Digital media has become a thunderbolt of the political parties during the election season in the modern age, in terms of reaching into the public mind.

Internet penetration is basically the proportion of the population that has access to the Internet. It indicates the percentage of internet users in any country. In 2020, India had almost 700 million internet users across the nation. This figure has been projected to grow to more than 974 million users by 2025, demonstrating a major market potential for internet providers in the south Asian-nation.

The social media fuelled by the internet has become one of the main tools for the BJP to gain new political capital in Bengal with IT cells being placed in regions as far as Noida, that are trying (remote) to get into the mind of Bengali people as part of their JD. This comes in a context when Senior Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury had alleged that the Trinamool Congress has chosen “suicidal politics” by securing the support of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Bimal Gurung and when there is a political dilemma going on in Bengal regarding the exit of leaders like Suvendu Adhikari. Keeping in mind the tendency of party members wanting to leave under the influence of BJP, TMC Supremo has recently stated clearly that the fence-seaters should leave the party. This is a bold move by the TMC chief given the lurings given continuously to the various TMC figures by the BJP either through press meet or on the social media platforms(for example: Chhatradhar Mahato).

In an ongoing survey conducted in urban communities by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Kolkata has been placed third in the nation regarding the number of Internet users. Kolkata has 6.27 million people who have access to the internet. Kolkata has bounced two spots in contrast to a year ago from fifth to third behind Delhi. Mumbai is the top city with regards to the number of Internet users in India. Delhi comes in second place. In Bengal, Airtel’s 4G provider is active in Alipurduar, Raiganj, Kharagpur, Purulia, Berhampore, Haldia, Medinipur, Malda, Balurghat, Jalpaiguri, and Siliguri. Reliance Jio is getting a wide variety of subscribers each day and the new Asansol Jio Fiber will truly make a revolution within the cyberspace in Bengal.

If we see regionally, the number of Internet customers in the West Bengal state is growing at a neck break speed. Sikkim, a neighbouring state of Bengal is having one of the maximum internet users helped by the connection to Bengal.  Internet providers are also predominantly present in the town of Bardhaman.  Internet users are massively increasing every day in West Bengal’s different regions.

BJP must be aware that Modi’s speech actually does not matter to the people. His numbers do. And, Bengal voters would surely judge BJP on the numbers which speak for themselves. On the economy, the numbers cannot be kept hidden. The rate of GDP growth has gone from 8 to 7 to 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 over the last 12 quarters or three years. The economy was sabotaged just before January 2018 and today is not the time to go again into it and summarily the growth rate has gone from 10% to -10%. The fact is that even without Covid and even before the lockdown, the Indian economy was wrecked which has not been hidden from anyone, especially in Bengal, when it had to deal with migrant workers being sent with no prior information crowded in unhygienic conditions in trains which led to an increase in the number of Covid cases in the state.

Before BJP makes a foray for the election, it must understand that TMC with wide reach across the state, also has a stronghold in North Bengal consisting of seats in Alipurduar, in Jalpaiguri, one in Darjeeling, 2 seats in North Dinajpur, 3 in South Dinajpur, and one in Malda. In forty-five seats, the ruling party is facing some competition because the BJP has set its foot to gain cooperation within the region. Prashant Kishor and Banaerjee’s cooperation continues to be vital amid Amit Shah’s outreach into Bengal. Shah helped by Kailash Vijayvargya and Amit Malviya will take inventory of the state of affairs prior to the Assembly polls 2021 in the state. Apart from his scheduled conferences in North Bengal, the Union Home Minister may even be having conferences in South Bengal in the coming weeks. The eight Lok Sabha seats Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Raigunj, Balurghat, North Malda, and South Malda in North Bengal have generally been problematic for Mamata, which can be harnessed by BJP to its benefits through its outreach using the new IT cell co-chief.

After the Bihar Elections, BJP has shifted its concentration to West Bengal. With the wind seeming to blow in favour of BJP, especially after its gains in the recently held Bihar election, the switchovers in West Bengal are additionally expected to support it. Many heavyweights seem to boat-jump from TMC into the BJP.  Examples include Suvendu Adhikari, and Rajib Banerjee, which may attract BJP.

J.P. Nadda, BJP president announced new appointments in the crucial run-up to the assembly polls of 2021. BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has been re-appointed as the Bengal in-charge and national secretary Arvind Menon has been re-appointed as deputy of Vijayvargiya. Amit Malviya, who is very much aware of Bengal’s significant issues, joined Menon as the state’s IT co in-charge.

A BJP state unit leader who would not like to be named said, “In recent years, he has been in steady touch with Bengal’s IT cell leaders and members in devising and executing the online media methodologies and substance.” Malviya, who has been hosting the saffron party IT cell department for more than five years, has a long history of spreading disinformation. Generally, his tweets and posts via web-based media are called out by reality-checking distributions. There have been 16 prominent cases where Malviya had spread false or misleading information. Many are concerned that the BJP will this disinformation protocol to drive its agenda in the state polls.

In Bengal, social media has transformed into a battleground with open and smokescreen confrontations between the saffron camp and the state’s ruling party, Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by Mamata Banerjee.

The saffron party, which expects to unseat Mamata Banerjee’s TMC from power in the coming year’s election, had connected with two agencies to conduct separate surveys in 78,000 stalls in the state. In December 2019, and in July this year, BJP had carried out on the ground surveys for the election campaign. The second study, party sources disclosed, had discovered that debasement allegations levelled against the TMC after the fallout of Cyclone Amphan have changed the ground reality for the BJP and had turned people antagonistic towards the saffron party.  This can make the polls tough for BJP looking forward to win more than 220 seats in the next year’s elections. Thus the saffron party would most likely resort to internet-driven propaganda and disinformation protocol, guided by Amit Malviya, for the Bengal elections 2021.

The BJP should also remember the difference between states like UP, Bihar, and Bengal. In Bengal, like in Kerala, or Tripura, the political awareness of people is way above the national average. So, usage of the disinformation can not be that successful. Also, the psyche of Bengal as evinced in the last few decades has been against any large-scale political changes. That can also provide a barrier to BJP outreach in the state and pinning hopes on people hailing from UP and other states or other countries like Matuas, who have settled in Bengal can be a mistake by the BJP.