Mumbai: In an attempt to develop a social media narrative in favour of the party and a counter-strategy to trolls, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) will hold a two-day social media conclave in Nagpur over the weekend.
This will see training sessions being held for volunteers to sharpen the party’s outreach on digital media and launch a ‘quick response strategy’ to counter fake news and trolling.
This two-day state level and national ‘Navsankalpa Social Media conclave’ will be organised on May 28 and 29.
“The conclave will lay down the digital and social media strategy for the party and strategies on communicating through social media, and means to counter propaganda, fake news busting and a quick response strategy,” said Vishal Muttemwar, general secretary, MPCC, and chairperson of the party’s social media department, who is organising the conclave.
This quick response strategy will aim at a speedy response to fake news that is targeted at the party and its icons and also on ways to counter trolls who take on and attack Congress leaders. “We will identify some volunteers for the purpose based on their talent and commitment,” he added.
The conclave will be inaugurated on Saturday and be attended by state and district-level functionaries of the Congress social media cell. Senior leaders like Nana Patole, president, MPCC, revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat, public works department (PWD) minister Ashok Chavan and other ministers and Congress functionaries, will also be present.
Functionaries from the Congress central leadership and from various states will participate in the sessions on Sunday. This will include KC Venugopal, general secretary, All India Congress Committee (AICC), Rohan Gupta, chairman of the AICC social media department, and others.
Trainers from Maharashtra and Delhi will conduct training modules with the legal strategy also being discussed.
The state Congress social media cell is also appointing a total of 10,000 volunteers as ‘Gandhidoots’ to fight the propaganda battle in cyberspace.