and again faced accusations of not doing enough to prevent the spread of hate news and being lenient with BJP leaders who violated its terms, possibly to safeguard business interests. Similarly, SabrangIndia reported earlier this year, after social media giant Meta released its annual report on human rights, that it was noted by activists that not enough has been done by the social media giant to curb hate that run amock there as there was no concrete plan. Just earlier this year in June, there was a report that stated Elon Musk had asserted that it was better to follow local laws. This statement came in the wake of former CEO Jack Dorsey stating that Twitter, now X, and had been threatened with calls to shut down Twitter in India and to have ‘homes raided’.
These instances serve to show that not only do social media giants face pressure from the government to bow down to their demands, they also seem to have no will to make changes to ensure violation of human rights does not take place on these platforms.
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India’s Struggle for Social Harmony: Challenges Amidst Surge in Hate Speech