Moinuddin2019 Book ThePoliticalTwittersphereInInd

Springer Geography
Shekh Moinuddin
The Political
Twittersphere
in India
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Shekh Moinuddin
The Political Twittersphere

in India
123
Shekh Moinuddin
Centre for Culture, Media and Governance
Jamia Millia Islamia
New Delhi, India
ISSN 2194-315X ISSN 2194-3168 (electronic)

Springer Geography
ISBN 978-3-030-11601-9 ISBN 978-3-030-11602-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018967436
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

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To Vaishali Singh
Preface
The study is about to understand how and at what extent Twitter shaped the digital
politics through re/tweets and how it became an important political tool for the
politicians who shaped the digital political revolution over a period of time in the
country. The social networking sites witnessed the journey of social media from
Twitter to Twittersphere wherein Twittersphere accommodates the composite idea
of users irrespective of ideology in shape of spatio-political understanding within
word limit. The study further looks at the different aspects of layers in
Twittersphere.
In Chap. 1, the different facets of Twitter including Twittersphere and its func-
tions are examined. The chapter further examines the re/tweets as spatio-temporal
contexts wherein how spatial and temporal dimensions are inseparable from tweets
or retweets and at what extent it acknowledges the location, region, nation, and so
on. The different dimensions of studies on Twitter are incorporated in the chapter to
justify the Twittersphere.
In Chap. 2, Twittersphere and geography are discussed as two separate phe-
nomena how and what ways both are similar or separated. The chapter tries to
accommodate Twitter as space and place in various representations and interpre-
tations as well as how Twittersphere is social and representational as well. The
chapter is developed as theoretical arguments to map within spatial boundaries how
and at what extent a geographer can map re/tweets with spatial understanding.
In Chap. 3, layers of contents are examined in shape of global and national
political perspectives. The chapter examines pictotextuality in terms of both text
and pictures and the hashtag politics—why certain issue trends? How Twitter
shapes such political news in the spatiality. The hashtag politics became phe-
nomenal over period of time and how it constructed and reconstructed the users
unlike agenda politics which controlled the political discourse some extent. Further,
the chapter discusses the issue of network and mediated politics with respect to
number of users and social networking sites, respectively. The chapter discusses
digital politics through national and global perspectives.
vii
viii Preface
In Chap. 4, retweets and tweets of five popular Indian politicians are discussed in
different capacities. The political re/tweets of politicians are discussed and analysed
to reflect the political meaning that why they made such re/tweets and at what
extent the contents are political in nature. The chapter exclusively discusses the
Indian politicians and their re/tweets.
In Chap. 5, digital politics is examined that why politicians are shifting towards
social networking sites? The chapter is based on survey findings. Further, the
chapter examines the social networking sites including Twitter and its role in
day-to-day spatial construction particularly at what extent it shaped the digital
political revolution in the country.
In Chap. 6, how digital gadgets became another cultural trait unlike traditional
cultural practices in daily life activities is discussed. The chapter talks about the
Government policy and the privatization to understand the digital culture in the
country.
In Chap. 7, how security and surveillance are developed as digital culture and
how it is changing daily lives are understood. This chapter draws contours with
reference to security and surveillance gadgets that how it is unavoidable nowadays.
The last chapter discusses the conclusion as outlines that how Twitter became
political phenomena in the country as well as other cultural traits and how Twitter
and other social media sites are changing the pattern of political digital consump-
tion in the country.
New Delhi, India Shekh Moinuddin

Acknowledgements
I am thankful to the members of research committee and administration of Kalindi

College for partial financial support and my earnest thanks to library staffs where
I was frequent visitor—Ratan Tata Library (RTL) and Central Reference Library
(CRL) of University of Delhi, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
(CSDS), The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Dr. Zakir Husain
Library (Central Library), JMI, Jawaharlal Nehru University Library, and Indian
Institute of Mass Communication Library, New Delhi. I am thankful to Dr. Shashi
Tharoor, Michel Cohen, and IAMAI and Kantar IMRB to reprint some of data and
images to make the manuscript at best.
I am also thankful to students Deepa, Kriti, Nirmala, Vaishali, Sana, and Priya who
made their valuable contributions during survey. I am also thankful of Sunni and
Sukhpreet who helped me in last hour to compile the work. It would be not fair if I did
not acknowledge a name who supported me even those tough time when no one was
around me as well as whose academics experiences enhanced my critical understanding
in the subject. He was nonetheless Prof. M. Istiaque who motivated and boosted my
morale to complete the work earliest. I am also thankful to Prof. Biswajit Das who has
provided me an opportunity to explore media geography in both teaching and research.
Last but not least, I am extending my strong gratitude to my family members—my
mother, sisters, and brother who constantly supported me all the possible ways.
I am thankful to Springer and Michael Leuchner and anonymous reviewers for
valuable suggestion to improve the manuscript.
Shekh Moinuddin
ix
Contents
1 Twittersphere: A Digital Spatiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Understanding Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Dimensions of Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Re/Tweet as Spatio-Temporal Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Readings in Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Framing Research in Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.6 Analysis Methods in Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.7 Future of Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Twittersphere and Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Mapping Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 What Is Twitter Geography? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3 Twittersphere as Representational Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Twittersphere as Social Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3 Twittersphere: Re/Tweeting the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1 Pictotextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2 The Hashtag Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2.1 Mapping Twittersphere of USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.2.2 Make in India on Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.3 Heartland of India on Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.3 The Galaxies of Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.4 Mediated Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.4.1 Facebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.4.2 WhatsApp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.4.3 Twitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
xi
xii Contents
3.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4 Mapping Political Re/Tweets in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.1 Understanding Re/Tweets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.2 Mapping the Political Re/Tweets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.2.1 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Narendra Modi . . . . . . 63
4.2.2 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Arvind Kejriwal . . . . . 67
4.2.3 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Shashi Tharoor . . . . . . 70
4.2.4 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Subramanian
Swamy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.2.5 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Sushma Swaraj . . . . . . 79
4.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5 Digital Political Revolution in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.1 Digital Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.2 Political Mapping of Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.3 Political Facets of Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6 Digital Political Economy of India I . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.1 Negotiating Digital Culture . . . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.2 Digital Identity in Everyday Life . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.3 Political Economy of Digital Culture in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
7 Digital Political Economy of India II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
7.1 Security and Surveillance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
7.2 Political Economy of Security and Surveillance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
7.3 Negotiating Security and Surveillance in Smart Cities . . . . . . . . . . 105
7.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
8 Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Appendix C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Appendix D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Appendix E: Aircel-Maxis Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Appendix F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Contents xiii
Appendix G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Appendix H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Appendix I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Appendix J . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Appendix K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Appendix L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Appendix M: Facets of Twitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Appendix N: Facets of Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Appendix O: Politicians used Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Appendix P: Popular Social Media Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Appendix Q: Contents on Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Appendix R: Purpose of Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Appendix S: Political Patterns of Social Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Appendix T: Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Appendix U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Appendix V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Abbreviations
AAP Aam Aadmi Party

AG Attorney General
AK Arvind Kejriwal
AMU Aligarh Muslim University
AOL Art of Living
ASSOCHAM Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
BJP Bharatiya Janata Party
BSP Bahujan Samaj Party
CAGR Compound Annual Growth Rate
CBI Central Bureau of Investigation
CCTNS Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System
CCTV Closed-Circuit Television
CD Compact Disc
CM Chief Minister
CMS Central Monitoring System
ESAI Electronic Security Association of India
FM Finance Minister
HRD Human Resource Department
IAMAI Internet and Mobile Association of India
INC Indian National Congress
ISKON International Society for Krishna Consciousness
JMI Jamia Millia Islamia
LG Lieutenant Governor
MCD Municipal Corporation of Delhi
NaMo Narendra Modi
NATGRID National Intelligence Grid
NDA National Democratic Alliance
NDMA National Disaster Management Authority
NDTV New Delhi Television
PM Prime Minister
xv
xvi Abbreviations
SAHRDC South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre

SM Social Media
SNS Social Networking Site
SS Subramanian Swamy
ST Shashi Tharoor
TV Television
UCC Uniform Civil Code
UID Unique Identification
UPA United Progressive Alliance
List of Tables
Table 4.1 Politicians’ profiles on Twitter (March 20, 2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Table 7.1 List of smart cities in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Table 7.2 Spatial pattern of terrorists attacks in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
xvii
List of Graphs
Graph 3.1 Internet in India. Source After IAMAI, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 50

Graph 3.2 Internet users in India (rural–urban). Source After
IAMAI, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 51
Graph 3.3 Social demography of Internet users. Source After
IAMAI, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Graph 5.1 Facets of Twitter. Source After survey, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Graph 5.2 Facets of social media. Source After survey, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . 86
Graph 5.3 Politicians used social media. Source After survey, 2016 . . . . . 87
Graph 5.4 Popular social media sites. Source After survey, 2016 . . . . . . . 87
Graph 5.5 Contents on social media. Source After survey, 2016 . . . . . . . . 87
Graph 5.6 Purposes of social media. Source After survey, 2016 . . . . . . . . 88
Graph 5.7 Political patterns of social media. Source After
survey, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 89
xix
List of Images
Image 4.1 National conference. Source From Twitter A/C of Shashi

Tharoor @ShashiTharoor January 28, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 71
Image 4.2 International youth summit. Source From Twitter A/C
of Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor January 28, 2016 . . . . . . .. 72
Image 4.3 Global design and innovation. Source From Twitter A/C
of Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor January 28, 2016 . . . . . . .. 72
Image 4.4 Credo of M. K. Gandhi. Source From Twitter A/C
of Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor February 28, 2016 . . . . . .. 73
xxi
Chapter 1
Twittersphere: A Digital Spatiality
Abstract The Twittersphere is a digital spatiality wherein different layers of digital

attributes come together to shape a monotonous mediated atmosphere in the form
of tweets and retweets. The Twittersphere functions through four attributes (namely
tweet, retweet, like, and direct messages), and each have their own specific domain
of work to reflect the construction of political reality.
Keywords Twitter · Twittersphere · Political · Spatial–temporal · Digital
1.1 Understanding Twittersphere
The Twittersphere comprises four attributes: first, tweet1 ; second, retweet2 ; third,
like3 ; fourth, direct messages.4 All four have own unique features of communication
that provide a different sense of affiliation wherein spatiality is mapped for repre-
sentation and interpretation. Hence, the Twittersphere seeks to describe spatiality
in different representations and interpretations, for example politicians about poli-
tics, actors/actresses about movies and sports men/women about sports. Thus, Twitter
becomes the common domain where experts from various domains may interact pur-
posefully. Twitter made things more accessible and immediately allowing anyone to
convey or express their thoughts and ideas explicitly or implicitly in 140 characters
or less. From September, 2017, Twitter initiated its experiment of an increased limit
of 280 characters to allow its users more space for interaction.
1 Tweet is a kind of message (tweet) in shape of small sentences when an individual supposed to
post on his/her twitter handle under the word limit of 140 words.
2 Retweet is a kind of message when an individual supposed to forwarding the same message without
changing the content in his/her twitter handle.

3 Like is a another option when an individual supposed to like the message (tweet) when he/she went
through in his/her twitter handle. Since the message (tweet/retweets) were liked and therefore, as
result, its circulation enhanced and which can also viewed/read the message (tweet) who are even
not in the friend lists of the person who first post the message.
4 Direct message provides an option to make private discussion/conversation which will remain in
between two individuals unless and until others being involved in the message (tweet).
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1
S. Moinuddin, The Political Twittersphere in India, Springer Geography,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6_1
2 1 Twittersphere: A Digital Spatiality
Twitter works as virtual space wherein infinite discourses appear in different

shapes and sizes. These infinite identities take shape as spaces of Twitter wherein the
discourse becomes lived and enables anyone to participate or register to express their
opinions and perspectives. The spaces in Twitter can be understood as a ‘lived space’
(Lefebvre 1991; Soja 1996) when Twitter runs via the smart phone, as a ‘conceived
space’, which is purely an opportunity to move ahead in an idealistic sense, without
the gadget we cannot move forward or put another way, Twittersphere runs from the
mobile phone and the first stage is when an individual experiences spatiality through
mundane expressions including politics, culture, economical, and geographical. The
second experience is when an individual uses Twitter to communicate. In such an
experience, the ‘others’ as ‘perceived space’ provide a sense of expression or spatial
experiences to being connected. When an individual experiences both being at ‘first’
space (conceived space) and ‘second’ space (perceived space) simultaneously while
also being connected with the outer world for mundane purposes, then he/she experi-
ences the ‘third space’ (Lefebvre 1991; Soja 1996). This third space is a lived space,
too. As ‘lived space’, Twitter provides an opportunity to feel a sense of experiences:
anxiety, anguish, happy, melancholy, wired, surprise, etc., including in a political,
social, cultural, or economic sense when an individual shares spatial issues.
The activeness on Twittersphere is much like a ‘public sphere’ where a group of
minds gather to share information that inherits spatial experiences as well as in mun-
dane explanations—politics, cultural, economic, geographical, gender, technology,
race, religion, etc. Such spatial expression and experiences are observed purposefully
in different dimensions over a period of time by users.
Unlike atmosphere and hydrosphere, the Twittersphere is one that is purely digital
and has four layers, each with its own distinct features. For example, the atmosphere
is bounded by layers of natural mechanism and dynamism which influence the daily
lives across the worlds differently in different places. The Twittersphere, on the other
hand, is an artificial (digital) mechanism which works as a bridge between two or
more peoples through textual and pictorial values.
The Twittersphere works through its four tenets: tweet, retweet, like, and direct
messages. All four have their own specific set of modes of communication to provide
a different sense of affiliation across the spatiality. First, the tweet is a kind of short
message and often contains phrases to address the issue, which is unlike birds which
create waves in the serenity and circulate the sounds unequivocally. When a person
writes something to address the spatiality, it is termed as a sound or voice in digital
sense and considers the first boundary drawn by users. Second, a retweet is a kind of
reiteration of the message posted by a person when who is attached in the loop. The
endorsement of such a tweet is of course derived by an ideological understanding
which may be politically, socially, economically, etc., to suit the users. In retweet,
the contents of tweet are forwarded by users to propagate the same without changing
the words. Third, ‘like’ is a notion of understanding in which users partially agree
upon the tweet which appeared in their loop sent by a fellow member of their loop.
These are voluntarily options whether to like or retweet. The last boundary is that
of direct messages and allows a private conversation where two persons may talk
privately irrespective of their ideology or faiths through Twitter’s platform. The
1.1 Understanding Twittersphere 3
element is giving a sense of privacy or secrecy between two individuals to disclose

their understanding. These four layers of boundaries often overlap with each other
while also being separate. This depends upon the users, whether to proceed or not
and can be seen as a ladder to communicate with fellow members.
Gainous and Wagner (2014) argue that social media has altered the political calcu-
lus in the USA in terms of who controls, consumes, and distributes the information.
Their arguments are based on the two major issues: first, the consumer selects his/her
network of communication for which social media provides free space to citizens to
self-select their content. Secondly, social networks themselves allow political candi-
dates to shape and dictate their content. Since the beginning of the digital movement,
the use of gadgets and apps acknowledged in different political orders has helped
shape a strong democratic and participatory culture among the youth and others to
organize collective action against various issues. Samuels (2011) argues that how
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the major social networking sites in the USA
where people usually communicate and organize their thoughts. This small online
protest translated into direct social action and created huge offline protests. Ulti-
mately, the actions led to a 500 million dollars increase in funding for higher educa-
tion. In India, the Lokpal movement (during year 2011) became successful because
social networking sites provided the movement wider spaces and popularity. In his
study, Miller (2011b) found that social media has gained astounding growth and
popularity worldwide. It is attracting the attention of users by adding new services
in social networking sites. These social networking sites now claim to have more
than 100 million users and 230 million tweets every day. He further investigated how
information and persuasion spread through social networks and we can analyse the
big data in an appropriate way. Hence, he used Twitter data to examine the human
behaviour in the context of time and space. Michael Macy, a sociologist at Cornell
University, has stated that social media provides an opportunity to social scientists
to study the human interactions and communicate with each other by using different
devices and recorded those interactions.
In India, according to The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)
and Kantar IMRB in their report ‘Internet in India 2016’,5 there has been estimated
steady growth of Internet users. From 432 million in December 2016, this has grown
significantly in 2017 and has reached 450–465 million. In 2014, this number was
at 278 million. The number of users is added in every quarter and hence indicated
India’s potential as a leader in the making of digital economy. Thus, such expansions
have enabled human interactions and communication in different layers, and this in
turn shapes tweets and retweets in the Twittersphere for political purposes wherein
both homogeneity and heterogeneity of knowledge/information are placed side by
side.
5 For details, see report; http://www.iamai.in.

1.2 Dimensions of Twittersphere
The dimensions of Twitter are digital in nature and work as ‘network flow’ (Castells
1996) and ‘rhizome’ (Deleuze and Guattari 3) when connectivity between both sender
and receiver remains intact and everyone consumes some amount of mediated infor-
mation for political, social, economic, and religious reasons. The Twittersphere may
be seen as an umbrella platform which ranges from issues such as entertainment to
political, sports, to current affairs, and many more.
The digital dimension is clear so far beside political and social, but it is political in
various ways. It needs exclusive research to establish the political or social dimension,
although Gainous and Wagner (2014) tried to establish this political dimension of
the social media including Twitter as well. Gayo-Avello (2015) enquired the Twitter
data to map public opinion with regard to electoral forecasting. He included many
Twitter data analyses and methodologies to understand the public opinion.
The importance of public opinion in modern democracies is undeniable, and efforts to
improve the insights about it are welcome…After all, social media in general, and Twitter
in particular, provide users with tools to express their opinions and to organize themselves
into communities. It is possible that political discussion in online media does not fulfil most
of the requirements of the public sphere, but opinionated tweets of political nature are still
amenable to analysis, at least following a ‘pollster approach’. (Gayo-Avello 2015: 66)
Thus, in order to explore more ground for the Twittersphere, need to be familiar
somewhere when it will be easy to draw sketches and some extent we termed as
digital culture that inhibits the technology to became familiar among users. It is a
result of technological upgradation and extension of a mediated society. What is
digital dimension? How has it comprised mediated phenomenon?
Digital dimension refers to the use of gadgets and virtual operations wherein
everybody is connected through various apps (including Twitter). The circulated
information is considered to adhere to others for myriad purposes including political,
which means to mobilize the others through this circulated information. Such an
ideology emerged pertinently in the digital era where using of gadgets is considered
as part of the cultural norm in order to survive in the changing spatiality.
The legacy of cultural studies dates long back to century, but digital culture is
less than two decades old. Deleuze and Guattari (1988) articulated as ‘rhizome’ and
consider this as a metaphor to describe a form of organization that is not based on
hierarchical structure, but follows a kind of horizontal network of relations.
A rhizome as a subterranean stem is absolutely different from roots and radicles. Bulbs and
tubers are rhizomes. Plants with roots or radicles may be rhizomorphic in other respects
altogether. Burrows are too, in all their functions of shelter, supply, movement, evasion, and
breakout. The rhizome itself assumes very diverse forms, from ramified surface extension
in all directions to concretion into bulbs and tubers…The rhizome includes the best and the
worst: potato and couchgrass, or the weed. (Deleuze and Guattari 1988: 6–7)
Deleuze and Guattari (1988) in ‘A Thousand Plateaus’ articulated six principles

to outline the concept of rhizome in the digital construction contrary to this botanical
idea. Miller (2011b: 26–27) summarized the idea of rhizome in digital shape as:
1.2 Dimensions of Twittersphere 5
1. The principle of connection: ‘the rhizome connects any point to other point’—
similarly, Twitter provides such a platform that after a click person can connect
with anyone in the loop, even previously unknown to each other.
2. The principle of multiplicity: ‘the rhizome is reducible to neither the one nor the
multiple’, wherein network which connects multiple or none is subject to choice
but it is grown out by multiplicity.
3. The principle of decalcomania: ‘the rhizome operates by variation, expansion,
conquest, capture, and offshoots’—it means it changes accordingly to encounters.
4. The principle of cartography: ‘the rhizome pertains to a map that must be pro-
duced, constructed, a map that is always detachable, connectable, reversible,
modifiable and has multiple entryways and exits and its own lines of flight’. The
rhizome is akin to a map that anyone can join at any location and stay as per
requirements.
5. The principle of heterogeneity: ‘the rhizome is a centred, non-hierarchical,
non-signifying system without a general and without an organizing memory or
central automation’. The rhizome is not akin to central control and is instead
decentralized.
6. The principle of signifying rupture: ‘the rhizome is made only of lines’, despite
being severed or broken, create new lines for transformation.
The dimension of the Twittersphere is open rather than closed. It is used to mobi-
lize opinion in favour of or from advertising to entertainment, and to infotainment
which is another domain where Twitter might experiment in the future. The Twitter-
sphere has transformed the communication system where heterogeneity is replaced
by homogeneity or targeted flow of information since 2006 when Twitter started as
a micro-blogging site.
1.3 Re/Tweet as Spatio-Temporal Phenomena
‘Phir Ek Baar, Cameron Sarkar’ (Once again Cameron Government), tweeted by

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Damodar Modi on 8 May 2015, after David
Cameron won the British Parliamentary election for the second consecutive time
shows the impact of Twitter in initiating the informal feature of Indian politics.
Why politicians started re/tweets and what are the political advantage of it except
popularity, likes, and followers? Is all this supposed to materialize into votes during
elections or something else beyond politics? If, we go through the words ‘Phir Ek
Baar…’ (once again). How are such political tweets supposed to sustain the political
interests of people and what is the meaning of ‘like’ and ‘followers’ politically, if
any? Almost every political party and politician now rely on social media, and most
politicians have Twitter accounts in India. The shift of politicians towards social
media particularly Twitter invites a digital politics revolution in mundane shape and
size.
The digital political revolution can be understood through assumptions that politi-
cians (Indian) wear white dress and politicians are supposed to work for welfare and
follow an inclusive approach and have equal respect to all people irrespective of caste,
class, religion, and gender. The politicians joined social media including Twitter for
varied reasons including either to establish direct contact with people or to propagate
political messages. Why has such a digital notion become inevitable for politicians
over a period of time? Is it part of mediated politics wherein social media became
instrumental and influenced?
Over time, Twitter has become a useful tool for predicting election outcomes,
effectively complementing traditional opinion polling and to some extent the political
discourse. The 2014 general elections (of India) and after that some of state’s elections
held under the lenses of social media have seen political parties not only using social
media platforms as the new battleground during the election campaign, but also
engaged voters and party workers with campaign-related conversations which tried
to measure the impact of the social media electoral landscape on the prepoll popularity
of political candidates in the USA and Europe (Hong and Nadler 2011; O’Connor
et al. 2010).
The growth of social media is not simply a development in communication tech-
nology but rather a foundational change in how people communicate, not just with
each other but with political actors and institutions as well. With all the technological
changes in how we communicate with each other and other important milestones,
social media is not only a huge leap in efficiency, but is also a substantively new way to
interact. Previous advancements in communication technology have also influenced
how we chose our leaders. It is no accident that the visual medium of television has
led to an electoral advantage for taller candidates (Sommers 2002). Nonetheless, the
study suggests that social media, while a progression on this continuum, is not just
another step but rather a leap into a fundamentally different environment because of
the nature of the communication. Online social networking sites are a change of a
different order and will create a new paradigm by redefining to whom each citizen
is talked how, when, and why that communication occurs.6
This assertion is based on significant differences that online social networking site
presents from previous advances. Most of social media is a two-way form of mass
communication. In contrast, each previous development was a form of one-way mass
communication. Political campaigns have been a singular message from politicians
that is distributed through different types of mass media to constituents and voters
as well. Politicians spoke through the media, and the people were a largely passive
audience, prior to the development of modern media.7 Social media allows the user
to not only choose what network to be a part of but also whether to be an active
participant in that network. The user is a news creator, not simply a receptacle. This
ground-shifting advance creates an entirely new way to view politics and the values
attributed to advertising and campaigning during election times. Different political
6 Gainous and Wagner (2014, p. 4).

7 Modern media constitutes the development of TV and social media when processing, dissemina-
tion, and retrieval of information become easy job.
1.3 Re/Tweet as Spatio-Temporal Phenomena 7
behaviours are incentivized including short video messages and virtual town halls,
while some traditional behaviours, such as printing and mailing physical brochures,
are no longer as useful or productive. The direct interaction generated by retail politics
is far more costly and reaches far fewer people than digital strategies (Gainous
and Wagner 2011). Social media creates interaction without regard to geography,
and substantial increases in the efficiency of political communication create a new
calculus in the political arena.8
The true story of social media is bigger than choosing more effective political
campaigning strategies. A larger shift is occurring. The role of Twitter in overall pol-
itics has been noticed as politicians shifted towards Twitter to connect with people.
Twitter made a substantial change to our social media system in both how infor-
mation reported and distributed with significant implications. The political impli-
cations alone are substantial to understand the popularity of Twitter in the politics.
Re/Tweeting became popular among Indian politicians to share positions irrespective
of issues.
‘Phir Ek Baar, Cameron Sarkar’, tweeted by Narendra Damodar Modi, is an
example of a kind of political rhetoric that became popular in the age of social media
(particularly Twitter).
1.4 Readings in Twittersphere
Social media has changed the traditional political practices including political cam-
paigns and political approach. In India, the parliament election of 2014 was one of
the major elections fought under the screen of social media including Facebook and
Twitter. The flexible approach and dual communication systems of social media, to
some extent, gave the candidates an edge over other media components. The popu-
larity of social media including for political purposes has multiplied over the years
in various dimensions. Over a period of time, various social scientists studied the
digital in different contexts including the political use of social media (Chi and Yang
2010; Williams and Gulati 2008). The use of social media has became so apparent
that a new political industry has started to take shape to aid and instruct politicians on
how to maximize their influence through social media (Agranoff and Tabin 2011).
Social media emerged as a tool to avoid or not to be confronted with the information
that are in conflict in nature and belief and considered as cognitive dissonance (Chen
and Risen 2010; Elliot and Devine 1994).
Kalyani Suresh and Chitra Ramakrishnan in the article ‘Tweeting Public Senti-
ments’ (2015) argued how Twitter became a political tool to the politicians which
they used very effectively in order to construct a public sentiment during the parlia-
ment election of 2014 in India. They made an empirical study based on Twitter used
by politicians such as Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal, and Rahul Gandhi as well
as during Parliament election 2014. They established that a higher number of tweets
8 Ibid: 4.
were considered as the predicator of higher share of votes and engagements with
tweets, retweets, and hashtags indeed one of the strong predicators to address the
levels of politicians that how he/she is familiar with the Twitter and the SNSs (social
networking sites) as well. The study does not establish any relationship between a
higher number of tweets attracting a higher number of votes, and while the politicians
became popular, they may not have as many votes. Therefore, the study advised the
politicians (BJP, as per study) to strategize for better vote share in future election.
Paolo Gerbaudo in his book ‘Tweets and the Street: Social Media and Contem-
porary Activism’ (2012) argues that social media activism in the context of the Arab
Spring Revolution which started in Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt at different gravities
had a role to play in the successes of the movements. The book develops a theoret-
ical framework within which to analyse the significance of social media practices
for contemporary popular movements. It begins by critically assessing dominant
understandings of collective action, and in particular the concepts of ‘swarms’ and
‘networks’ advanced by authors such as Manuel Castells and Antonio Negri and
Michael Hardt. The author argues that by putting the emphasis on spontaneity and
irreducible multiplicity, these notions tend to obscure the lines of force inherent in
the process of mobilization and to neglect the fact that it involves the creation of a
sense of togetherness and a common identity. Next, the book discusses the role of
social media in the 2011 revolution against Hosni Mubarak (then President of Egypt)
in Egypt. The Egyptian revolution was characterized by the protagonist of the cos-
mopolitan Internet-connected youth, the so-called shabab-al-Facebook (Facebook
youth). Apart from the shabab-al-Facebook, the activist elite of the so-called Twitter
pashas highlighting the risk of isolation from mainstream society entailed in their
obsessive engagement with the micro-blogging site. The book then goes on to discuss
the use of social media in the indignations protest in Spain in 2011—‘harvest’ the
individual frustration of many Spaniards. The occupation of Puerta del Sol is also
discussed along with the social media messaging radiating out of it which created
a symbolic centre and focal point for maintaining a diffused sense of participation.
Twitter feeds and live-streaming videos in particular generated an attraction to the
square, facilitating the mobilization of supporters and sympathizers towards this
symbolic centre. The use of social media as means of mobilization in the ‘Occupy
Wall Street’ movement in the USA is touched upon next. Gerbaudo argues that
here, in contrast to the protests in Egypt and Spain, the use of social media initially
failed as a rallying point for emotional condensation and as a symbolic springboard
towards participation. A comparative analysis of the use of social media as means
of mobilization and their role in the construction of choreography of assembly is
then established in the book. It highlights the fact that social media is used as the
conduit for fluid organizational practices developed against the negative backdrop
of bureaucratic organizations. In this framework, Facebook and Twitter are assigned
different roles. While Facebook is used as a recruitment platform to bring new people
in, Twitter is mainly employed as a means of internal coordination within the activist
community. The role of both websites as organizational means is further elucidated
by looking at the way in which they are used in constructing an emotional tension,
creating an impetus towards and attraction to places of gathering.
1.4 Readings in Twittersphere 9
The author closely watched the episodes of political turmoil in the streets of
Egypt and role of social media specifically Facebook and Twitter which played a
crucial role in the mobilization of crowds against the tyrant authorities. He keenly
compares the incidents with some similar episodes that happened in the streets of
Spain and analysed that both Facebook and Twitter played an instrumental role in
the construction of the spring movement which sent waves against the authorities in
the Muslims world in the region.
Jason Gainous and Kevin M. Wagner in their book ‘Tweeting the Power: The
Social Media Revolution in American Politics’ (2014) examined the use of social
media in American politics during the election year 2010. The book discusses the
use of social media, especially Twitter in American politics. The chapters are further
organized into two ways—first, The US Congress and Twitter, and second, The
American Politics and Social Media. The book begins by providing the theoretical
background which supported the theory of social media in political contexts. Next, the
public opinion with the help of available data from Pew Research Centre was further
classified to know some of questions, such as first, how pervasive is social media
use? Second, how much of this use involves political exchanges? Third, do people
seek out shared viewpoints and networks of similar-minded peoples? The book then
discusses the demand side of social media and further examines the Pew survey
data, 2010, in order to understand the group behaviour with respect to social media.
The next topic discussed is how information was used by congressional candidates
through Twitter. This is followed by an analysis of the Twitter data of an individual
member and further analysed party-wise data circulated through Twitter account.
Next, the role of online social networks which encouraged political participation
and further the American politics were analysed in compare to social media and
traditional voters as well is discussed. Seventh chapter discusses the relationship
between social media and civic attentiveness to examine the opinion that how social
media created information between the opinion makers and the population. Eighth
chapter is about the implications of new controls that political actors have to direct and
influence the flow of information. Ninth and tenth chapters discuss the importance
of social media on political outcomes and social media revolution in political sphere
where new lines were drawn. The authors have used Pew Research Survey data and
established relationships between Congress and politicians through social media
particularly Facebook and Twitter. They addressed almost all political issues where
involvement of social media was found responsible whether public participation or
flow of information.
Yelena Mejova, Ingmar Weber, and Michael W. Macy in their edited volume
‘Twitter: A Digital Socioscope’ (2015) tried to give solutions with regard to how
an individual studied ‘big data’ available in social media through various case stud-
ies. The book, through various chapters, first seeks to address the different methods
and tools that are used to handle big data with a focus on Academic Performance
Index and how they are used to conduct social sciences research. The book then uses
some of the representative case studies in order to show the use of Twitter data to
track public opinion through its expression in political discussions. The next chapter
assesses the ways in which Twitter data may be used to measure unemployment,
consumer confidence, social mood, investor sentiment, and the direction of financial
markets. The fourth chapter extends the research application from physical to emo-
tional health, focused on the use of Twitter data, in conjunction with census data, to
study the ecological relationship between language used (e.g. sentiment analysis) and
physiological experiences. This is followed by an examination of Twitter’s strength
as a medium of two-way communication, to map the health hazard that it may pose.
The book ends with an insight into the mobilization of resources and responses of
authorities to large-scale disasters. This chapter shows how Twitter used to map,
to identify emergency events, and to manage the affected community and resource
planning as well.
The book provides solutions to handle big data and how to retrieve data from
distressed people in times of an emergency and provide time bound relief. It is based
on real-time experiences of disasters because the nature of disasters is unpredictable;
therefore, the solutions mentioned in the book are worthy and helpful in first expe-
riences.
In ‘Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Democracy’ (2011) by Bob Samuels, the
dimensions of social media are studied closely. In the fall of 2009, the author partici-
pated in mass protests in California against tuition fee increases, furloughs and state
budget cuts, and mass layoffs of school teachers, faculty members, and other public-
sector workers (Samuels 2011). The decision of reducing pay and increasing tuition
highly affected both students and faculty members of the University of California.
These demonstrations represented a new form of social movement that helped to for-
mulate and produce new media. Samuels explains that this new media is not only to
organize the political protests, but these protests themselves help to shape the form of
social media. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the major social networking sites
where people usually communicate and organize their thoughts. The main focus of
his article is to trace the strong democratic and participatory culture of contemporary
youth shaped the way they organized and constructed collective actions. The author
evaluated the use of social media for the cause of public mobilization to counter the
fee hike in the University of California.
‘We shouldn’t fear Facebook and Twitter’ (2011) by Margaret McCartney,
explained how Twitter and Facebook, social networking sites are not entirely irrele-
vant to real life and medicine. It is important that we should be aware of the potential
risks of social media in the medical profession. But on the other hand, social media
like Twitter and Facebook provide a platform for doctors to simply deliver informa-
tion; send messages and newsfeed as well. The author tries to explore other advan-
tages of social media in medical profession. Rather than fear what we should not do,
think positively and we can do so much. We can exchange information through latest
paper, survey, report, policy, and evidences used for improving national health ser-
vices. This information will be very helpful for both workers and patients to represent
the better truth than the wider media ever could.
‘Social Scientists Wade into the Tweet Stream’ (2011a) by Greg Miller, recently,
social media have gained astounding growth and popularity worldwide. It attracted
the attention of users by adding on new services to social networking sites. These
social networking sites now claim more than 100 million users and 230 million
‘tweets’ in every day (Miller 2011a). Social media provides an opportunity to social
scientists to study different kinds of human interactions. Michael Macy, a sociologist
at Cornell University, says people communicate with each other by using different
devices. Author Greg Miller tries to investigate how information and persuasion
spread through social networks. This chapter helps to understand how we can analyse
the big data in an appropriate way. Miller uses the Twitter data to examine the human
behaviour in the context of time and space.
In this regard, Greg Miller’s study shows that positive emotions run high in the
morning and declines through the day. Usually, happy days coincide with holidays,
but unhappy days coincide with unexpected events such earthquake, flood, and
tsunami. The individual users’ demographics, mobile phone usage, and the types
of websites they most frequently visited such as sports, news, and blogs are used
to develop a statistical tool to understand human social functions. The author found
that Twitter, Facebook, and Yahoo are the major social networking sites that coordi-
nate and spread online information about political movement to predict event on the
ground before they happened.
Rachel Ehrenberg infers in ‘Social Media: Worries over political misinformation
on Twitter attract social scientists’ (2012) that misinformation can spread quickly
on social media through platforms like Twitter and Facebook. And the correction
may take huge time and advanced technology. This article tries to build the relation
between political election and social media. In present time, the social media offers a
direct route to delivering messages and evaluate its veracity. On the one hand, social
media provides the space for connecting people and on the other hand, people use
this platform for spreading misinformation. The author Rachel Ehrenberg used the
2006 and 2008 congressional elections as examples to understand the role of social
media during political elections. She describes how one person has run multiple
accounts during election time, thereby creating the façade of similar viewpoints
being shared by multiple people while these accounts are maintained by one person.
This could influence people to change their decisions during elections. The project
‘Truthy’ helps to capture thousands of tweets related to a particular topic per hour.
The popular hashtags help to find the particular phrase and tweets sent by and received
by a person. The author has explained different networks which will help to identify
the false account and spread accurate information to the users.
In ‘Twitter Talk: Its search and trends can keep you up to speed’ (2012) by Den-
nis Kennedy, the focus is on what lawyers can learn from a platform like Twitter.
The author tries to explore how 140 characters affect the lives of individuals. The
question is not about only tweeting but how an individual perceives and provides
interesting value to lawyers from different tweets. All Twitter users act as a sensor to
the information they get from all around the world. Twitter automatically provides
the most trending topics in real-time search engine. Lawyers have used these trending
topics to build arguments and adjust themselves with the digital world. The author
addresses how someone can look or search the relevant issues on Twitter.
This article takes a fairly in-depth look at different social networking sites like
Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. The author tries to illustrate a comparative study
between different social networking sites. In this socialized world, everyone wants
to connect without any time and space constrain. The digital media provides a space
through which it is easy to communicate and find the right people according to
individual preferences. The author has divided this article into three major sections
in which he looks at Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook individually. Each section
explains its need and importance in contemporary society. Twitter is the main source
for news and information, which shaped entirely by user’s interests and needs. The
author also tries to analyse the problem and issue related to Twitter like sometimes it
can be a noisy place and appear to be a waste of time. For the solution of this type of
problem, Twitter recently has focused on ‘lists’ the way to compartmentalize people
and information.
In the second section, the author explains the LinkedIn network. It is one of the
professional networks which is used by lawyers, C-level executives, managers, and
decision makers to share their business interests and purposes. This is one of the
platforms to create a digital profile for all kinds of professionals. LinkedIn allows
‘connecting’ people with others while Twitter allows ‘following’ people. The third
section deals with Facebook. The Facebook network not only intends to connect
colleagues and clients but also friends. According to the author, while Twitter is
functional, Facebook is entertaining. Over 500 million users have Facebook accounts,
so it is very difficult to manage their privacy services. The author suggests a ‘walled
garden’ approach to help in protecting privacy. This article also explains social media
as a juggernaut of connection and communication for both personal and professional
users.
In ‘Towards a Sociological Understanding of Social Media: Theorizing Twitter’
by Dhiraj Murthy, a sociological understanding of social media in present time is pre-
sented. This new media technology seeks to compress time and space (Harvey 1989)
which shrink the boundaries between public–private spaces. The author suggests that
many of the social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter add much
deeper meanings to the day-to-day life of users. Twitter is the most popular social
media site which provides micro-blogging services with the medium’s restrictions of
140 characters or fewer. The author tries to analyse Twitter’s services which build the
social network through tweets and retweets, to which people have subscribed. The
main attention of this article is to examine the role of new communication technology
shaping our social world. The author has used Goffman’s theoretical work to under-
stand Twitter’s services. Goffman’s work focuses on mediated interactions (Murthy
2012). Murthy has not only claimed that existing sociological theories provide criti-
cal understanding about Twitter but provide deeper insight of theoretical innovations
in Twitter services. This article helps to provide further scope for examining Twitter’s
services such as self-production, interaction orders, and the way people use Twit-
ter language and power relation between interactions. Social media as a discipline
provides the answers of timely posed questions.
The above readings discussed the dimensions of social media particularly Twitter
and few of them touched upon Facebook as well and almost all mapped Twitter having
a future not only in politics or for political purposes and can be used optimally in
health sector, education, social awareness campaign, entertainment, infotainment,
and sports. The research on Twitter with a political dimension created waves in
society as the role of Twitter is inevitable and phenomenal to spread information fast
and purposefully.
1.5 Framing Research in Twittersphere
This study is purely equipped to search the nature of the Twittersphere and its political
role in Indian politics. The study looks into following four research questions. First,
whether Twittersphere has shaped the digital political revolution in India. Second,
why and for what purposes political parties used digital gadget and to what extent
the digitalization process shaped the Indian politics. Third, whether social media
is fragmenting the politics into like and follower or can political parties predict the
nature of vote percentage in advance with the help of tweets based on how many likes
or followers; and fourth, whether re/tweets (Twitter) made the stature of politician
above within their political party. The study moved around these questions to decode
the process of digitalization in politics that how mediated technology shaped and
reshaped the patterns of politics in the country.
1.6 Analysis Methods in Twittersphere
The study employed both qualitative and quantitative techniques to interpret the col-
lected re/tweets data made by politicians. The political re/tweets were considered
as raw data in the study (Appendix L). The re/tweets data are collected on ran-
dom basis from six different dates from preceding three months (January 5 and 28,
February 11 and 27, and March 5 and 18, 2016). The data includes both tweets and
retweets of popular five politicians (Mr. Narendra Modi, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, Mr.
Shashi Tharoor, Ms. Sushma Swaraj, and Mr. Subramanian Swamy) in the country on
Twitter.9 Kumar et al. (2015) argue that application programming interfaces (APIs)
and sentiment analysis10 are essential to understand the nature and pattern of data
on Twitter. The study considered a different method where randomness was given
emphasis along with sentiment analysis and a small sample of survey with the help of
questionnaires (Appendix T) conducted among media students and researchers and
political activists to decode the understanding of the Twittersphere in daily activities
9 For detail, see http://www.thepoliticalindian.com/top-indian-Twitter-politicians/ (last accessed

March 20, 2016).
10 It is to determine automatically the opinion expressed in a tweet with respect to whom it was
sent. It has three components; (i) topic-based information, viz. Arab Spring, Lokpal in India, (ii)
subjective classification, and (iii) the subjective classification is whether positive or negative. For
detail, see Kumar et al. (2015, pp. 52–74).
of politicians. The collected data were simply represented by statistical representa-

tions, viz. pie diagram or bar diagram to indicate the division of the respondents.
Gayo-Avello (2015) studied the implications of re/tweets in the shape of political
opinion that how it works, but this study is neither about political opinion nor any
political forecasts; it simply looks into the rhetoric and sarcastic move to counter-
attack political opponents through tweets and retweets. The collected re/tweets were
further analysed through methods of content and semiotic analysis to understand the
complex relationship between social media and politics. The study was supposed
to understand the complex mechanisms involved in why politicians make rhetorical
and sarcastic comments to opponents and, how and to what extent such re/tweets
are spatial in nature wherein both space/place and temporal elements are exclusively
embedded in re/tweets to reflects the spatiality on micro-blogging sites, Twitter.
1.7 Future of Twittersphere
The study seeks to understand why politicians joined social media and to what extent
particularly Twitter has shaped and reshaped digital politics11 in India. The popular-
ity of Twitter increased among politicians over period of time and emerged as the
virtual stage where both politicians and their followers shared views and shaped the
digital political revolution in the country. The use of the Twittersphere has become
inevitable in various capacities and across sections of society ranging from celebri-
ties to politicians. Over a period of time, the use of Twittersphere is not restricted
to political re/tweets only rather used to understand other fields such as health, edu-
cation, disaster, entertainment, and many more noticed through various academic
platforms. Twittersphere expands its horizon among users as digital spatiality when
gadgets shaped and reshaped the functional designs to accommodate many more
issues. Thus, the Twittersphere is considered as a medium wherein re/tweets as mes-
sages are changing the discourse in and around spatiality in different representations
and interpretations.
The next chapter discusses the shapes of theoretical background and how and at
what ways Twittersphere is geography with reference to space and place and the
nature of re/tweets is spatial–temporal unlike other geographical phenomena.
11 It mainly concerned the use of digital gadgets for political purposes that how and why politicians
using such gadgets and for what purposes? How it became political synonymous over period of
time and politicians irrespective of political affiliations are using to shapes the idea whether policy
or politics.
References 15
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Chapter 2
Twittersphere and Geography
Abstract The Twittersphere and geography are in many ways similar and different.
How and in what ways the Twittersphere is representative of space and place in
various representations and interpretations? This chapter is developed as a theoretical
base to map spatial boundaries regarding how and to what extent Twittersphere is
geography.
Keywords Geography · Social · Twittersphere · Representational spaces
2.1 Mapping Twittersphere
McLuhan (1964) in his monumental work ‘the medium is the message’ discusses
how technological growth, being a medium, was considered a catalytic revolution that
shaped the society over a period of time. In fact, he considered that the message is only
a product of technology which became powerful after delivered from the medium
whether from radio or television or now we can consider social media as a powerful
medium. This study considers the Twittersphere as a reference to understand the
recent digital phenomena that has shaped politics and politicians as well. Although
re/tweets are a kind of message delivered from the Twittersphere, an app (application)
handled through smart mobile phone. The technological growth invites the medium
to be either effective or recessive, but consumer culture has pushed people to consume
as much information as available in mundane shape and size. The Twittersphere is,
therefore, a medium which shapes re/tweets in limited words to express the spatiality.
According to Enjolras et al. (2012), social media sites have inherent affordances
and network functionalities that determine conditions of diffusion of civic and polit-
ical information leading to participation. Affordances are actions enabled by the
design of the medium used. According to the authors, ‘network effects transform indi-
vidual action into collective action through collective mechanisms. The network’s
functionalities and affordances help disseminate information’. Due to the ‘small
world effect’ or the six degrees of separation phenomenon (i.e. the tendency of infor-
mation bits in networks to be separated from each other only by a few steps), the
information bits in social media sites are collectively disseminated to all parts of the

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6_2
18 2 Twittersphere and Geography
network and to a varied population within the network. These information cascades
also have a motivational effect, since social media makes people’s choices visible to
all. Thus, social media affords a broader and more efficient mobilization processes
than earlier forms of mobilization. According to Sen (2012) and Habermas (1989),
the public sphere is a setting that people use for political participation and the pro-
cess of enactment is carried out through the medium of talk. It is an institutionalized
space where citizens interact and discuss subjects of common interest. Twitter thus
conforms to the definition of ‘online’ networked public sphere. Tham and Zanuddin
(2013) argued a model after Lilleker (2006: 7) to delineate levels of political com-
munication. According to them, ‘the public sphere (made up of political actors such
as the President, Prime Minister and cabinet, national and local Governments, and
political parties) are no longer only transforming the messages to the ground (citizens
and voters), but also communicating with other non-elected organizations (media,
business sector, public organizations, etc.). This two-way communication between
elected political officials and non-elected organizations has made the communication
vary, and both compete with one another to obtain the communication objective.’
2.2 What Is Twitter Geography?
The spaces of Twitter can be understood as ‘lived space’ (Lefebvre 1991; Soja 1996)
when Twitter is supposed to run through a gadget (smart mobile phone primarily) as
‘conceived space’ which is purely provided a space or opportunity to move ahead in
an idealistic sense. Without the gadget, we cannot move forward or in other words,
Twitter is supposed to be operated from a smart mobile phone. This forms the first
stage when an individual is exposed to experiences of spatiality through mundane
expressions including politics, culture, economical, entertainment, and geographi-
cal. The second experience is when an individual uses Twitter to communicate with
the ‘others’ as ‘perceived space’ that seems to provide a sense of expression or spa-
tial experiences to being connected or being physical (virtually) ‘materialism’ in
mundane capacities. When an individual experiences both being at first space or
‘perceived space’1 and second space or ‘conceived space’2 simultaneously and con-
nected with the outer world for mundane purposes, then, therefore, experiences the
‘third spaces’ (Lefebvre 1991; Soja 1996). Third space is a ‘lived space’,3 too. As
‘lived space’, Twitter provides an opportunity to feel a sense of spatial experiences:
1 Perceived space is spatial practices where it propounds and presupposes the dialectical interactions
and produces spatial spaces in mundane experiences. For more see, Lefebvre (1991, pp. 38–39).
2 Conceived space is representations of space and also known as conceptualized space where artists,
painters, architects, planners, and many more suppose to drawn their dream space as per to reflects
the idea of individuals, respectively. For more, see Lefebvre (1991, pp. 38–39).
3 Lived space is representational spaces where images and symbols suppose to describe the imagina-
tion artists in mundane shapes (For example, Twittersphere is lived space where everyone supposes
to describe their story accordingly to reflects the spatiality in shape of images, texts, pictorials, and
symbols.). Lefebvre (1991, pp. 38–39).
2.2 What Is Twitter Geography? 19
anxiety, anguish, happy, melancholy, wired, surprise, explicitly, etc., including polit-
ical, social, cultural, and economic sense when an individual supposes to address the
spatial issues as per se.
How it works as ‘space’ and different from ‘place’ that is bounded by graticule4
with perfect longitude and latitude. Twitter as space-unimagined contains and beyond
graticule and has the perfect destination to share something at various points whether
to criticize or to support the subject. Additionally, the appearance of any subject
without political colour is contentious itself and sometimes meaningless, thus, anyone
can assume that the text/picture which appears in the form of a tweet or retweet has
some political destination as well.
Both place and space are often regarded as ‘fundamental stuff’ in the literature
of geography. The concepts of place and space may appear self-explanatory and ill-
defined, and to some extent, we can even say that there are no fixed definitions for
both in the social sciences and rather that both terms have been used by geographers
at various points in order to acknowledge their spatial dimensions. Both place and
space are quite in use at various orders and often synonymous with terms such
as locations, region, area, landscape, media scape, and network society. Different
sections of geographers have examined these terms so as to represent a place/space
on a minute scale. The words have been used increasingly between humanistic and
Marxist geographers, and both groups have examined the words in their sense of
attachment, while by the humanistic tradition ‘sense of place’ is inherent and for
Marxist or materialist tradition, ‘sense of domination and resistance’ is fundamental.
The ‘sense of place’ is about the lived experiences of peoples who have shared
their day-to-day activities in a bounded location while the ‘sense of domination and
resistance’ infers the importance of space and it is socially produced and consumed.
After the Second World War, the geographical discourses got a sharp turn and
emerged with ‘spatial science’ in which scientific modelling was emphasized over
qualitative explanation and measuring numerically both peoples and scales at vari-
ous orders. During the 1970s, historical and geographical materialism set the mean-
ing that space was deemed to be implemented in social relations and both socially
produced and consumed. Lefebvre (1991) infers that absolute space cannot exist,
because it is colonized through social activity, and it becomes relativized and histori-
cized space. Further, he infers that every mode of production produces its own mode
of space, which may vary in nature. Michael Foucault in his seminal work ‘Of Other
Spaces’ (1986: 23) argued about space and spatial thinking which he preferred to
call ‘heterotopology’ that sets space against time and against history itself and by an
assertion that ‘the anxiety of our era has to do fundamentally with space, no doubt a
great deal more than with time’. Soja (1996) infers in ‘Third space’ as to encourage
the spatial thoughts differently with different contexts and examining space very
radically and critically. Tuan (1977) in his space and place argues that place does
not have any peculiar scale, but it is maintained and cared by ‘fields of care’ that
reflects people’s emotional attachment. Further, using the notions of ‘topophilia’
4 Matrix of geographical horizontal and vertical lines.

and ‘topophobia’, he refers to the desires and fears that peoples associated with the
places.
Castells (1996) argues that over a period of time contemporary society transformed
into a network society and operates in a global ‘space of flows’ under electronic
and communication technological developments. Auge (1996) infers ‘non-places’
as supermarkets, shopping malls, airports, highways, and multiplex cinemas and
parallel to that what Relph (1976) infers as ‘placelessness’ of so many high-rise
towers and serials suburbs and further argues that the spread of faceless modern
architecture and planning was ‘dehumanizing’ place experience such that people’s
sense of place was being thinned out and rendered uniform. Harvey (1989) critically
analysed how places are constructed and what they are supposed to represent when
changing cultural identities to the process of time–space compression that some
extent encouraged homogenization and differentiation. Massey (1991) examined a
‘progressive sense of place’ and established a relationship between space and place in
terms of assertion that place represents a flow and challenging that they are bounded
spaces.
Agnew (1987) identified three principal meanings in order to extend geographical
discourse. First is place as location—a specific point on the earth’s surface. Second
is sense of place—a sense of feeling for places and its role of place in their individual
and group identity. Third is place as locale—a setting and scale for people’s day-to-
day interactions. Thus, these three principles examine the meanings of place and its
interconnectivity critically. Hartshorne’s (1939) dictum ‘geography is concerned to
provide accurate, orderly, and rational description and interpretation of the variable
character of the earth surface’. Hartshorne’s dictum is to some extent about place as
location what Agnew’s acknowledged in his first principle. For an example, if I am
talking about Uttar Pradesh (in India) in terms of place as location—the systematic,
orderly, and explanatory description of the place is available in the earth’s surface.
Someone can easily locate the location as per requirements. The place has a set of
bounded structure.
Over time, a sense of place has been acknowledged by people through various
sentiments in order to express their attachments to that place. Agnew infers that
over a period of time, a sense of attachment about the place from where we belong
occupies both our mind and thinking at various capacities. For example, at present, I
am settled in Delhi but my attachments with my permanent home (Bihar/Jharkhand)
are quite intact. This is despite the fact that I have not visited my original place for a
long time nor have I done so at regular intervals in the past. However, this does not
reduce my intimacy to being attached to the home where I was born and brought up.
Cultural geographers’ viewing of the place is linked to the formation of personal and
group identities (Keith and Pile 1993).
Place as locale gradually transcends the defined boundary in order to cope with
global dynamism to distinguish a place among the existing places. The locale place
has been under global pressure to make interaction with ‘outside’ spaces at myriad
level. For example, in India, the Taj Mahal is known as one of the prime tourism
centres located in Agra district of Uttar Pradesh. The Taj Mahal is a locale in India
but in the global context, it is a place which gives business and has interconnections
2.2 What Is Twitter Geography? 21
with the world. Sack (1980) said that ‘space is an essential framework of all modes
of thought’ and further argues that space changes its meaning as per spatial relations
in different situations. Dear (1997) in his ‘postmodern bloodlines’ admits that post-
modern thought has provided an important impetus and reconsideration of the role of
space in social theory and in the construction of everyday life. Through the writing
on postmodern bloodlines, he is relying on Lefebvre’s (1991) production of space
and followed a dictum ‘…space is never empty: it always embodies a meaning’ in
order to subscribe the dimensions of space at myriad order.
A science of space which is about codes as means to deciphering social space which is
available in term of message and reading and become basis for the constructing our own
understanding of space in term of architectural, urbanistic, and political. Further, very sus-
piciously rising questions that a code which allowed space not only to be ‘read’ but also to
be constructed? If there is such a code, how did it come into being? Moreover, when, how
and why did it disappear? Take an example, what short of knowledge compel peoples to take
or demand for separate statehood and on that science of decisions, some political parties
giving their sanctions, while some are standby against any such decisions. What kinds of
science of decisions compel peoples to go either side, with calculations? How such science
of decisions negated by opposition, why thinking so? Of course, science of space is simply
acknowledging ‘space’ by their political need and politics supposed to multiplying power
centre at myriad level. (Lefebvre 1991: 7–9).
The Twittersphere is an extension of lived spaces wherein an individual experi-
enced in mundane capacities for different purposes. It is open space that is beyond
graticule5 and there are limitations which are subject to availability of network and
the level of mediated society and its consumption patterns. For example, Twitter or
Foursquare create a ‘territory’ or media zone in which users construct their own way
of being present with others6 . Such a construction would lead to representational
positionality over a period of time.
2.3 Twittersphere as Representational Spaces
Twitter is a virtual space. ‘Everyday life and the operation of society depend on
mediated communication who could manage without a cell phone, e-mail, favourite
social networking sites, or whatever means of communication one chooses to stay
connected’ (Lundby 2009: 1). Twitter developed as a sign of technological growth
to show spatial glimpses with manifestations in the form of images—both textual
and pictorial shapes. These manifestations come through a mixed blend of ‘real’ and
‘imagination’ portrayals. Since its inception, Twitter acquired social recognition and
became a social phenomenon to influence and determine the spatial course of actions
including in politics. Twitter is a pervasive phenomenon and found in both developed
and developing countries. Twitter traverses both professionals and non-professionals
5 Matrix
of geographical latitude and longitudinal.
6 Formore details see, Bauscher and Wills 2013, (https://twitter.com/4sqsupport/status/
791272637574049792?lang=en), last accessed January 14, 2019.
in different capacities. Twitter interfaces the pulse of everyday life from morning to
evening or public to private at preferential basis. How much does an individual carry
the media in their daily use? Jeffrey and Doron (2012) offer new insights into how the
Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) used mobile phone technology to ride over power
in order to win the assembly election in 2007 in UP, India.
Twitter is of course an extension of new media. Thornaham et al. (2009: 497)
argues ‘new media technologies are transforming the place of the media in home
and life and are contributing to the changing “where” of the everyday. Increasingly,
the pulse of the everyday, beating in streets, in workplaces, in transport hubs, in
cars, trains, planes, and buses as well as in homes, is multi-layered and on the move,
happening simultaneously here and there, or operating across thick global transport
and communication connections.’
Habermas (1974) developed the idea of the ‘public sphere’ and focused on media
in democratic administration. McLuhan (1964) infers ‘The Medium is the Message’
in the shape of how media shaped an individual’s consciousness, culture, and society
and considered as an active agent of historical change. Hermen and Chomsky (1994)
use the Marxist approach on media as ‘manufacturing consent’ wherein reach of
spatial elites—political, military, cultural—who work collectively to maintain the
interests of the influential in a class society. Hall’s (1980) ‘Encoding-Decoding’
mapped to understand communication process as a whole, from sender to receiver
at best. Baudrillard’s (1994) ‘Simulacra and Simulation’ is a postmodern vision
wherein ‘represented’ and the ‘real’ have thawed, producing a mediatized ‘hyper-
reality’ where simulations signs and codes come to constitute everyday life activities.
Lefebvre (1991: 33) assumes that ‘embodying complex symbolisms, sometimes
coded, sometime not, linked to the clandestine or underground side of social life, as
also to art’.7 And further argues that ‘space as directly lived through its associated
images and symbols, and hence the space of ‘inhabitants’ and ‘users’, but also some
of artists and perhaps of those, such as a few writers and philosophers, who describe
and aspire to do no more than describe. This is dominated-and hence passively
experienced-space which the imagination seeks to change and appropriate. It overlays
the physical space, makes symbolic use of its objects. Thus representational spaces
may be said, with certain expectations, to tend towards more or less coherent systems
of non-verbal symbols and signs’.8 Representational spaces experience our daily life
with symbols of ‘real’ and ‘imagination’ and posed as alive. ‘Representational space
is alive: it speaks, it has an affective kernel or centre: Ego, bed, bedroom, dwelling,
house; or: square, church, graveyard. It embraces the loci of passion, of action and
of lived situations, and thus immediately implies time. Consequently, it may be
qualified in various ways: it may be directional, situational or relational, because
it is essentially qualitative, fluid and dynamic’.9 Lived is contested as well; thus,
Twitter is no less than contested space wherein discussions are often symbolic or
representational.
7 Lefebvre (1991).
8 Ibid.: 39.
9 Ibid.: 42.
2.3 Twittersphere as Representational Spaces 23
‘Representational spaces are symbolic works. These are often unique; sometimes
they set in train ‘aesthetic’ trends and, after a time, having provoked a series of man-
ifestations and incursions into the imaginary, run out of stream’.10 Twitter works in a
symbolic way when an individual can promote himself/herself. Hence, the election
issues or some other issues are merely symbolic in nature to abrupt the spatial expec-
tations and imaginations. The content of issues is to some extent achieved or delivered
through verbal, symbolic, and signs: a medium of manifestations. The Twittersphere
works as a medium of manifestations wherein an individual creates images in shape
of text and pictorials to discern the spatiality in limited expressions or by using repre-
sentational symbols. The Twittersphere developed at the digital stage where various
activities are going on at the same time and carved in such manifestations that it
can cater to every group in the society. Thus, representational in such a sense that it
provides stages for all in different symbols. In sum, the Twittersphere may be noted
as representational space, because of its programme content, politics, ideology, ver-
sion, reflection, rendition, all found lived in nature, and through symbols and images
with different spatial inferences.
2.4 Twittersphere as Social Space
What is social in Twittersphere? And, what are its contents? How does it represent
its contents? The word social includes enormous and composite meanings in both
practices and experiences in daily life. The dimensions of ‘social’ vary with respect
to address or acknowledgement of the issues. Here, Twitter is an app (application)
or extension of a social networking site, so how is it a social space? The meaning
of ‘social’ here is inclusive wherein both object and subject benefit over a period of
time. Twitter is a digital space or virtual space wherein there are a number of different
actors in terms of users who interact for mundane purposes to achieve values through
mutual relationships like social space.
‘Social space contains a great diversity of objects, both natural and social, includ-
ing the networks and pathways which facilitate the exchange of material things and
information. Such ‘objects’ are thus not only things but also relations. As objects,
they possess discernible peculiarities, contour and form. Social labour transforms
them, rearranging their positions within spatio-temporal configurations without nec-
essarily affecting their materiality, their natural state (for instance, of an island, gulf,
river or mountain)’.11 The Twittersphere makes positions in the social space variedly,
depending upon the users and their purpose for using the app. The contents include
many features to suits every layer of the society of both developed and developing
countries. The production of the social space of the Twittersphere inhibits peculiar
social characteristics which when experienced are easy to handle and therefore the
rate of participation is high.
10 See Footnote 8.
11 Ibid.: 77.
‘Every social space is the outcome of a process with many aspects and many con-
tributing currents, signifying and non-signifying, perceived and directly experienced,
practical and theoretical. In short, every social space has a history, one invariable
grounded in nature, in natural conditions that are at once primordial and unique in
the sense that they are always and everywhere endowed with specific characteris-
tics (site, climate, etc.)’.12 Twitter too developed after technological upgradation to
ensure better information and communication services to the people, who wished to
be a part of the technology. This is also true as Twitter controlled the information
and dissemination under hashtag (#) movements which made the selected release of
information or in other words it mediated overwhelmed. The social attributes were
predominantly infused to make mass attachment as well as easy to handle. The nature
of the Twittersphere is based on form, structure, and function. The form denotes the
mediated gadget to pass the information in mundane textual and pictorial shapes.
Twittersphere is a virtual space, not existing on the ground but connected to every-
one through augmented loops. Its structure works in geometrical ways wherein one
can follow others. Hence, everyone is free to take the decision to block or follow
anyone. The geometrical structure works in complex and multilayer embodiment
wherein tweet, retweet, reply, and direct messages shape its structure in four lay-
ers. These four elements function in different dimensions when each has their own
specific domain.
‘Like any reality, social space is related methodologically and theoretically to
three general concepts: form, structure, function. The form of social space—i.e. the
centre-periphery relationship-has recently come to occupy a place in our thinking
about forms. As for the urban form—i.e. assembly, encounter and simultaneity—it
has been shown to belong among the classic forms, in company with centrality,
difference, recurrence, reciprocity, and so on’.13
Twitter is an extension of the social media, and society expands or produced a
virtual web of spaces where can people cooperate, talk, criticize, applaud, and conflict
as well which has made the Twittersphere a contested space. It provides a range of
information—entertainment, infotainment, news, sports, politics, and music, etc.,
and emerged as a platform, every person received something as choice per se. ‘The
form of social space is encounter, assembly, simultaneity. But what assembles, or
what is assembled? The answer is: everything that there is in space, everything that is
produced either by nature or by society, either through their cooperation or through
their conflicts. Everything: living beings, things, objects, works, signs, and symbols.
Natural space juxtaposes—and thus disperses: It particularizes. By contrast, social
space implies actual or potential assembly at a single point, or around that point…
Social space per se is at once work and product—a materialization of ‘social being’.
In specific sets of circumstances, however, it may take on fetishized and autonomous
characteristics of things’.14
12 Ibid.: 110.
13 Ibid.: 147.
14 Ibid.: 101–102.
2.4 Twittersphere as Social Space 25
Similar to Lefebvre, the Twittersphere is a social space and functions by following

shapes and size. It revolutionized digital politics and others. The rate of popularity
increased among different strata of people. The authority of Twitter is not less than
a controlling agent, and the hashtag (#) is a kind of message when similar nature
of news is compiled altogether. The nature of Twittersphere sometimes looks very
balanced and embedded to reflect the spatial vent in political, social, and cultural
senses.
2.5 Conclusion
The Twittersphere is an extension of social media and digital expansion which is

produced by the results of communication and information technology. All the four
attributes of Twittersphere work to expand or produce a virtual web of spaces wherein
people’s tweets, retweets, discussion, criticisms, and conflicts can coexist. These
features have made Twittersphere contested in terms of both space and place which
is purely constructed in nature after interaction with human beings.
The next chapter will discuss the contents of Twittersphere in shape and size of
tweets and retweets as well as what are the other indicators that shape the Twitter-
sphere every day whether pictotextuality or hashtag politics or network galaxies or
mediated spaces.
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Chapter 3
Twittersphere: Re/Tweeting the Future
Abstract The Twittersphere shows both global and national perspectives in

the shape of pictotextuality—in terms of both text and pictures and hashtag poli-
tics—when an issue trends for political reasons in the spatiality. The Twittersphere
has controlled the flow of information or news or agenda in politics and such flows
are based on network and mediated politics with respect to the number of users and
social networking sites, respectively.
Keywords Pictotextuality · Hashtag politics · Mediated · Network · Heartland
3.1 Pictotextuality
The main ingredients of twitter are pictures and texts which are applied in mundane
configurations sometimes in the shape of politics, social, economic, cultural, reli-
gious, geographical, gender, class, race, and many more. Twitter has emerged as an
elite gadget among all social networking sites so far wherein social elites share their
piece of idea together. There are other apps (application), and each one has their
own specific target group and purpose to cater to the needs, whether employment or
entertainment. Twitter has shared its views in the shape of pictotextuality on issues
which trend on its platform.
Pictotextuality represents the pictures and texts in combination with the stages
of communication between two or more people across the social networking sites
including Twitter. Almost all the social networking sites function more or less in
pictotextuality mode. Pictotextuality is synonymous with image politics. Pictures and
texts are often referred to as images. Picture often called as image. When are texts
considered or read as images? And, when does it function as image politics? Every
uploaded image has its own spatial trajectory and identity and known by different
capacities among users. The reading or representations of such images will never be
mapped in isolation from politics or some extent we can say contested representations
wherein comment or critics of someone do matter on the uploaded images. Such
representations can understand as image politics. Everett and Caldwell (2003: 6)
quote, Julia Kristeva who coined the term ‘intertextuality’ in her doctoral thesis as a

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6_3
28 3 Twittersphere: Re/Tweeting the Future
heuristic trope wherein intertextuality denotes the transportation of one sign system
into another and demands new articulations with the help of the media in the shape of
embedded texts. Further, Everett and Caldwell put forth the idea of ‘digitextuality’
which is not only concerned with digital media’s remediation of intertextual reading
and writing but rather looks beyond the ‘real’ and ‘imagination’ articulations of
digital media as well. They summarized, ‘digitextuality is the technological process
whereby digital fabrication as real-time experience of a sort to overcome not only
time and space, but life and death.’1
The use of machine and technological process multiplied over the years in order to
produce images for consumer purposes and digitextuality is an extension to under-
stand the digital process in the construction and deconstructions of the images in
myriad shapes and size. Thus, pictotextuality is the technological process where
images travel across the spatiality in different orders with the help of gadgets and
apps. The images invite critical analysis from the spatiality which later get shaped
as politics or with reference to images, known as image politics after such fabricated
images are interpreted and represented in order to suit the spatiality whether political
or in any other sense.
Davis (2013) put forth Intertextuality in Bakhtin’s formulation of heteroglossic
meaning polyphony of discursive voices in which no single voice can be objectively
distinguished from others. And, intertextuality and polyphony discussed how Twit-
ter’s technical functions, specifically the hashtag, influence communication in polit-
ical campaigns and why it is so crucial to capitalize on this social media resource.2
Images are witnessed in every society. The images are inevitable in the media
saturated world. The word ‘image’ comes to us through Latin word imago that
means an artefact or art depiction or visual perception. ‘Vision is a complex word
that incorporates both the ocular act of registering the external world, and a more
abstract and imaginative sense of creating and projecting images. Neither of these
meanings is simple, we know that each has a social and historical first, there are
‘ways of seeing’ that vary with individuals, genders, cultures, and so on, and there
are histories and historical geographies of seeing. Vision in the sense of active see-
ing is inescapable in the practice of geography’ (Cosgrove 2008: 5). Image can be
understood through two-dimensional depictions that include a map, painting, photo-
graph, drawing, carved object, screen image, etc., and three-dimensional depictions
that include statue, hologram, etc. Over a period of time, technology has improved
the image formation technique. Nowadays, images are produced with the help of
machines where semiotic contexts are inevitable. The image-producing machines
are popular among people due to various reasons and are especially useful for pro-
ducing both high quality and increased quantity of images on instant demand.
Images remain in the public domain at various capacities, and people use them
for various purposes. In the ancient times, images were prepared by manual prac-
tice and showed hand calibration in order to draw attention towards the issue. Even
these days painting, drawing, etc., are drawn by hand and considered both leisure
1 Everett and Caldwell (2003).

2 Davis (2013).
3.1 Pictotextuality 29
work and as well as a profession. Drawing sketches remains in the business and is
considered as one medium to speak or acknowledge the subjects by their own under-
standing. Meanwhile, the machines also produce images for various purposes. Both
techniques are still in practice and have their own ways to acknowledge the image.
In the past, people used celestial images to explain the catastrophe as well as fortune,
while during medieval times images were used for navigational purposes apart from
other cultural, social, political, and geographical purposes. At present time, images
are fabricated through machines because of quality and quantity requirements. The
network society revolutionized the consumption of such images. ‘The wall painting
consisted of dozens of what looked like footprints of housing compounds strung
together beneath an apparently erupting cinnabar colour volcano. There was a sug-
gestion in the Guinness Book of World Records that this was the world’s first nature
painting, but it was neither a nature painting nor a true landscape. It was a cityscape,
the earliest known painting of a permanent urban settlement, the first intentionally
built environment. The mural captured the movement from the raw to the cooked,
pristine to transformed nature, nomadic hunting and gathering to a settled and seden-
tary life in one location, in other words the beginnings of the urbanization process. It
depicted not animals and hunters or colourful geometric patterns but rather a specif-
ically urban scene’ (Soja 2009: 30).
Castells (1996) in his ‘network society’ envisages the growing of information
technology (IT), which was supposed to revolutionize the information process across
the world. Simultaneously, parallel to the IT industry, the growth of the media industry
takes place across the developed and developing countries at various orders to serve
the social requirements. With the expansion of the media industry in India, the facets
of media industry gradually got overwhelmed since private players were involved
in this business. The liberalisation policies of 1991 open door for private players in
the business of media in India. Media resumed its operation and business through
various mediums includes radio, cinema, TV, social networking sites, mobile iPod,
etc. Each medium has own reach to the audience/users.
Every mediated gadget has its own geographical space and reach to provide the
designated service. The mediated gadgets generate a number of myriad images in
various capacities. Out of these images, some of them stay for a longer duration while
some of them may be forgotten immediately after the production. The variation of
the period to stay depends upon the nature of image, and to some extent, it is subject
to politics, people and media who are considered the main artefact in between the
images.
How do we affix geographical identity to an image? How is an image at par
with other geographical attributes (e.g. lake, terrain, forest, rainfall, coral, popula-
tion, and region)? Every image has a geographical location and across the spatiality,
known by its specific spatial identity. For example, PM Modi made tweets regarding
(#makeinIndia) to generate awareness about the flagship programme of his Gov-
ernment and how his Government was sincere in its intention to create jobs in the
country. The #makeinIndia reflects an image in shapes of political, employment,
development, economic, progressive, and industrial development. An image holds
spatial details and professes concerned spatial attributes such as location, time, local-
ity, region, nation, and so on.
‘The spatial turn is hardly the product of few ivory tower intellectuals. Rather, this
shift in social thought reflects much broader transformations in the economy, politics,
and culture of the contemporary world. Such view asserts that we cannot compre-
hend the production of spatial ideas independent of the production of spatiality; i.e.
views of geography are only comprehensible by appeal to social and spatial con-
text. Several forces have intersected since the late twentieth century to elevate space
to new levels of material and ideological significance’ (Warf and Arias 2009: 4–5).
Painting, is indeed a medium to explore the space and helps to understand an individ-
ual’s real and imagined calibration of space. An image may be embedded in different
characters, in a single image or in other words it may carry a multilayered historical
saga which is a kind of apparent look of the space. ‘As divine images were already
active, preponderant participants in the medieval system of authoritative relations, it
is not surprising that images were often seized publicly by one ruler from another
in circumstances of conflict. Alive to the identities and mythic backgrounds of the
figures, royal looters dislodged select images from their customary positions and
employed them to articulate political claims in a rhetoric of objects whose principal
themes were victory and defeat, autonomy and subjugation, dominance and subor-
dination’ (Davis 1997: 54). The practice is still in continuation at the present time
when an image is never found in isolation even without politics. Images are intrinsic
to our day-to-day life. Everybody has consumed at least some images in various
manners. Images of everyday like a part and partial notion, which is defining their
day-to-day acts in order to understand the politics and ‘governmentality’. Everyday
media also sends myriad images to fulfil their institutional responsibility in society.
During the election period, the media produced and reproduced myriad images at
various capacities to adhere to professional ethics. What can be accomplished with
such images? Why does an image suit a particular group and bring displeasure to
other groups or other sections? The consumption of an image depends upon the tone
or semiotic characteristics have been associated with the image.
We are living in image politics era wherein the circulated images around all of us
by media or social media have some definite set of goals to achieve it in the shape of
pictotextuality. The dimensions of pictotextuality are derived from social networking
sites, sometimes in the shape of hashtag politics when the users are forced to think
on specific issues.
3.2 The Hashtag Politics
The idea behind hashtags is to represent a similar story at particular links wherein
anybody can search for the specific story easily, if they wish to read it. Unlike other
symbols, it was an augmented journey of hashtag in the digital strata when the
symbols (#) (Hashtag) became popular since Chris Messina used it for the first time
3.2 The Hashtag Politics 31
in 2007. The symbols of hashtag (#) became unlike other symbols used for different
purposes in both natural sand social sciences as well.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, definition of a hashtag or phrase
preceded by the symbol (#) is one that classifies or categorizes the text (such as a
tweet). Social media has shaped the hashtag as a ubiquitous part of digital culture,
which started from Twitter and expanded to other social networking sites. It was
designed for categorizing posts and the hashtag can now be a tool for a supplemen-
tary words and comments (e.g. #MakeInIndia). The word tag means—‘a word or
phrase used for description or identification.’ Hash is short for hash mark, a term
for what we more commonly call a pound sign (and, less commonly, an octothorp).
The hash in hash mark is probably an alteration of hatch, a term for the crisscross-
ing of lines.3 The symbols became popular in Twitter and other microblogging sites
to represent the similar nature of story. Jeffares (2014) argues what policy makers
do create branded policy through Twitter and how Twitter makes the information
mediatized in a short while in the shape of hashtag politics.4
We are living in the hashtag era wherein the nature of content and pattern decides
the journey of news. When and where the news is generated and how many times
of similar nature of contents are added make the hashtag popular among audience
over a period of time. The hashtag politics is nonetheless a political tool to mediate
the audience around the news and gives less space to think beyond or controlled as
much as possible.
It is a tool to assimilate the similar nature of a story and focuses on specifics through
the mundane dimension with critical views irrespective of political perspectives.
Shirky and Castells (2009) predict that social media works in C3 (Command, Control,
and Communication). The hashtag indeed features these three attributes to circulate
the news in a very disciplined way and specifically focuses on a few rather than to give
an invitation to the audience to choose many of them. The second attribute, control,
is basically an elitist idea to control the flock. It may include many but those have
systematic power to rule upon it. Meanwhile, the third, communication, is basically
to pass the information from one side to the others or between originator and receiver.
Davis (2013) argues that intertextuality further reveals how politics is no longer
a topic uploaded and discussed by politicians and has rather became a space for
open voices without boundaries. The hashtag politics is nonetheless a control politics
wherein news creators keep control on the news till the last moment until it is replaced
by other news.
In another example of hashtag politics, Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany)
tried to get youth support in the elections under ‘Mutti’, campaigning in cyberspace
to get in touch with younger voters and win their support for long after elections
this month.5 Bruce Daisley in his blog applauded the hashtag politics as ‘laughing,
applauding, standing firm knowing that others out their share our views. Politicians
3 Fordetails, see https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hashtag.

4 Jeffares
(2014).
5 For details, see https://in.reuters.com/article/germany-election-merkel-youths/hashtag-politics-
merkel-tries-to-get-in-with-germanys-kids-idINKCN1BH208. Last accessed, November 23, 2017.

recognising that might seem jarringly uncomfortable—but it does demonstrate that

our voices—and Tweets—are being heard.’6 Similarly, Clarke (2017) investigated
sovereignty in the age of hashtag politics through #Boko Haram abduction of more
than two hundred girls has led to the social activism as well as the use of scientific
route to tackle the crisis with the help of technologies particularly screen-based
technologies which used as records, to share and to mobilize the peoples in twenty-
first-century mass violence.7
3.2.1 Mapping Twittersphere of USA
The hashtag politics in United States of America (USA) was evident during 2016
when slogan, political attacks and counter attacks attracted the attention of the world
particularly during the election between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump. Here,
Michael Cohen8 enlisted nine of the most popular hashtags politics during election
of 2016.9 These hashtag politics considered as a reflection of the public mood during
elections in the shape of posts (re/tweets).10 The following hashtags are ranked with
their number of posts and which were discussed among the supporters variedly.
1. ‘Make America Great Again’ (11,433,550 posts)
Once former President Ronald Reagan gave a popular slogan that to ‘Make America
Great Again’, so, similarly Trump revived the same slogan, let ‘Make America Great
Again’ during his presidential campaign in 2016. However, in every rally, Trump
made the slogan to rejuvenate the voters or polarize them at best. The slogan trends
in social media including #MakeAmericaGreatAgain or #MAGA had reached its
peak by 16 September 2016, with 104,219 posts.
2. ‘Black Lives Matter’ (9,115,158 posts)
During election year of 2016, there was a strong sentiment that the ‘Black Lives Mat-
ter’ (BLM) across the society and considered as inevitable political movement. On
Twitter, the hashtag started trend since first time it was posted by Crimson Hexagon,
and after that, the issue was discussed in all shade of politics as well as historical
6 For details, see http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/bruce-daisley/why-hashtag-politics-is-a-

positive-trend_b_8747672.html. Last accessed November 23, 2017.
7 For details, see https://culanth.org/articles/919-rethinking-sovereignty-through-hashtag-publics.
Last accessed November 29, 2017.

8 He is well-known academia and prolific writer on various political issues and was Assistant Pro-
fessor and Interim Director of Political Management at George Washington University and Founder
of Cohen Research Group and Congress in Your Pocket.
9 For details, see https://medium.com/soapbox-dc/nine-hashtags-that-are-driving-the-2016-
presidential-election-b1ce248bf703. Last accessed December 22, 2017.
10 After permission from Micahel Cohen, these hashtags are published here. I am thankful to him
for granting me permission to reprint the contents.

contexts that how black people sacrificed their life in the making of America and
their contributions as well. The initial hashtag drawn much attention since George
Zimmerman was acquitted in 2012 for the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed
black youth. However, the ‘BLM’ has been associated with the 2016 presidential
election and both side put forth their supports to the community. In a rally, Sanders
claimed ‘all lives matter’.
3. ‘Feel The Bern’ (7,349,980 posts)
The third most trend hashtag was the ‘Feel The Bern’, though it was rhetorically
constructed to attack the opposition particularly the supporters of democrats. Winnie
Wong was instrumental behind the creation of such hashtag which drawn much
attention during election campaign, however, once she said that ‘It’s a tactic’. Such
tactic worked over period of time and Sanders upset Clinton in the Michigan primary
in the popular vote. Twitter users posted with #FeelTheBern: 177,476 times since
the 29 July 2016, the day after the Democratic National Convention, though Clinton
grab the position to fought as democrat candidate against Trump.
4. ‘I’m with Her’ (6,245,205 posts)
Hillary Clinton’s candidature for the presidency was relaunched with another hashtag
but was not grabbed much eyeballs as hashtag ‘Ready for Hillary’; therefore, her
supporters launched another hashtag as ‘I’m with Her’. The hashtag was considered
as pivotal when some of supporters of Bernie Sanders kept away from the campaign,
but over time the hashtag received the supports when the hashtag was most used in
216,317 posts on the day Clinton accepted the nomination on 28 July 2016, with an
additional 130,121 the following day.
5. ‘Never Trump’ (5,330,169 posts)
The hashtag’s trend was on 27 February 2016 with 275,328 tweets when Jeb Bush
lost his nomination against Trump in the South Carolina primary. Since then, ‘#Nev-
erTrump’ remained in the public discourse but never trend unlike in the past. The
hashtag lost its meaning when Evan McMullin finally announced his candidature,
and on 8 August 2016, the hashtag only registered 30,337 tweets. However, it was
in trend for next few days, but with time it was ceased.
6. ‘Crooked Hillary’ (3,560,321 posts)
Unlike other election campaign, 2016 election campaign was similar, when Trump
has been made open attack and mimicked her by nickname as ‘Crooked Hillary’. At
a rally in Watertown, New York, Trump hit Clinton that she has taken money from
lobbyists and other corporate, so, in such continuation he said her ‘Crooked Hillary’.
The hashtag peaked on 15 July 2016, with 88,100 posts, the day of the attacks in
Nice, France.
7. ‘Basket of Deplorables’ (994,501 posts)
The hashtag was different from rest of hashtag because when Hillary tender apologies
for what she made that half of Trump’s supporters into a ‘basket of deplorables’. It
emerged as popular hashtag attack on Trump. The hashtag peaked on its second day,
10 September 2016. At 627,069 posts, it is the biggest hashtag from either candidate
this year.
8. ‘Delete Your Account’ (749,483 posts)
During election campaign, allegation and counter allegation were considered as part
of such campaign to show down the opponent, so, Clinton’s mid-summer reply to the
respond of tweet and retweet “Crooked Hillary” in shape of “Delete Your Account,”
considered a well-recognized meme directing the target the Trump to pack up and
go home. The impact of hashtag #DeleteYourAccount was the first day of the tweet,
9 June 2016 with 242,831 posts.
9. ‘Lock Her Up’ (476,395 posts)
After the FBI failed to indict Hillary Clinton on charges related to her using a private
e-mail server for Government work, opponents began chanting at Sanders and Trump
rallies to lock her up. The hashtag had its most posts (69,609) on the day Clinton
accepted the nomination on 28 July 2016. But both redirected their supporters away
from it, and without support from the principals, the hashtag languished to last place
in rankings.
These hashtags mapped the USA politics during election year 2016 through Twit-
ter wherein supporters banking upon the hashtag to express their supports. The
emergence of an issue and over period, it became a mass issues where role of dig-
ital strategist is pivotal and inevitable who are pushing such hashtag in the public
domain through social media, need to be studied further. Thus, the hashtag politics
indicates the gravity of topics as strategic issue which has digital edge upon other
issues that how the topic became a trend and involved stakeholders for different
reasons including politicians for political cause.
3.2.2 Make in India on Twittersphere
The (#MakeInIndia) was announced by PM Mr. Modi (India) to launch the flagship
programme of his Government. Under the hashtag, the Government hinted to take his
new initiative to improve the industrial production and development goals which they
promised during the elections to the peoples. #MakeInIndia was trending for more
than one day and hinted at the seriousness of the Government in improving industrial
infrastructure in order to generate more employment opportunities in the country.
Under the hashtag politics, the direction of news is often shaped by the creator.
Similarly, in this scenario, the Government did not leave a single opportunity to
communicate with the people about how much the Government is doing towards
benefiting the country. The broadcasting of such news contains the populist agenda.
In another example, #StatueClean was another hashtag politics with which the
Government tried to materialize the ‘cleanliness programme’ in the name of clean
statue of surrounding vicinity in order to win some prize or certificate of appreciation.
PM Modi launched the clean drive in order to generate aware about the benefits of
cleanliness. Another hashtag that has emerged in politics is #MannKiBaat which
is an apolitical initiative by PM Modi to speak irrespective of issues and topics to
communicate people whether on governance, policy, development or politics. The
main agenda is to keep people updated on the policies of the Government. The
programme is still continuing as one of PM Modi’s key interests.
Similarly, there are many more trends under various hashtags in order to highlight
particular ideas or politics in the shape of tweets. The Twittersphere is embedded with
layers of information passed from one layer to another through followers wherein
information is generated to mediate or push people to think and write something.
During elections, politicians discuss and share issues through Twitter to their follow-
ers and others about their engagements. During Uttar Pradesh state elections (2017),
politicians and media reporters transpired news through Twitter.
3.2.3 Heartland of India on Twittersphere
During Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly election, 2017 where the involvement of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has been questioned as to why he was actively involved in
the state election. The same questions applied to all political parties involved in the
state election, at whose behest, are they involved? The answer was, to regain the
heartland, for political supremacy in the country. UP has always been considered
as the heartland of India. The study exhibits the political discourse in the shape of
image politics that transpired among viewers/readers during the election campaign
on Twitter.
Mackinder (1904) argues the construction of ‘heartland’ in his paper ‘The Geo-
graphical Pivot of History’ in the sense of physical inaccessibility and identified
three ‘islands’ (‘world’, ‘offshore’ and ‘outlying’) for strategic purposes (including
‘resources’) as ‘pivot area’. But over a period of time, the development of various
modes of transportation and technology has indeed paved the exploitation of such
hinterlands effectively and changed the meaning (in terms of representation and
interpretation) of heartland in various spatio-temporal dimensions. Kudaisya (2006)
argues five types of ‘heartland’ in contexts to Uttar Pradesh (‘Colonial’, ‘National-
ist’, ‘Postcolonial’, ‘Muslim’ and ‘Hindu’ heartland). Hence, these constructions are
used as standard ‘scales’ to reflect the dimension of heartland in various shapes over
a period.
This paper is about to map the heartland in ‘scale’ of image politics, inevitable in
the mediated world, when everyone is supposed to consume some amount of media
in different proportions—either textual or pictorial shape or both. Here, the heartland
is mapped by the media and politicians together in the form of political discourse
as image politics. The study assumes the following questions: image politics have
been embedded with spatio-temporal metaphors unlike cartographic map expressed
into spatial location; media has helped politics or vice versa to reshape the spatial
identities in the shape of image politics. The study is about to map the image politics
of the heartland through appeared political discourses during Assembly election,
2017, on Twitter—now considered as political tool to share or retweet for different
reasons including political as well (Ardoin 2013; Straus et al. 2013).
3.2.3.1 Remapping Uttar Pradesh—The Heartland
Uttar Pradesh (UP) is India’s most populous state. It has a population of about 199.5
million, as per 2011, Census of India. If it were a separate country, UP would be
the world’s fifth most populous nation, next to China, India, the United States of
America and Indonesia. It is near to the population of UK, France, and Germany
combined.11 UP may be mapped as a heartland by three distinct spatial identities
first—caste politics (Dalit politics); second—communal politics (Babri Masjid–Ram
Mandir issue) and; third—legislative or electoral politics (Moinuddin 2017).
Caste politics was shaped in the form of ‘Dalit Politics’ under the leadership of
Kanshi Ram and Mayawati in UP. Jeffrey et al. (2008) argued that the period, as
‘Dalit revolution’ wherein power share moved towards Dalit over period in the state.
The nature of Dalit politics was further reshaped after the demise of Kanshi Ram
when Mayawati assumed the leadership of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and tried to
include ‘other’ caste people but failed (during 2012 Assembly election) after initial
success of her ‘social engineering’ during 2007 Assembly election.12 Dalit politics
provided a new identity to UP in both national and regional politics. The journey of
Dalit politics can be mapped through political slogans which have been made in the
past to expand the Dalit ideology in the state.
Tiwari and Pandey (2013: 189) argued that the initial slogans of BSP were highly
derogatory towards upper caste peoples, likes ‘Tilak, Taraju, Aur Talwar Inko Maro
Jute Char’ (Brahmins, Baniyas, and Thakurs should be beaten with shoes). Tilak
is a symbol of Brahmins (practicing priest by caste), as Brahmins use sandal-
wood/vermilion on their forehead. Taraju (weight machine) is considered the symbol
of the Baniya community, whose main occupation is trade. Talwar (the sword) is
considered the symbol of Rajputs, a warrior clan. The supporters of the BSP often
shouted this slogan in public gatherings without any fear. Instead, they felt proud to
do so. The slogan designates a particular period when the Dalit movement was on a
warpath with other ideologies in the state.
11 For details, see Census of India, 2011. [https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app#

safe=active&q=Uttar+pradesh+population+in+world+ranking&*, accessed, March 12, 2017].
12 Social engineering was a political experiment when two arch rivals Brahmins and Dalits made
political alliance during Assembly election, 2007, under the leadership of Mayawati, Satish Sharma,
close to Mayawati and leader of BSP, played major role to bring both the communities in the fold
of BSP, but the social alliance was not continued after 2007.
However, during 2007 Assembly elections Brahmins and Dalits went into political
alliance under ‘social engineering’ of Mayawati. However, the imprints of political
alliance were reflected on slogans as well, as ‘Hathi Nahi Ganesh Hai, Brahma
Vishnu aur Mahesh Hai’ (It is not only the elephant rather it represents the trinity of
god—the Brahma, the Vishnu, and the Mahesh.). However, elephant is the political
symbol of BSP. During election, the elephant—the BSP’s election symbol—were
represented in such manner that it seems like the Hindu Gods (The Trinity)—Brahma,
Vishnu and Mahesh—to pacify the relationships through symbolic interpretation.
Hence, in response to such a slogan, the BJP resorted to a counter-attack and made
slogan to attacked on the ego of Brahmins ‘Pandit Nahi Chamar Hai, haathi Par
Swar Hai’ [the one who rides an elephant, i.e. those who would supporting BSP
is, of course, not a Brahmin (priest), indeed a Chamar (downtrodden)]—the slogan
however failed to make much difference among the supporters of BSP (Tiwari and
Pandey 2013: 189–90). During 2012 Assembly election, Brahmins left BSP against
the implementation of SC/ST Atrocities Act, under which many of the Brahmins
were booked under the different section the SC/ST’s Act in the state.
Meanwhile, during the 2017 Assembly election, the nature of slogans (of BSP)
was the development centric in comparison to the past when it was caste (against
upper caste) based. The slogans were ‘Betiyon ko muskurane do, Behenji ko aane
do’ [let daughters be smiled, let welcome Behenji (Mayawati)] and ‘Gaon gaon ko
shahar banane do, Behenji ko aane do’ [let built town from villages, let welcome
Behenji (Mayawati)]. Another slogan was ‘Dar se nahi haq se vote do, be-imaanon
ko chot do’ (let cast votes by right not by fear, let hit the corrupt) and ‘Kamal, cycle,
panja hoga kinaare, UP chalega hathi ke saharey’ (Lotus, Cycle, and Palm would be
bypassed, let UP run through the elephant).13 During the 2017 Assembly election,
BSP used social media to a greater extent compared to the past when Mayawati
did not had faith in social media and whether it could have any influence on the
supporters of BSP. However, the expansion of social media over time compelled her
to change her thinking about it. The Dalit politics were exposed further by National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2015 report in the state. NCRB indicated that the
state has registered the maximum number of atrocities (8358 numbers of incidents)
against Dalits in the country.14
Second, communal politics created as perception of breeding centre for communal
clashes and communalisation of politics in the state. The communal clashes in UP
have been looked at through various dimensions (Rajagopal 2001; Puniyani 2003).
Communal issues played a vital role to polarize the society. Brass (2003: 366) argued
that ‘Hindu–Muslim communal riots have been an integral part of the political process
in modern India since the 1920s. Although, since then, there has never been an
extended period of time when Hindu–Muslim riots have not occurred somewhere
13 See [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/slogans-galore-in-up-both-rhyme-and-reason/1/860044.
html, accessed, March 14, 2017]. Slogans are considered as political metaphor has potential to
influence in myriad representations.
14 See [Living in fear: Dalits still at receiving end of caste atrocities in #UttarPradesh, accessed,
March 24, 2017].

in India, there have been times when they have occurred in waves or chains that
have covered large parts of the country, in the post-Independence period notably
during partition and before and after the great militant Hindu mobilization in the late
1980s that persisted until the destruction of the mosque at Ayodhya on 6 December
1992.’ The hostilities between Hindu–Muslim are considered as a result of the Babri
Masjid (Mosque)–Ram Mandir (Temple) dispute where both communities claimed
the site on the ground. However, many communal clashes have taken place in the
state over the years, but it is not necessary that each communal clash bores a direct
association with the Babri Masjid–Ram Mandir issue. Moreover, in most communal
clashes local issues played an instrumental role but, overall, the issue emerged as
contentious between the communities in last few decades.
During the 2017 UP Assembly election, communal mistrust was evident in various
shapes and sizes when the BJP and its allies did not field any Muslim candidates in the
election and despite that BJP and its allies secured 324 seats out of 403 seats including
the seats where Muslim populations were in majority and decisive. Meanwhile, the
BJP clarified, it had not denied tickets to Muslim candidates in the UP Assembly
polls ‘owing to their religion’ rather asserted that ‘triple talaq’ in the party manifesto
underscored its ‘commitment to welfare of minority women’ and ‘winning ability’
factor as well.15 However, UP’s population comprises 19.3% Muslims, and across 73
constituencies, Muslims are over 30% of the electoral population, while in another
70 constituencies Muslims are between 20 and 30% of the vote.16 Muslims are
considered a game-changer in more than 150 constituencies in the state, but for the
first time in the electoral history (during 2014 Parliament election) UP did not elect a
single Muslim Member of Parliament (MP) and the strength of Muslims was reduced
up to 4% of the total legislative strength. In Kairana Parliament by poll election in
2018, RLD candidate Tabasum Hasan won the election and became first Muslim
who entered in the parliament from Uttar Pradesh after 2014 Parliament election.
Third, UP has 80 Lok Sabha seats [Member of Parliament (MP)], 31 Rajya Sabha
[Upper House—Member of Parliament (MP)], 404 Member of Legislative Assembly
(MLA), including one Anglo-Indian person and 100 Member of Legislative Coun-
cil (MLC) which made the UP, a political heartland over period in the country. In
addition to this, being a larger state, UP has the ability to affect the functional activ-
ities of the central Government, and opposition political parties often embarrassed
the central Government on various issues in the Parliament.17 The fresh mandate
after the 2017 Assembly election changed the political arithmetic in the Parliament
particularly in the Rajya Sabha where the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Gov-
ernment reached a comfortable number of Parliamentarians to restrict the monopoly
of the opposition political parties that often embarrassed the NDA Government.
15 See [No candidate denied ticket in #UttarPradesh due to his religion: #BJP, accessed, March 23,
2017].
16 See [m.hindustantimes.com. UP Election: is there a Muslim vote’ factor in Uttar Pradesh?].
Accessed, April 23, 2017].

17 See [Here’s why UP numbers are so important at Rajya Sabha for Modi Government. http://mybs.
in/2UTLYZ2 #Demonetisation #PoliticsNews #UttarPradesh, accessed, March 20, 2017].

Moinuddin (2017) contextualized the heartland in the shape of election results

and how both UP and the centre (New Delhi) are correlated with each other. During
the 1999 Parliamentary election, the BJP got 29 seats out of 80 seats which were
approximately 27.64% of the vote share, and therefore, the BJP was able to form
the NDA Government under the leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During the
2004 and 2009 Parliament elections, the Congress Party, SP, and BSP, all did well as
compared to BJP, allowing the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) I and II to remain
in power for a decade (2004–14) under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh. In the
2014 Parliament elections, BJP won 71 seats out of 80 Parliament seats in the state;
therefore, BJP formed the Government in the centre. Out of 15 Prime Ministers
in the country has seen so far, 8 of them belong to UP and the state comprises
approximately 15% of the total Lok Sabha (lower house in the Parliament) seats.
Therefore, every political party, with a political say in the state, is keen to capture
as many seats as possible in the state. Along with the national parties [BJP and INC
(Indian National Congress)], the role of regional political parties (UP-based political
parties) has shaped the politics of the heartland to a great extent.
The politics of the heartland was furthered in the year 2017 with the announce-
ment of seven phases of elections in the state18 and this was considered as the ‘rarest
of rare’ elections.19 Political parties preferred male over female candidates: the
BJP fielded predominantly male candidates (89%) and female representation was
marginal (11%). The SP and Congress Party alliance also fielded a higher number
of male candidates (91%) as compared to female (9%) candidates. The BSP too
fielded a majority of male candidates (95%) and a miniscule proportion of female
candidates (5%).20 With the declaration of the election result on 11 March 2017,
the political speculation halted after the month long seven phases of election.21 The
election mandate went in favour of the BJP and its allies with five times MP from
Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath being elevated as the Chief Minister (CM) of the state.22
Yogi Adityanath is the known face of Hindutva and often speaks against minorities
in the state. The political mandate to the BJP is considered as the biggest mandate
in the history of UP Assembly election, so far.
Moreover, in the year 2017 some new political narratives were added to construct
the image politics of the heartland or in other words, few new political discourses
were discussed in the media through politics about the heartland and how political
parties are eager to win the election which was held in year 2017. Here, the study
18 For details, see [http://www.elections.in/uttar-pradesh/, accessed March 20, 2017].

19 See [#UttarPradesh polls: This election falls under ‘rarest of rare’ category where conventional
wisdom is unlikely to win http://bit.ly/2kt7fyT, accessed, March 20, 2017].
20 See [#BattlegroundUP: Total number of women candidates and voters in #UttarPradesh Watch
live analysis http://ndtv.com/live. During election, political parties are invested around 5500 million
rupees, accessed, March 20, 2017].
21 For details result, [http://www.ndtv.com/elections/uttar-pradesh/assembly-partywise?parties=
SP%2BCONG, accessed, March 16, 2017].

22 See [#YogiAdityanath elected as BJP legislature party leader. #UttarPradesh http://www.abplive.
in/india-news/live-uttar-pradesh-chief-minister-to-be-decided-today-manoj-sinha-front-runner-
506571, accessed, March 25, 2017].
includes some of the popular political narratives to represent the spatiality made
during the elections in the shape of image(s) or image politics wherein politics is
inseparable.
The image of the heartland is contextual and contested to a certain extent when
the nature and characteristics of the image(s) are supposed to change over a period
of time, but the integrity of the heartland exists with the same gravity. There is a
hypothesis that whoever controls the politics of heartland would have control over
the politics of the centre as well, in India. Palshikar (2017: 12) pointed as ‘assem-
bly elections were held in five states in India in February–March, but news and
discussions are predominantly centred on the results in one state—Uttar Pradesh
(UP)’—the heartland.23 Politics of heartland is discussed in myriad political shades
across the Indian ‘public sphere’. This study is about to map the discourses in the
shape of image politics wherein politics is inseparable from images. The study col-
lected news (images) from Twitter accounts under (#UPElection2017) of more than
forty days (1 February to 20 March 2017) until the oath ceremony had taken place in
the state. The period was considered when the election campaign was in the higher
decibel and political parties were making statements to influence the voters. The
classification of tweets was made to reflect the political landscape of the state shared
by different agents at different capacities. Twitter emerged as the digital platform and
became popular to share or discuss the politics of the landscape in myriad interpreta-
tions and representation (Gainous and Wagner 2014; Gerbaudo 2012). The collected
political discourse in the shape of news (images) was further classified into seven
different dimensions with the help of ‘content analysis’ and ‘semiotic analysis’ as
well as ‘text interpretations’ (Bertrand and Hughes 2005; Mitchell 2011) methods to
map the image politics of the heartland in the country.
3.2.3.2 Mediated Image Politics of Heartland
Image(s) are found everywhere. Every image has its own geo tagging and becomes
known by its spatial identity at myriad dimensions. An image is unlike a cadastral map
where the spatial attributes are highlighted. On the other hand, images are about the
spatio-temporal dimension including political understanding. Cadastral maps show
the physical boundary as well as other attributes in order to indicate the purposes.
Images are created in order to satisfy the demand of spatiality either for political
or cultural or other reasons. Here, the study mapped the image(s) which have been
created during the election campaign by politicians and media wherein politics is
inseparable. Pinney (2004) analyzed the different types of images to understand their
dimensions which have been used to exploit the sentiments of peoples in the shape of
social, cultural, political, and religious movements against the colonial Government
during the freedom struggle in India. The following images reported or covered on
twitter during UP Assembly election, 2017, and the images came out in the public
23 The five states are where assembly election was held during February–March 2017; UP, Uttarak-
hand, Punjab, Manipur, and Goa.

domain differently, but here the images were shaped under different themes to narrate
the spatiality about how politicians made a hue and cry to impress the voters.
Politics of Alliance
Political alliance is a tool to contest together to defeat the immediate political oppo-
nents. It is a process to strengthen the ‘democratization’ (Hasan 2010). Prior to
announcement of the election schedule, the speculation was in the air that perhaps
a Mahagathbandhan [major political alliance between INC, Samajwadi Party (SP),
and BSP] would take place wherein all secular political parties would form an alliance
to corner the BJP, but it could not be shaped. Ultimately, the INC and SP formed an
alliance while on the other side, BJP made alliance with Apna Dal (AD) and Suheldev
Bhartya Samaj Party (SBSP). They went into the election as per their alliance: the
BJP contested on 384 seats and managed to win 312 seats, the AD contested on 11
seats and managed to win 9 seats and SBSP contested on 4 seats and managed to
win 4 seats. The SP contested on 311 seats and managed to win 47 seats and the INC
contested on 114 seats and managed to win 7 seats although the ‘Congress (INC)
aimed for a larger slice of pie.’24 However, the SP-INC alliance was finalized after
initial hiccups and banked on Muslim and Yadav voters as their main support base.
The BSP and the BJP, therefore, had been forced to rework their strategies in the
western belt of UP where Muslim voters are a major force to reckon with.25 The
BSP went into the campaign without any alliance while Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid,
Delhi (Ahmed Bukhari), extended his support to the BSP and said ‘Muslims should
look for a political alternative in UP and show exit route to this unjust SP that has
gone back on its word. Otherwise, every political party will use Muslims like football
for their own interests.’26 ‘The electoral alliance between the Samajwadi Party and
the Congress in the recently held UP Assembly elections reveals the complex polity
in India at both the national and state levels’ (Farooqui and Sridharan 2017: 16). On
alliance with SP, Rahul Gandhi in a rally at Jhansi attacked the BJP and said ‘now the
smile has been wiped off his face. He has also come to know that in UP, the SP and
Congress (INC) are going to form the Government,’ and further, he said, ‘as after
Bihar polls (2015), Modi did not utter the word Bihar, he will forget UP till 2019.’27
While Akhilesh Yadav said on alliance with INC, ‘I have maintained that SP will
get full majority, but entered into an alliance with Congress to consolidate votes,
24 See [#UttarPradesh polls: #Congress aiming at large slice of pie, accessed, March 19, 2017].
25 See [After SP-Congress pact, #BSP, #BJP rework strategy in western #UttarPradesh, accessed,
March 20, 2017].
26 See [Shahi Imam asks #UttarPradesh voters to vote 4 #BSP if this was said by any hindu saint
media would have cried foul, accessed, March 23, 2017].

27 See [#UPElections2017: ‘Our alliance wiped smile off PM Modi’s face,’ says Rahul Gandhi
@OfficeOfRG http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/up-elections-2017-our-alliance-wiped-smile-off-
pm-modis-face-says-rahul-gandhi-1661192, accessed, March 23, 2017]. Rahul Gandhi is vice pres-
ident of Congress party.
ensure we come to power.’28 Rajnath Singh commented on the INC-SP alliance,

and said, ‘Rahul is going in a punctured cycle’29 while Amit Shah targeted INC-SP
alliance as an ‘unholy alliance’ and said, ‘Two families have entered into an unholy
alliance. Initially, people were affected by one Shahzada (prince), now it is two. One
Shahzada is giving pain to his mother, the other to his father.’30
SP-INC went into a poll alliance in order to tap into the Muslim and Yadav voters
while the BJP made alliance with local political parties to tap the following castes
Gujjar, Tyagi, Brahmin, Saini, and Kashyap votes and the Chouhan, Nishhad, and
Mushar community’s voters who are predominant in the Purvanchal (Eastern UP)
region (Ramaseshan 2017). Political alliances are based on caste and religious con-
figuration where every political party has a specific vote bank. Unlike the SP and
INC, BJP had not given even a single seat to Muslim candidates and pushed the poli-
tics of polarization to divide the community on the basis of religion. They succeeded
on their political experiment. Apart from this, more than 280 minor regional political
parties had contested in the UP Assembly election, 2017, and only two candidates
had managed to win.
Politics of Money
Media often discussed the use of money and muscle power during the election to
influence the voters in different ways. However, the use of money and muscle is often
known by respective criminals who are associated in the election or the political
discourse mapped as image politics wherein political discourse discussed the use of
money and muscle respectively.
The use of money and muscle power is an inevitable course of action and often
visible during election. However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has imple-
mented many steps to curb such practices and has succeeded to a certain extent while
there is a need for more steps to restrict the use of muscle and money at the lowest
level. McMillan (2010: 113) concluded ‘the real taste of the Election Commission is
in the legitimacy of a democratic Government, and the public’s faith in free and fair
elections’.
28 See [#UPElection2017 | @yadavakhilesh to NDTV Watch full interview: http://ndtv.com/live #

UttarPradesh #uttarpradeshelections2017, accessed, March 23, 2017]. Akhilesh Yadav is president
of SP.
29 See [#UttarPradesh: Union Min Rajnath Singh takes a dig at Cong-SP alliance, says the
cycle Rahul is using is punctured! http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/no-charge-of-graft-

against-modi-government-rajnath-singh/541185/, accessed, March 23, 2017]. Cycle (Bicycle) was
election symbol of SP. Rajnath Singh, Minister of Home affairs, Government of India and, senior
BJP leader, strong contender for the post of CM in the state.
30 See [#UttarPradesh election: This poll is to end dynastic, caste-based politics, says #AmitShah
http://bit.ly/2llWTFd, accessed, March 23, 2017]. (Shahzada word used to connote Akhilesh Yadav
and Rahul Gandhi, respectively, wherein Akhilesh becomes curse for his father Mulayam Singh
Yadav while Rahul Gandhi becomes curse for his mother Sonia Gandhi, said Amit Shah).
Like other elections, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)31 mapped
the UP election, 2017, as: 4853 candidates contested in which 859 (18%) candidates
have criminal cases and 1457 (30%) are billionaires. Interestingly, the number of
contestants in this election has gone down by 30% as compared to the Assembly
polls in 2012. In 2012, as high as 6590 candidates had contested on 403 seats of the
state, while 1278 (19%) candidates had declared criminal cases against themselves.
In 2012, 1319 (20%) candidates were reported as being billionaires.
In 2017, 704 candidates had declared serious criminal cases against them, while
in 2012 it was 557 candidates including 62 candidates who had murder cases against
them, and 10 candidates declared rape cases against them. If we look at the same
statistics party wise, 150 out of 400 candidates from BSP, 137 (36%) out of 383
candidates from BJP, 113 (37%) out of 307 candidates from SP, 56 (20%) out of 276
candidates fielded by Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), 36 (32%) out of 114 candidates from
Indian National Congress (INC), and 150 (10%) out of 1453 independent candidates
have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits to ECI. As far as
billionaire candidates are concerned, the BSP has fielded the maximum number—335
(84%) of its 400 have assets worth more than Rs. 1.0 billion followed by the BJP (302
candidates), the SP (243 candidates), the RLD (99 candidates), and the Congress (75
candidates). As many as 182 out of 1453 independent candidates have also declared
assets worth more than Rs. 1.0 billion. In 2017, the top three richest candidates
who contested elections were Nazir Ahmed (Rs. 211 billion) of Congress, from
Agra South constituency and followed by BSP’s Shah Alam (Rs. 118 billion) from
Mubarakpur (Azamgarh) and Satish Kumar Sharma (Rs. 114 billion) of the BJP from
Mant (Mathura).32
Mediated Manifesto
The election manifesto is an informal policy made by the political parties and consists
of promises to voters during the election campaign, if they are voted to power. During
the UP election, the BJP and INC had promised to waive agricultural loan and disburse
freebies like Laptop/Mobile Phone/Free Internet Data as well as implement social
security programmes.
Apart from the above, the BJP has promised to create ‘Anti-Romeo Dals’ (or
squads) near colleges to ‘ensure the safety of college-going girls’ and ‘check eve-
teasing’ as well as pitched for the construction of Ram temple, triple talaq and Kairana
31 ADR, an NGO, compiled report on politicians who supposed to submit an affidavit before ECI
about his/her known assets and pending civil/criminal cases. ADR working towards to bring trans-
parency in the practice of democracy in India.
32 See [Election Centre: data shows BSP, BJP have registered highest jump in %age of ‘criminal‘
candidates. http://www.ndtv.com/video/news/the-election-centre/the-election-centre-the-ansari-
factor-in-up-polls-and-rise-of-goonda-raj-450717?hp?pfrom=home-videos … #UttarPradesh,
accessed, March 23, 2017]. Crime includes rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, culpable
homicide, communal disharmony, electoral violations, and crime against women.
issue—exodus along with issue pertaining to nationalism.33 Modi called at Meerut,

‘BJP will waive off all dues of farmers, if voted to power in UP.’34 However, Congress
launched to agriculture loan waive through ‘kisan Yatra’ under the leadership of
Rahul Gandhi.
Audio/video songs are considered a popular medium during election campaigns.
During the election campaign, both the SP-INC coalition and the BJP remixed a
popular song of Salman Khan’s (Bollywood Actor) Baby ko bass pasand hai (Dar-
ling loves bass in music) from movie ‘Sultan’ to propagate political message: SP-
Congress alliance used as an election anthem into UP ko yeh ‘saath’ pasand hain
(UP loves SP-Congress alliance), the song was further remixed by the BJP and they
turned the word ‘saath’ (alliance), into numerical number 7 and thereafter, BJP’s ver-
sion of the song was, ‘UP ko yeh 7 pasand hain (UP loves these seven politicians)’.
The ‘seven’ leaders are PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP
chief Amit Shah, Union Ministers Uma Bharti and Kalraj Mishra, UP state president
Keshav Maurya and MP Yogi Adityanath,35 later appointed CM of the state.
The Congress announced ‘50% reservation for women and to distribute bicycle
to girl students as well as would open three women police station in every district.
Along with women, youths and farmers are too included in the manifesto and ensured
150 workdays under MGNREGA’, said Raj Babbar (INC chief in UP).36 The SP
emphasised on its ongoing development plan in the state while the BSP chose not to
release a manifesto. Instead, they used social media to increase their political reach.
Small political parties also did not focus on releasing manifestos and instead eyed
caste configurations.
Politics of Sarcasm
Without sarcasm, no election is pure or impure. This election was too evident of such
discourses made in shape of abbreviation. In a rally at Meerut, Modi said, ‘rid the
state of SCAM-S for Samajwadi party (SP), C for Congress (INC), A for Akhilesh
(Yadav), and M for Mayawati’, further said, they have to choose between devel-
opment agenda of BJP and those who give shelter to criminals, indulge in vote
33 See [3 reasons why #BJP’s promised #AntiRomeo Squads in #UttarPradesh is plain wrong
#UPPolls, accessed, March 22, 2017].

34 See [BJP will waive off all dues of farmers if voted to power in UP: PM http://zeenews.india.
com/uttar-pradesh/bjp-will-waive-off-all-dues-of-farmers-if-voted-to-power-in-up-pm-narendra-
modi_1973571.html, accessed, March 24, 2017].
35 See [#SalmanKhan’s song from Sultan is election rage in #UttarPradesh, accessed, March 23,
2017].
36 See [#UttarPradesh Assembly Elections 2017: Live Blog and Updates—#Congress poll man-
ifesto promises 50% quota for women http://www.financialexpress.com/elections/uttar-pradesh-

assembly-elections-2017/uttar-pradesh-assembly-elections-2017-live-blog-and-updates/540529/,
accessed, March 24, 2017]. Raj Babbar is state Congress president. Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee Yojna (MGNREGA).
bank politics and encouraged land and mine mafias.37 While in respond, at Kanpur,
Akhilesh Yadav returned Modi’s ‘SCAM’ jibe, and said “A’ and ‘M’ in the acronym
stand for BJP President Amit Shah and Modi’38 and compared PM Modi with Don-
keys of Gujarat. Such cross verbal accusations made the elections and the campaign
interesting. Modi in response to the Donkey jibe said (at Bahriach) he took inspiration
from the animal that works tirelessly for the people even under adverse conditions
and said ‘some people don’t like the donkey. But we take care of donkeys in Gujarat
in the manner we take care of lions.’ Further, he said, ‘We could learn from the don-
key as it obeys its master and complete its task even when tired, hungry or ill, and
irrespective of heat, cold or rain. It doesn’t matter how heavy the load is. I’ve taken
inspiration from the donkey. My masters are the 1.25 billion countrymen and I will
work tirelessly 24 h without taking a holiday for my master.’39 However, Donkey
jibe caused more political loss to the alliance, PM grabbed the opportunity to explain
his works and buy more time to attack rhetorically on alliance. Rahul Gandhi in a
rally imitated ‘mitron’ (friends) (idiom) often used by Modi to address the people,
the audience burst into laughter and cheered him for well over a minute.’40 Both
sides used words (images) in order to map the spatiality to transpire the meaning in
dualistic sense.
Modi often reiterates that UP has adopted him and he is like ‘adopted son’ of UP.
Mayawati responded on claim of ‘adopted son’ at Jhansi, and people have decided
to ensure the victory of their ‘own daughter’ rather than the ‘adopted son’ in this
election’ (see Footnote 30). Priyanka Gandhi takes on Modi at Rae Bareli on his
‘adopted son’ jibe and said UP doesn’t need an outsider when it has own sons.41 ‘it
has been 70 years since and they (SP, BSP, and Congress) will no longer have their
reign. Modi attacked on SP for ‘goonda raj (hooliganism).’42 At Badaun, Akhilesh
Yadav’s reminded his works what he did in the past five years as ‘kaam bolta hai
(works speak out)’, while Modi resorted it was the SP leader’s ‘karnama’ (misdeed)
37 See [#UttarPradesh Election 2017: Narendra Modi asks voters to get rid of ‘SCAM’ http://bit.ly/
2kslOV1, accessed, March 24, 2017].
38 See [#UttarPradesh #AssemblyElections2017: Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi to hold joint
rally in Kanpur today http://zeenews.india.com/india/uttar-pradesh-assembly-elections-2017-

akhilesh-yadav-rahul-gandhi-to-hold-joint-rally-in-kanpur-today_1973763.html, accessed, March
21, 2017].
39 See [#upelections2017 Sops to #Farmers stay put, tech makes inroads http://bit.ly/
2lzEqpd@UPkesari @yadavakhilesh @BJPLucknowBJP #UttarPradesh, accessed, March 24,

2017].
40 See [#UttarPradesh elections 2017: #RahulGandhi’s elan in campaign brings out his new avatar
http://www.financialexpress.com/elections/uttar-pradesh-assembly-elections-2017/uttar-pradesh-
elections-2017-rahul-gandhis-elan-in-campaign-brings-out-his-new-avatar/556795/, accessed,
March 23, 2017].
41 See [#UttarPradesh will elect its own daughter, not adopted son: Mayawati http://www.
ndtv.com/india-news/up-will-elect-its-own-daughter-not-adopted-son-mayawati-1660959 … #
uttarpradeshpolls2017, accessed, March 23, 2017].
42 See [#GoondaRaj in #UttarPradesh, even Supreme Court has to intervene: PM @narendramodi,
accessed, March 21, 2017].

even a child here knows that it is your ‘karnama’ which is speaking for you.’43 At
Basti, Amit Shah reiterated that ‘Ache din’ (good days) will knock ‘the doors of
UP and it will immediately ban all slaughter houses and form anti-Romeo squads
and take actions against land grabbers.’44 In another scathing attack, at Sultanpur,
Amit Shah referred Congress, Samajwadi Party, and BSP as ‘KASAB’ (lone gunman
who was caught alive in 2008—Mumbai attacked and later hanged). He said ‘until
you free UP from ‘KASAB’, the state can’t be developed. Shall I tell you what
does ‘KASAB’ mean? It’s ‘Ka’ for (Congress), ‘Sa’ for (SP) and ‘Ba’ for (BSP).’45
Confidence about BJP’s victory, Modi said ‘we will celebrate kesariya (saffron)
Holi in the state and loan waiver of farmers would be BJP’s first priority upon
coming to power in the state.’46 At Azamgarh, Amit Shah quoted Congress leader
Sheila Dikshit’s assessment that “Rahul Gandhi is still not mature and needs some
time’ and emphasized UP needs ‘men of steel’ to solve issue.’47 The political grudge
turned into personal, when BJP’s MP Yogi Adityanath compared Akhilesh Yadav
with ‘Aurangzeb’ (Mughal emperor) and ‘Kans’ (enemy of Hindu God Krishna) and
said parents will now desist naming their sons as ‘Akhilesh’. He alleged, ‘whatever
schemes ran by Government, it was only for a particular community (implicitly
indicated Muslims)’ and shows his conviction, while ‘we will promote traditional
industries and send bangles to Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi from Firozabad bangle
industry and constitute anti-Romeo squad for UP Minister Azam Khan.’48 These
abbreviations are mapped as images to represent the spatial politics in which the BJP
became successful while the INC-SP alliance and BSP were unable to create such a
vibration to counter what the BJP did.
Politics of Communalism
During the early months of 2012 when the Assembly election was scheduled in five
Indian states, the media interpreted and discussed an election issue ‘Reservation for
Minorities’ announced by UPA II before the 2012 Assembly election scheduled, into
43 See [#AkhileshYadav’s #KaamBoltaHai slogans sounds feeble in Eastern #UttarPradesh Follow
LIVE to track #upelections2017 http://bit.ly/2lKv4G2, accessed, March 23, 2017].

44 See [#uppolls2017: ‘Ache din’ will knock #UttarPradesh doors on March 11, says #AmitShah
#uppolls, accessed, March 23, 2017]. ‘Ache din’ (Good days ahead) is unlike a popular rhetoric
comment to commemorate the work of BJP Government.
45 See [@AmitShah refers to #Congress, SP, BSP as ‘Kasab’, urges voters to get rid
of them. #UttarPradesh http://www.abplive.in/india-news/amit-shah-refers-to-congress-sp-bsp-as-

kasab-urges-voters-to-get-rid-of-them-496662 …, accessed, March 24, 2017].
46 See #UPpolls | Saffron #Holi will be celebrated in #UttarPradesh says PM #NarendraModi in
#Gonda, accessed, March 23, 2017].

47 See [‘Is #UttarPradesh a lab?’ @AmitShah after Congress leader says Rahul Gandhi ‘not mature’
@OfficeOfRG http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/is-up-a-lab-amit-shah-after-congress-leader-says-
rahul-gandhi-not-mature-1663196, accessed, March 25, 2017].
48 See [‘Parents will not name their sons Akhilesh’: BJP’s Adityanath likens #UttarPradesh CM to
Aurangzeb http://read.ht/BUJX, accessed, March 24, 2017].

communal representation. Media interpreted the issue as ‘reservation for Muslims’

instead of, what it actually was ‘reservation for Minorities’ (Moinuddin 2017). This
time the communal discourse surfaced after the third phase of voting was over. In
an election rally at Fatehpur, Modi said, ‘If you create kabristaan (graveyard) in
a village, then a shamshaan (cremation ground) should be created. If electricity is
given uninterrupted in Ramzan (pious months of Muslim), then it should be given
in Diwali (auspicious festival for Hindus) and further said, Bhedbhaav nahin hona
chahiye (there should be no discrimination).’49 Minutes before Amit Shah’s road
shows in the streets of Gorakhpur, the supporters of the BJP raised slogans of ‘Jai
Shri Ram (Welcome Shree Ram)’ and ‘Gorakhpur me rehna hai, to yogi-yogi kehna
hai (if want to reside in Gorakhpur, must say Yogi-Yogi)’ near a mosque; how-
ever, local peoples registered their anguish against such slogan.50 ‘If SP Government
comes back to power, then money meant for your development will go into devel-
oping kabristan (graveyard) while BJP Government will pave the way for the Ram
temple construction,’ Yogi Adityanath said.51 Kabristan and Shamshan mapped as
two different images by PM Modi while he was criticized for such remark. Rajnath
Singh said ‘I don’t accept politics of polarisation in any form.’52 This was a new
kind of communal discourse which made many shun all political parties.
Politics of Development
At Ghaziabad, Modi addressed a Vijay Sankalp (promised victory) rally and said ‘BJP
will be back in power after 14 years in the state. He also said that his party will turn
UP into Uttam Pradesh (best state) of India.’53 During end of his tenure, Akhilesh
Yadav, in a desperate bid to create a public perception among the voters about his
image of development, ‘inaugurated over 300 projects and laid the foundation stone
of about dozen of projects-worth approximately Rs. 60,000 million-at seven venues in
the state capital in just four hours on one day.’ This included ‘hospitals, stadiums and
from kisan bazaar (farmers market) to milk processing unit—the projects covered
a wide range of facilities for the people of UP.’ A new tradition emerged in the
Indian political space when the incumbent Government started inaugurating a number
of projects at the last minute to leave an impression on people about how his/her
49 See [#UPElections2017 | Why @narendramodi chose to attack Samajwadi Party with ‘kabristaan’
comment http://read.ht/BTNd (by @meetuttam), accessed, March 23, 2017].

50 See [#AmitShah rally: #BJP supporters chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans in front of mosque in
#Gorakhpur. #UttarPradesh http://www.abplive.in/india-news/amit-shah-rally-bjp-workers-chant-

jai-sri-ram-slogans-in-front-of-mosque-in-gorakhpur-499749, accessed, March 22, 2017].
51 See [#YogiAdityanath: Know the man who drives #BJP #Hindutva campaign in eastern
#UttarPradesh http://www.abplive.in/india-news/yogi-adityanath-man-who-drives-bjp-hindutva-
campaign-in-eastern-up-499852, accessed, March 22, 2017].
52 See [Battle for #UttarPradesh: Politics of polarisation #UPElection2017 #uttarpradeshelec-
tions2017, accessed, March 23, 2017].

53 See [#UttarPradesh me 14 saal se vikas ka vanvaas hai: PM #Modi at election rally in #Ghaziabad
Follow LIVE http://bit.ly/2kHNiZk, accessed, March 23, 2017].

Government is sensitive towards development projects, while in the reality the story
is different. Akhilesh Yadav never forgot to mention about his six ambitious projects
which he started in the state: Agra–Lucknow Expressway, Gomti River front project,
Lucknow Metro rail service, International Cricket stadium (at Lucknow), Cancer
Hospital, and IT city.
Akhilesh further attacked at Farrukhabad on Modi’s development work. ‘The PM
keeps making, people listen to his ‘Mann Ki Baat (speak by heart).’ When will he
talk about works? If he had done any work, then tell me?’ he reiterated ‘Khoob
suni humne radio par Mann Ki Baat lekin abhi bhi janta nahi jaan paai unke mann
ki baat (we have heard a lot of his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ but no one has been able to
understand what is in his mind.’54 In order to give sentimental turn, PM Modi used
another religious image and said ‘Krishna was born in UP but made Gujarat his karma
bhoomi (work place). I was born in Gujarat but UP has adopted me. It is a privilege
for me. UP is like ‘mai-baap’ (mother-father). I am not a son who would ditch his
‘mai-baap’. Despite being an adopted son, it is my duty to develop UP.’55 At Hardoi,
Modi levelled SP Government as ‘anti-farmer.’56 ‘It has been 70 years since and they
(SP, BSP and Congress) will no longer have their reign. They have only looted. I
am not saying as the PM, but as the watchman’57 said Modi, while Akhilesh Yadav
mentioned ‘the youth want to be part of the revolution that is happening around them.
My biggest aim is to create income and job opportunities for this generation’ (see
Footnote 57). During the campaign, development was discussed as a pious image
and every political party wished to be associated with the development agenda in
myriad representations and interpretations.
Politics of Road Shows
Almost all political parties organized road shows to show their political strength, but
none of them was able to attract attention of media or peoples except two road shows:
first was organized by Congress Party prior the election schedule announced and
second in street of Varanasi, when both SP-Congress alliance and BJP hold road
shows in the last phase of election. Road shows are now considered an inevitable
54 See [PM @narendramodi invites @yadavakhilesh for a metro ride in Lucknow, says ‘let’s see
your work’ http://www.financialexpress.com/elections/uttar-pradesh-assembly-elections-2017/pm-

narendra-modi-invites-akhilesh-yadav-for-lucknow-metro-ride-up-polls/548923/#UttarPradesh,
accessed, Match 23, 2017].
55 See [‘#UttarPradesh is like mai-baap’: @narendramodi draws parallel with #LordKr-
ishna http://www.abplive.in/india-news/uttar-pradesh-is-like-mai-baap-modi-draws-parallel-with-
lord-krishna-494085, accessed, March 21, 2017].
56 See [PM #NarendraModi in #Barabanki: ‘SP Government in #UttarPradesh is anti-farmer’,
accessed, March 22, 2017].

57 See [PM @narendramodi hits out at SP, BSP and Congress speaking at a rally in Jaun-
pur, #UttarPradesh Highlights: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/up-elections-2017-live-pm-modi-

addresses-rally-in-varanasis-jaunpur-1666118, accessed, March 21, 2017].
part of political activities. Congress Party launched ‘Kisan Yatra’ (Farmer’s Jour-
ney), covered 2500 km which touches 39 districts of 55 Lok Sabha (Parliament)
constituencies and 223 Assembly constituencies of UP under the leadership of Rahul
Gandhi. During ‘kisan Yatra’, Congress Party had planned to fill applications from
ten thousand farmers to waive their agricultural loan from every constituency. For
better ascertain, ‘khat rally’ (at Koshambi) was organized when people took away
‘Khat’ (bed) after the rally. The rally was mapped into two broader political conver-
sations as pro-poor and anti-poor activity as well as how important is Khat in the
daily activities of a farmer.
The last and most popular road show was held at Varanasi where both SP-Congress
Party and BJP planned. The BJP’s road show was scheduled to begin from Banaras
Hindu University (BHU) to Baba Vishwanath temple and extended up to Kal Bhairav
temple. Peoples are more enthusiastic and chanted slogans, ‘Subah Banaras, Sham
Banaras; Modi tere naam Banaras (Good morning Varanasi, Good evening Varanasi:
Modi your name is Varanasi)’ and people chanted ‘Modi, Modi’ from both sides of
the road. Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi are also organized a joint road show on
the same day at different routes,58 but were unable to attract more crowd in compare
to PM Modi’s road show.
Here, the study has made assumptions through media (Twitter) and politicians
in the shape of image politics of the heartland. The study mapped seven images
for political considerations and constructions in the shape of image politics when
PM Modi and other politicians tried to contextualise the images to represent spa-
tiality (of the heartland). In between, the announcement of the election schedule
until the declaration of the election results both the media and politicians mapped
the landscape to influence voters as much as possible. From narrative ‘Kaam Bolta
Hai’ to ‘kaarname’, the political discourse traversed into two opposite directions,
in the precedent Akhilesh Yadav echoing the works he did during his regime, and
PM Modi criticized not being worked rather it was being as ‘Kaarname’. Similarly,
from ‘Mann Ki Baat’ to ‘Mai-Baap’ the political discourse again travelled into two
different directions wherein politicians stitched the political gaps in shape of image
politics of landscape. The use of Lord ‘Krishna’, ‘Kans’, and ‘Donkey’ was too
spatial metaphor and significant in the spatiality; therefore, politicians referred to
associate with voters. Differentiation between ‘Shamsan’ and ‘Kabristan’ as well as
‘Diwali’ and ‘Ramadan’ which are enough to represent the communities in shape of
image politics. The political identity is not independent rather associated with spatial
notions in sense of spatial politics wherein meaning of ‘KASAB’ is inseparable from
politics. The politics of the heartland offered mundane chances to map the complex-
ity of spatiality wherein both media and politics played a significant role to map
the heartland in the shape of image politics—a medium to represent the spatiality
with the help of caste, communal, and electoral politics. One can imagine the role of
58 See [Clash of titans in #Varanasi: @narendramodi versus Rahul-Akhilesh road show.
#UttarPradesh http://www.abplive.in/india-news/narendra-modi-vs-rahul-gandhi-akhilesh-yadav-
road-show-clash-of-titans-in-varanasi-500120 …, accessed, March 21, 2017].
Twitter in the shape of hashtag politics and how and to what extent it revolutionized
the information and communication system after Internet.
3.3 The Galaxies of Network
The Twittersphere is equivalent to galaxies where millions of individual registered

and operating their network for different purposes. Each individual is an extension of
a network and possesses all the characteristics of the network to act like a node either
to pass or consume such information which passes through in different stages. The
Twittersphere is found in a ubiquitous nature in more and less quantum across the
developed and developing worlds and nonetheless behaved unlike ‘universe’ wherein
through a virtual network millions of people are being connected.
Castells (1996) argues that contemporary society transformed into network society
and operates in a global ‘space of flows’ upon information and communication tech-
nological developments. The technological transformation brought many changes
including the shape and size of the ‘space of flows’ wherein virtual spaces work as
an independent network and such networks are maintained by an individual in dif-
ferent capacities. In the Twittersphere, layers of information are passed in the shape
of tweets, retweets, like, and direct messages in both pictorial and textual contents
(Graph 3.1).
In India, the networks gradually increase for different reasons. The Internet and
Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar IMRB in their report ‘Internet in
India 2016’59 projected an estimated growth of Internet users by December 2016,
Graph 3.1 Internet in India. Source After IAMAI, 2016
59 Iam thankful to IAMAI and Kantar IMRB to given me permission to use the data. For details,
see report; http://www.iamai.in, last accessed March, 2018.
3.3 The Galaxies of Network 51
Graph 3.2 Internet users in India (rural–urban). Source After IAMAI, 2016
India had 432 million Internet users, and by 2017, the number of Internet users would
have 450–465 million (Graph 3.1).
The report projected the overall Internet penetration in India is around 31%
presently. However, the Internet growth shows rural–urban ‘gaps’ which is as, in
urban India, the Internet user numbers increased by 7% from Oct 2015 to Oct 2016
and reached an estimated of 263 million, and by the end of June 2017, the number
would have around 275–285. In rural India, the number of Internet users increased
at the rate of 22% between Oct 2015 and Oct 2016 and reached an estimated 157
million, and by June 2017, it would have been 170–180 million. Among urban Inter-
net users, around 137.19 million are using Internet on a daily basis (at least once
a day) while 242 million or 90% of the urban Internet users use Internet once a
month. Hence, Internet users in rural India are not far behind, around 78 million of
the users in rural India are using Internet daily in which half of the them are young
men and college going students while around 140 million of the rural Internet users
used Internet once a month (Graph 3.2).
The report further found that the younger generations are the most prolific users
of Internet and the gender ratio is slightly better in urban India; however, both urban
and rural India reported almost similar ratio of working and non-working women
registered as daily Internet users. Among Internet services, social networking sites,
e-commerce, e-ticketing, e-shopping, and e-mail are largely accessed in urban India
while entertainment services are popular in rural India (Graph 3.3).
Graph 3.3 Social demography of Internet users. Source After IAMAI, 2016
3.4 Mediated Spaces
Tweets are often considered an idea of an individual who works in mundane capacities
either to respond the public or private for different reasons. Tweets and retweets are
two different entities and two separate ideas which work in two different ways. Tweets
invite formal or informal acknowledgement by followers. Similarly, PM Modi made
tweet ‘Phir Ek Baar…Cameron Sarkar’ (once again…Cameron Government) in 8
May 2015 after David Cameron won the Parliamentary election. The tweet was read
in a different light or politically contested interpretations when PM Modi hinted that
the time will repeat in India as well and asked the followers to be ready or to do so in
order to secure such a repetition for his own Governments. The tweet was of course
rhetoric in nature ‘once again’ which invites many spatial representations.
The other motives of such tweets or any tweet made by an individual whose
intension was to admire the lists of followers and prove his calibre or skill either for
such an idea or narratives which are in flux in the virtual space and create discourse
along with the subject. Every tweet has a limitation, and the end product of tweets
is mediated or makes followers accept it without any changes or modifications. The
nature of such tweets might be looked at as rhetoric or sarcasm or blunt or delicate,
but the motive is to mediate as much as possible and to fall followers along the
contents of tweets.
The category of tweets may fall under subject-wise classifications from political
to economic, geographical to social, sports to news, entertainment to infotainment,
etc., with every tweet made with respect to attract readers who is a follower or not.
Arjun Appadurai conceptualized ‘scapes’ in order to understand the flow of culture
in the shape of practices, ideas, taboos, customs, religions, politics, economic, ethics,
media as well.
Social mediascapes expand in India as a part of global expansion when everyday
technological development has made the communication system better compared to
3.4 Mediated Spaces 53
the past. Appadurai (1996) uses ‘scapes’ to understand the five inevitable medium
which can help to understand the global culture in contemporary ways. He uses
five ‘perspectival constructs’ including mediascapes, ethnoscapes, technoscapes,
financescapes, and ideoscapes. The mediascapes are an understanding about the
flow of media information in mundane shapes and sizes and it can be one medium
to understand the global culture at best. Although the meaning and contexts used by
Arjun Appaduari were not the social media, it was the main media sources (news-
paper, TV, film, radio, etc.) and how they disseminate the global information within
different cultural contexts. The study is considering social media which has become
popular over a period of time, moving parallel along with the main media where
both media sources share the information in different contexts. In fact, social media
has a dual pattern when it gets an instant response over the issue and cannot control
and it is known among people for free speech without disclosing his/her real iden-
tity. The expansion of mediascapes60 becomes a platform to measure the cultural
panorama of the location, region, nation, and world as well. The social mediascapes
or social networking sites have expanded their length and breadth in order to provide
better communication services to the peoples irrespective of rich or poor, male or
female, educated or illiterate, skilled or unskilled, young or old age, and developed
or developing continents.
The popularity of social media has crossed a benchmark and over a period of time
has encompassed people irrespective of their age, gender, religion, caste, class, and
professionals including the politicians as well. Social media has, therefore, become
an important ride for politicians to have a platform to share their views over an
issue(s). Among the social mediascapes, Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter have made
the work of politicians and people easy and allow them to communicate directly.
60 ‘Mediascapes refer both to the distribution of the electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate
information (newspapers, magazine, television stations, and film production studios), which are
now available to a growing number of private interests throughout the world, and to the images of
the world created by these media. These images involve many complicated inflections, depending
on their mode (documentary or entertainment), their hardware (electronic or pre-electronic), their
audiences (local, national, or transnational), and the interests of those who own and control them.
What is most important about these mediascapes is that they provide (especially in their television,
film, and cassette forms) large and complex repertoires of images, narratives, and ethnoscapes to
viewers throughout politics are profoundly mixed. What this means is that many audiences around
the world experiences the media themselves as a complicated and interconnected repertoire of
print, celluloid, electronic screens, and bill-boards. The lines between the realistic and the fictional
landscapes they see blurred, so that the farther away audiences are from the direct experiences
of metropolitian life, the more likely they are to construct imagined worlds that are chimerical,
aesthetic, even fantastic objects, particularly if assessed by the criteria of some other perspective,
some other imagined world. Mediascapes, whether produced by private or state interests, tend to
be image-centred, narrative-based accounts of strips of reality, and what they offer to those who
experience and transform them is a series of elements (such as characters, plots, and textual forms)
out of which scripts can be formed of imagined lives, their own as well as those of others living
in other places. These scripts can and do get disaggregated into complex sets of metaphors by
which people live (Lakeoff and Johnson 1980) as they help to constitute narratives of the Other
and protonarratives of possible lives, fantasies that could become prolegomena to the desire for
acquisition and movement’ (Appadurai 1996: 35).
These social networking sites work in various ways; Facebook works as a space
where anyone can share audio, video, or anything else about an issue; Twitter works
to circulate the message among the followers in both pictorial and textual shapes;
while Whatsapp is a messenger platform wherein people share their feelings, anxiety,
virtues, sympathy, and melancholy in both textual and pictorials shapes. How do these
social mediascapes mediate among people? How do these mediascapes work?
3.4.1 Facebook
Facebook is the world’s largest social networking site, with over a billion people
actively using it and number is increasing every day. Facebook has now reached one
of every seven people on the earth sphere, a million members worldwide. But, over a
period of time, Facebook became official platform of the Government which would
regularly update documents in order to make people aware of their initiatives. Such
initiatives, of course, provide a channel to know what is going away on governance
level on any issues (Appendix B).
‘India has been ranked among the top 10 nations in ‘Diplomacy Live’, a global
research, advocacy, consulting, and training platform. India and Mexico are the only
two countries from the developing world in this list. The top ten are UK, France, USA,
Russia, European Union, Vatican, India, Israel, Mexico, and Switzerland. India’s high
ranking is despite a relatively modest budget for public diplomacy. The official Face-
book page for the Ministry of External Affairs has more than 1.2 million followers.
On Twitter, the Public Diplomacy account has crossed 1.2 million. On YouTube, with
40,000 subscribers and 30 million minutes viewed, MEA’s video content has gone
viral. MEA is also available on G+, Flickr, Instagram, and Sound cloud platforms.
These combined platforms have a following in excess of 4 million and an average
monthly reach in excess of 20 million. The unique Mobile App of the MEA has gar-
nered more than 150,000 downloads on Android and iOS platforms. MEA officials
said that in addition to digital diplomacy at its headquarters, India’s Missions and
Posts have increasingly embraced the use of social media. More than 95% of India’s
Missions and Posts are now available on Facebook and 60% on Twitter. ‘Their online
presence plays a critical role in many crisis situations and was instrumental during
recent evacuation efforts from Yemen, Libya and during the earthquake in Nepal,’
said an official.’61
Facebook has been used by different people in different ways. For example, Huma
Naqvi posted a post in Hindi (Appendix A) where she charged that when Shri Shri
Ravishankar, founder of the Art of Living (AOL), made slogan ‘Pakistan Zindabad’
(long live Pakistan) in front of Minister of Home Affairs (Mr. Rajnath Singh) had
not been considered an offence but a month ago when some of students (including
JNUSU (Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union) president Kanahya Kumar
61 For details, see http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/digital-diplomacy-india-ranked-seventh-by-
diplomacy-live.html, last accessed November, 2017.

and others) were arrested on charges of sedition for allegedly making slogans similar
to ‘Pakistan Zindabad’. The politics, here, used two standards when students were
considered as being offensive while at the same time when it was recited by known
or own group member than it was mere ‘unofficial’ and considered as mistake.
The comments were directly and indirectly attacked for using two yardsticks
on the same slogan. For example, in Facebook comment, Rajkumar sarcastically
attacked the system and pushed the politicians (in Government) while Rashmi Singh
in her comment, compared the ‘others’ with ass when both become common over
the issue. In another comment, V P Singh Sangwan directly referred few questions
to the rightist group that ‘Iss Shri Shri ko Pakistan kab bhej rahe ho sanghio?’ (when
sending him (Shri Shri Ravishankar Jee) to Pakistan) and Dinesh Sharma cautiously
raised question that we must have differentiate the word made either deliberately or
un-deliberately. Facebook allowed both groups to share their views over the issue
and politics on its swim in between the discourse at best (Appendix A).
However, the issue of nationalism discussed across the social media in mundane
capacities and every people irrespective of their political affiliations made their points
very openly and even criticized the opponents sarcastically.
For example, in support of JNU on Facebook many people’s like Joseph Vadakke-
mury Anthony posted as, this is the youth I should have been….I stand with JNU
and their demand for right to speech. Mumtaz UR Rehman that being a student i
am supporting all students out there for their rights. Cheema B. made her comment
that dissent is the basis of all growth. Societies that do not tolerate and listen to
dissenting, opinions and voices are on sure path to self -destruction. Patriotism does
not mean blind obedience to the rulers of the day. It is loyalty to the country…Mohd.
Safdar salutes with smile emoticon proud of you brave men and women… Indeed
you are the most national ones!62
The politics further shaped when senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has
courted yet another controversy and called JNU students and teachers as ‘naxalite’.63
The issue invites different arguments and peoples divided on the issue or mediated
over the issue for different reasons. The Facebook became contested spaces wherein
peoples made their views publicly.
3.4.2 WhatsApp
WhatsApp is an app used among youths and other age groups. WhatsApp is too
mediated through a gadget wherein users used the application for sharing information
in both pictorial and textual shapes. It functions differently from Facebook, however,
as it is a closed loop and no one from outside the loop or network disturbed can
access the conversation until and unless the users wished to do after sharing contact
62 [https://www.facebook.com/standwithjnu/photos/a.1258232967524192.1073741827.
1258191490861673/1260086480672174/?type=3&theater, last accessed March 20, 2016].

63 Anultra-radical movement is going on since last forty years by the supporters against the State.
number. To understand the digital culture with reference to WhatsApp in Delhi, India,
finding of the research study conducted by me, acknowledge the complex pattern of a
mediated culture. The relevance of the study became inevitable since mobile phones
have become necessary gadgets and in Delhi, people even carry two mobile phones
including smart mobile phone to use social network sites (SNSs). The number of
mobile connections in the city reached 42.5 million against its population of around 17
million by 2016, implying that on an average every Delhiite has at least two phones.64
However, the number of mobile connections in the entire country is estimated to
be more than 9.3 million.65 Every mobile phone has WhatsApp application that is
popular among youths for different reasons. The study sought to answer the research
question ‘WhatsApp is creating an unstable and multiple identities among users’.
WhatsApp as an application reduced the distance between people across the spatiality.
It behaved as a mediated platform where people can share public and private issues.
‘As an instrument for maintaining contact, the mobile phone can be viewed as ‘place’
adjacent to, yet outside of home and the workplace, a third place in the definition
of Oldenburg (1989). Oldenburg applying it as to coffee-houses, shops and other
meeting places. In addition, the mobile is, in its own way, a meeting place, a popular
site for spending time’ (Kopomaa 2004: 269).
The preference of youth was to some extent predictable and they used social media
particularly WhatsApp to share personal issues foremost while political issues were
their secondary preference. How have political issues become popular in the social
media including WhatsApp? That was expected the way political polarization took
shape over the years in the country. Moreover, social issues also featured among
youths including cultural issues for different reasons. The WhatsApp discussion
became instrumental when the population of youth reached over forty per cent of the
total population in the country. The recently held elections (Parliamentary election,
2014, and Delhi Assembly election, 2015) displayed the role of social media as being
inevitable and political parties used the digital resources (WhatsApp) to mobilise the
voters in their favour. Hence, apart from political and personal there are many other
purposes when peoples used WhatsApp.
The use of social media in daily course of action is becoming popular over a period
of time (Madianou and Miller 2012; Gainous and Wagner 2014). The youth of Delhi
inhibits the role of WhatsApp in their life in mundane ways. The digitalization of
population emerged as cultural phenomena. The study found that every youth in the
city experienced WhatsApp and had been subject to unstable and multiple identities.
The making of an unstable identity shaped over a period of time wherein the role of
social media including WhatsApp that pushed the youths to be as ‘live’.66
The study insights me that social networking sites function in much controlled
way and mediate the users at different proportions.
64 [http://www.rediff.com/money/report/tech-cell-phone-use-in-delhi-increasing-at-an-incredible-
rate/20121120.htm, accessed, May 2, 2015]. For more, see Delhi statistical handbook 2013–14.
65 [http://www.bgr.in/news/delhi-has-a-total-of-4-26-crore-mobile-connections-against-1-70-
crore-population/, accessed, May 3, 2015]. For more, see Delhi statistical handbook 2013–14.
66 Seefor details, Moinuddin (2015).
3.4.3 Twitter
Apart from Facebook and WhatsApp, Twitter functions in different ways wherein
users have the option to follow other prominent individuals on the platform. Every-
one is free to join Twitter, but celebrities have extra advantages to materialize their
popularity in terms of followers in short period of time. It works similar to Face-
book, but has word limits for those who wish to express themselves. The JNU issue
is discussed here too, but it was in different orientations. The Election Commission
of India has issued instructions to political parties and candidates on utilizing the
Internet and social media websites for poll campaigns and advertisements.
The JNU episode was further politicized when Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and Rajdeep
Sardesai tweeted as.67 The nature and pattern on Twitter is very much focused.
The issue was further discussed by Congress Party leader Shashi Tharoor and he
too denounced the anti-national activities, but at the same time, he batted for the
preserve of democratic notion in JNU that appeared through tweets as.68 He was first
Indian politician who popularized twitter among politicians (Appendix C).
The difference between Facebook and Twitter the anonymity in Facebook is much
higher than Twitter. The issue of JNU discussed in both the SNSs, but Facebook do
not attract attentions while Twitter did it. Celebrities often avoid joining Facebook
because it’s a huge field compared to Twitter wherein limited words and known com-
ments sometimes make the discussion much more lively. Meanwhile, the functioning
patterns of WhatsApp are different from both Twitter and Facebook and, of course,
mediation as well.
3.5 Conclusion
The nature and pattern of the Twittersphere are monotonous or unilateral at some
extent because it functions in controlled ways to think within the trends which appear
on Twitter in different shapes and colour and contents. The Twittersphere, unlike
other social networking sites, is carved to place elites to share each other irrespective
of issues of national and international boundaries. The Twittersphere is a targeted
gadget and it functions in such a way that an individual can approach directly the con-
cerned official or authority. The potentialities of the Twittersphere acknowledged in
mundane capacities; however, the purpose of re/tweets varies along with population,
age, literacy, and gender in both rural and urban spaces.
The next chapter seeks to map the tweets and retweets of Indian politicians, to
know the rhetoric and sarcasm levels in the politics as well as at what extent it is
political in nature and at what purposes tweeted and retweeted.
67 For more, see From Twitter A/C of Arvind Kejriwal @Arvind Kejriwal February 16, 2016.
68 For more, see From Twitter A/C of Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor February 16, 2016.
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Chapter 4
Mapping Political Re/Tweets in India
Abstract Why do politicians tweet and retweet? How much of it is political in

nature? This chapter looks into the re/tweets of five Indian politicians, why they
sent such re/tweets, for what purposes and what was the nature of content of these
re/tweets? To what extent has this helped politicians improve their image in the public
domain?
Keywords Narendra Modi · Arvind Kejriwal · Shashi Tharoor · Subramanian

Swamy · Sushma Swaraj
4.1 Understanding Re/Tweets
Re/Tweets have become an inevitable part of politics nowadays. Every politician

and political party has a Twitter account; however, more or less, it is only func-
tional to a certain extent and, it becomes more active when a new political dis-
course emerges. Apart from political parties and politicians, most celebrities also
have Twitter accounts. Twitter became popular among the people in the Indian con-
tinent ever since the US army raid on Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. Twitter had
reported that there was some ‘operation’ is going on and later it was clear that it
was a US army operation. ‘Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a
rare event)’1 (Appendix D). Politicians gradually shifted towards Twitter and over
a period of time they made it a political tool to poke the opposition, irrespective
of issues. Some politicians even use the medium to share their personal day-to-day
engagements. In India, the use of the Internet has increased the use of SNSs which in
turn has improved the information and communication technology in both efficiency
and effectiveness. The migration of people towards SNSs has increased irrespective
of cultural, social, and political background. This chapter seeks to map the political
re/tweets of five popular India politicians who made re/tweets in different capaci-
ties and have significant presence on Twitter (Table 4.1). These five politicians post
1 For details, see, http://mashable.com/2011/05/02/live-tweet-bin-laden-raid/# last accessed, March
20, 2016.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6_4
62 4 Mapping Political Re/Tweets in India
Table 4.1 Politicians’

Politicians Joined Twitter Tweets Followers
profiles on Twitter (March 20,
2016) Narendra Modi January 2009 10,771 18.8
million
Arvind November 10,629 7.27
Kejriwal 2011 million
Shashi Tharoor March 2009 30,637 4 million
Subramanian July 2009 45,704 2.47
Swamy million
Sushma Swaraj November 3824 4.65
2010 million
Source After Twitter, http://www.thepoliticalindian.com/top-
indian-Twitter-politicians/ (last accessed March 20, 2016)
re/tweet every day and the nature of content varies across subjects. The study consid-
ered following politicians: PM Narendra Modi, CM Arvind Kejriwal, MEA Sushma
Swaraj, MP Subramnium Swamy, and MP Shashi Tharoor.
Out of these five politicians, three belong to BJP and one each from AAP and INC.
Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal and Sushma Swaraj re/tweeted in the capacity of
custodian of constitutional posts while the other two politicians re/tweeted to share
their personal views and to question the Government representatives. Subramanian
Swamy and Shashi Tharoor re/tweeted more than 45 thousand and 30 thousand,
respectively. Only Sushma Swaraj has made less tweets in comparison with these
politicians.
In terms of followers, Narendra Modi leads while Swamy lacks such popularity
compared to above politicians of BJP in the study, in spite of that Swamy had made
more re/tweets. Arvind Kejriwal was the second most popular among the people,
and it is believed that social media played an instrumental role in enhancing his
political career, particularly since the Lokapal movement in 2011 along with Anna
Hazare and other social workers.2 The politicians made re/tweets to attack opposition
political party or rhetoric comments which found as contested nature. For example,
Swamy and Tharoor often send re/tweets to clear their stand over various issues that
circulated in the media or by some other unknown sources.
2 The demand for Lokpal (ombudsmen) was held in 2011 under leadership of Anna Hazare and others
including Arvind Kejriwal, who later became Chief Minister of Delhi. This was first social media
agitation which attracts thousands of people in the streets, though, Government was in principle
agreed to the demand, but so far it is not implemented due to change in political regime in the
country.
4.2 Mapping the Political Re/Tweets 63
4.2 Mapping the Political Re/Tweets
Re/Tweets are messages which can be sent in both textual and pictorial format to
the followers who are following the person for different reasons irrespective of their
affiliations. The use of Twitter across the world has been noticed, particularly during
election time when the use of Twitter was observed by different scholars including
Gainous and Wagner (2014) who studied the use of social media in US politics.3
The use of Twitter became popular over a period of time in India. During the
2014 Parliament election and subsequent state legislative elections, an increased use
of Twitter was observed. Politicians used the medium to share political discourse
which reflected the mood of the spatiality irrespective of issues.
4.2.1 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi uses Twitter to share political, administrative, and governance issues
very regularly as a political tool (Appendix L). He made tweets almost every day to
share his day-to-day official involvements. Tweets were also made by Narendra Modi
about his high-level meeting along with global CEO’s of three different bigwigs. With
11-year low global crude oil prices promised a bonanza to India, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi asked global oil and gas experts including BP Group CEO Bob
Dudley, Royal Dutch Shell’s Director Harry Brekelmans and International Energy
Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol to boost the investments in times of
low oil prices in India. The meeting was held ahead of the Budget (2016), which was
likely to address the problems faced by explorers and oil companies seeking to make
investment in Asia’s third largest economy of the world. The meeting lasted more
than two hours and the participants included Union Ministers such as Arun Jaitley,
Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, and Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog4 Arvind
Panagariya (then). The tweet appeared to show the sincerity of the Government
towards development and employment.
The core subject of the meeting was tweeted as ‘subjects such as increasing the
share of gas in India’s energy mix, fresh investment in oil and gas exploration in
India, regulatory frameworks, International acquisition of oil and gas assets, emerg-
ing areas such as shale gas and coal-bed methane, and the oil- and gas-sector-related
possibilities of Make in India’. However, PM Modi emphasized the need for taking a
fresh look in the sector (Oil, Petroleum, and Gas) to bring investment, technological
up gradation, and development of human resource as well.5
3 Gainous and Wagner (2014).

4 The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, formed on January 1,
2015. In the past, it is known as Planning Commission of India.
5 For more, see, [http://www.btvin.com/article/read/industry/3949/modi-meets-oil-bigwigs--seeks-
more-investments#, last accessed March 23, 2016].

He made another tweet under the policy of ‘Make in India’ Narendra Modi hinted
at how seriously his Government is taking these issues that even during the time when
oil in its lowest price in last 11 years. Modi hinted that the share of gas in India’s energy
mix, fresh investment in oil and gas exploration in India, regulatory frameworks,
international acquisition of oil and gas assets, emerging areas such as shale gas
and coal-bed methane, and the oil- and gas-sector-related possibilities of ‘Make in
India’.6 He also endorsed the importance of human resource and its development in
various ways; it can be possible only after major investment takes place in the country
simultaneously. The tweet was discussed as part of his economic agenda under the
scheme ‘Make in India’ programme, wherein multinational companies were asked
to set up plants in India.
In another tweet, he asked the people to #CleanTheStatue of leaders in their sur-
roundings under the scheme of ‘clean India’ programme. Interestingly, the people’s
response was more enthusiastic and they posted to show their sincerity. The tweet
pursued people to participate in the social cause to make the statues clean in their
surrounding locality. Moreover, Mohit Jain, one of followers of #CleanTheStatue
cleaned the statue of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.7 The matter of the fact was that the call
made by PM Modi was to preserve the sanctity of the surrounding statues irrespective
of political ideology or leaders. The aim of the programme was to involve people
in the cleanness drive as part of healthy living standard and to promote Mahatma
Gandhi’s vision of cleanness some extent and create a communication bridge with
people on such issues which have never been promoted as political issue in the past
in such holistic ways.
Another follower, Avinash Jain uploaded his picture of cleanness, wherein he
cleaned the statue kept in his dining hall though, he conceived the call made by Modi
in different ways rather cleaned the surrounding statues. Instead, he was interested
to clean the dining hall statue in his home and participated in the call made by Modi
according to his understanding. He sent the message through the statue (intimate
relationship).8 He sent the message to look around in one’s vicinity first and that
the cleanness drive should not be restricted to only a specific space and place rather
should be open to all areas.
The construction of news is inevitable on Twitter when followers take the call
according to their understanding. Similarly, the tweet was further interpreted in mun-
dane political shape and size. In between, Modi inaugurated ‘National Youth Day’
in Chhattisgarh via video conferencing and termed it as ‘National Youth Festival’.
Modi pursued the youth to incorporate the teachings of Vivekananda in their life
and build the nation and contribute their best. Henceforth, he also asked the youth
to ensure their best in daily affairs. However, the programme was criticized on the
grounds that it sought to promote a political ideology. In another tweet, Modi con-
gratulated the winners of ‘Smart City Challenge’ and extended his warm wishes to
6 For more, see, [http://pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pms-interaction-with-global-oil-and-gas-
experts/, last accessed March 23, 2016].

7 #StatuecleanMohit Jain @ mohitjain777 Jan 28, 2016, last accessed Nov 1, 2018.
8 #statueclean-Avinash Jain @ avinashjain Jan 28, 2016, last accessed Nov 1, 2018.
all the participants and asked them to participate in the implementation of trans-
formation of urban India. This tweet was too political in nature and promoted his
flagship programme ‘smart city’, wherein hundred smart cities were supposed to be
built. He added another tweet in which he sent his best wishes to the National Disas-
ter Management Authority (NDMA) and acknowledged the contribution of Swami
Dayananda Saraswati and his social reforms efforts in the enhancement of education
in the country. The tweet was considered as a part of his political and sociocultural
affiliations. He also greeted the people on the occasion of Basant Paschmi (arrival
of spring season).
In another tweet, Modi greeted Indian scientists on signing an agreement with US
National Science Foundation in order to do mutual experiment on Albert Einstein’s
gravitational waves theory. The agreement was signed during Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi’s US visit for the Nuclear Security Summit, following which India will
have a new Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).9 LIGO
shot to fame earlier this year after its scientists proved the gravitational waves theory
of Einstein. In February this year, scientists observed ripples in the fabric of space-
time called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the
distant universe (see, Footnote 9). In another tweet, Modi said that 5279 villages have
been electrified. Excellent work has been done by the Power Ministry in Bihar, UP,
Odisha, Assam, and Jharkhand. Meanwhile, he recalled his statement made from the
Red Fort in 2015, in which he called for the electrification of all remaining villages
in 1000 days (18,452 villages).
However, the next tweet was too political when he met HH Mohamed Bins Zayed
Al Nahyan (King of UAE, then).10 He acknowledged the avenues of India-UAE
cooperation are immense and called very fruitful meeting which discussed bilateral
issues.
On 27 February 2016, in his tweet, PM went through his monologue ‘Mann Ki
Baat’ and told the students to give examinations without any pressure and to try their
best. The tweet came before the examination season was supposed to start. ‘Mann
ki Baat’ is a radio broadcast of Modi to establish better and regular communication
with peoples over different topics. The programme is often broadcast on Sunday.
The programme has, however, been criticized by the opposition political parties and
classified as a false stunt and misuse of ‘public resources’.11
In his next tweet, Modi shared his meeting with the delegation of Aligarh Muslim
University (AMU) and listened to the concerns of delegation on the ongoing tussle
between the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and the university
over issue of minority status of the university and opening of academic window in
Kerala.12 The tweet was considered as a last resort when the university administration
reached out to PM Modi to resolve the issue with HRD Ministry. The tweet was
9 For more, see, [https://gadgets.ndtv.com/science/features/india-to-become-central-to-ligo-

gravitational-waves-project-820579, last accessed March 16, 2016].
10 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Narendra Modi @narendramodi Feb 11, 2016.
11 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Narendra Modi @narendramodi Feb 27, 2016.
12 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Narendra Modi @narendramodi Mar 5, 2016.
political in the sense that when the HRD Ministry was adamant to take away the
minority status of the university and Government often said that they do not proceed
with Muslims with appeasement policy. Thus, in such a context, the meaning of the
tweet was political.
Moreover, on account of improving the infrastructure, Modi emphasized on the
growth and development of the port sector and further said that we are working
towards improving the average vessel turnaround time at major ports, at par with
global standards. In continuation, Modi tweeted that reviewed key infrastructure
projects including in power, coal, housing, port sectors, and Digital India in a meeting.
Though the nature of meeting was administrative, the tweet was politically motivated
and attached with development and growth he promised during the election in 2014.
In addition to this, he echoed the rural electrification work and considered it as the
first stage moving towards development. He acknowledged the work done by the
concerned Ministry.
In another tweet, the PM shared his Pokhran visit in Rajasthan, to celebrate
and witness the Indian Air Force (IAF) Fire Power Demonstration ‘Iron Fist
2016’—where at least 181 aircrafts of the IAF participated in the exercise opera-
tion in the border city of Pokhran. The same day another tweet appeared when he
endorsed a copy of the Gita from Shri Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja, Head,
ISKCON.13 Tweet sent multiple messages particularly religious message.
In another tweet, Modi shared his meeting with Dr. K. P. Yohannan, Metropolitan
Bishop, Believers Church, Kerala (see, Footnote 13).
On World Sufi Forum, Modi tweeted as ‘We need to reject any link between terror
and religion. Those who spread terror in the name of religion are nothing but anti-
religious’. The message made in the awake of World Sufi Forum (World Sufi Forum
is an extraordinary event, giving the message of peace, tolerance, and love. Glad
to have attended.) in New Delhi, where he recalled the role of Sufism as ‘glorious
traditions and ethos of Sufism, which celebrates diversity and pluralism. He also
spoke of India’s historical association with Sufism’ (see, Footnote 13).
Modi sent extensive tweets and almost every day he made some tweets to remain in
touch with people through his tweets. His tweets reflect his day-to-day involvements
in the governance. He never retweets. The nature of tweets made by him can be
categorized as—political, administration, and governance. But, the basic idea of
these tweets was politically aware peoples and politically motivated them (including
opposition political parties) and his followers as well.
Modi shared photographs of all those events because photographs speak more
than mere words and therefore wherever possible he tweeted along with photographs.
Photographs construct politics easily. The case of AMU issue which was somewhere
interpreted as against BJP’s policy, the stand of Modi and sharing with delegates
of AMU signalled a thaw in the controversy for a while. Similarly, sharing the
photographs with ISKON chief again signalled a sectarian identity but being PM
it was also his duty to share such a great moment. Similarly, in World Sufi Forum,
where he emphasized that there is no linkages between religion and terror meanwhile
13 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Narendra Modi @narendramodi March 18, 2016.
further, he said, terrorist have no religion and never discussed both together at any
platform, peoples should avoid both to mixing together.
4.2.2 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Arvind Kejriwal
Arvind Kejriwal also re/tweets every day and some of them attract public attention
for different reasons (Appendix L). Arvind Kejriwal send re/tweets unlike the other
five selected politicians in the study. The study found his first retweet was about
when his political party Aam Adami Party (AAP) moved to periscope, one of SNSs,
to expand the reach of the ‘odd–even initiative’14 on social media and briefed about
the policy and asked people to support it. Further, he acknowledged his party workers
who were continuously working for the betterment of the people in the city. In next
tweet, Kejriwal drew flak on the functional style of Municipal Corporation of Delhi
(MCD) and alleged that MCD had become a bankrupt organization, which was
unable to pay salaries to employees and therefore did not have the right to continue.
Instead, he asked that the MCD should be dissolved at earliest and asked for fresh
elections in MCD. Although, when elections were held for MCD, BJP won with
majority in all four zones of Delhi and AAP suffered a huge loss despite being in
power in Delhi. The tweet was a shadow of the ongoing struggle for control over
the MCD between Central Government and Delhi Government. The allegations and
counter allegations between them surfaced with various political interpretations and
representations across social media.
In another retweet, he indirectly attacked on BJP in the name of ‘Adarsh Gram
Yojna’ (model rural project) and asked the BJP to evaluate the implementation status
of the ‘Smart City Project’. The intent of retweet was to undermine the ‘Adarsh
Gram Yojna’ in which BJP had plan to develop model rural project, which AAP
criticized and said let look the status of past project including ‘Smart City Project’
rather inaugurating everyday a new project without being evaluated the past project.
The original tweet stated ‘smart siti project ko meri subhkamnaye lekin Kendra
Sarkar se appeal jara ‘Adarsh Gram Yojna’ ki halat par bhi nazar dorayee’ (My
congratulations on smart city project, but an apeal to the Central Government must
look into the Adarsh Gram Yojna also).
In his next retweet, Kejriwal pays tribute to soldier Hanumanthappa who died
in avalanche attack in Siachin glacier.15 However, the opposition political parties
criticized the Central Government on the death of soldier by avalanche and asked
Central Government to ensure the safety of soldiers in Siachin Glacier (world’s
highest altitude conflicts zone between India and Pakistan). Later on, Kejriwal made
14 Odd–Even policy was traffic-related policy, particularly in winter when pollution slow down the
movement of traffic in Delhi. The Policy provides alternative arrangement to monitor the traffic
movement in Delhi and allowed odd–even number plate vehicle in which one day is exclusively
reserved for odd number plate vehicle while another day for only even number plate vehicle on the
road to avoid traffic congestion.
15 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Arvind Kejriwal @Arvind Kejriwal Feb 11, 2016.
another tweet and briefed about completion of one year in power in Delhi and his
achievement to one of Hindi daily newspaper–Navbharat Times (see, Footnote 15).
He gave the answer regarding odd–even policy and his next plan how to improve
traffic conditions in the city as well as water and electricity supply condition.
Through another tweet, Kejriwal attacked the Central Government for not giving
enough support to his Delhi Government rather Central Government created everyday
a new administrative hindrance through lieutenant Governor (LG) (Najib Jung, then)
in day-to-day governance in Delhi. He attacked on Modi and said that he used LG to
create administrative hindrance (see, Footnote 15). Meanwhile, Kejriwal retweeted
more than tweets. In one tweet, Kejriwal asked question from his political opponents
that let evaluate his ongoing projects based on cost incurred in the project with his
previous Government, as well as his efforts to minimize the corruption. However, he
assumed the power with the promise to eliminate corruption from public offices.
In another retweet, he used the tweet of Ashish Khetan, AAP leader that ‘will Modi
ji in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ (speak by heart) address the issue of Murthal gang rapes
and questions asked by Rohith Vemula’s grieving mother?’ and further retweeted
another one, ‘is the move to rope in Sachin Tendulkar and Vishwanathan Anand for
Mann ki Baat a desperate ploy to revive Modi ji’s sinking TRPs? More importantly,
will it work?’ In both retweets, Kejriwal asked questions raised by his fellow party
members through tweets as to why Modi had not said anything else on his Sunday
radio broadcast (Mann Ki Baat) regarding the death of Rohit Vehmula and Murthal
Gang Rape case where his BJP Government was nothing more than a spectator and
had not taken any precautionary measure to save both of them. Moreover, the re/tweet
was basically asking direct questions—why did Modi use Tendulkar and Anand in
his Mann ki Baat on radio broadcast? The contents of re/tweets of course carried the
same politics which every political party seeking answer from opposition political
parties. The re/tweets were politically laden attempts to push the Modi lead Central
Government on the issue of death of Vehmula and Murthal rape victims and why
was not proper action taken to avoid the incidents.
Kejriwal and Modi, both took charge in Delhi in two different political posts.
Modi assumed the office of PM of India while Kejriwal assumed the office CM of
Delhi. Both posed strong opposition to each other whenever got such moment. But,
Modi never attacked on Kejriwal except during Delhi Assembly election rally in year
2015, while Kejriwal often criticized Modi for political reasons. Both remained in
the news for different reasons whether what they promised during election or to get
rid of corruption or unemployment and bureaucracy.
In another retweet, Kejriwal used tweet of Atishi Marlena, AAP leader, wherein
she galvanized the efforts made by Delhi Government in improving the status of
Government-funded schools in one year of Government in Delhi. She tweeted ‘chang-
ing schools, changing lives!’, Delhi is seeing a transformation in its education sys-
tem. Under the hashtag of (#OneYearOfAAP), Kejriwal counted the reforms he had
undertaken in the last one year in his Government, and education was given utmost
priorities. In another tweet, Kejriwal tried to pacify the agitated students of Indra
Prastha University over fee hike and ordered his officials to withdraw the fee hike
order with immediate effect. He tweeted, ‘learn the fees of all colleges of Indra
Prastha University has been hiked. Students agitated’. And further in his next tweet,
Kejriwal appealed to students through tweet—‘my dear students, please don’t worry.
I have asked education department to roll it back. Study well. Best wishes for your
exams’. He realized the gravity of the issue and did not want any agitation against
his Government, particularly from students who had supported him during election.
Therefore, he judged the mood of the students and immediately asked the concerned
department to withdraw fee hike notification.
However, there are four central universities, two state universities and many private
universities in Delhi and none of them hiked fees except Delhi administration IP
university. So, he evaluated the issue on political ground which can be used as political
tool against his Government and asked for a rollback. Education is one of the populist
areas where he promised improvements, and therefore keeping all this in mind he
made tweets and tried his best to pacify students.
In another retweet, Kejriwal tweeted that ‘I am proud of you Amirji (Amir Khan,
Bollywood film actor), I requested Modiji to take action against Barkha, Rana,
Rajdeep, and Abhisar who spread venom’. The tweet was in response to Amir Khan’s
tweet which appeared on daily newspaper Indian Express ‘India is tolerant, but PM
Modi must stop those spreading hatred’. Since the BJP came to power, the discourse
around hatred has been discussed in both the political and cultural senses. Similarly,
here, the intent of the tweet of Amir Khan was one side, and he is applauding Indians
for their tolerant behaviour; but, at the same time, he questioned on Modi that his
Government must take actions and became active to check the growing hatred in the
society. Moreover, for such tweet, the followers of Modi administration trolled Amir
Khan badly. But, Kejriwal made tweet in sarcastic sense and applaud Amir Khan for
such courageous tweet when he questioned Modi administration.
In the next retweet, Kejriwal, forwarded Smriti Irani’s, (then HRD minister) tweet
when she acknowledged everyone for Yamuna Expressway accident episode. Later,
the issue became politicized when the allegation surfaced from the victim family who
lost their father in the accident. The accident was occurred when minister’s convoy
collided with victim’s vehicle on Yamuna Expressway and due to this collision victim
lost his father. Although, the victim alleged that the minister does not show her
enough kindness and not helped as much what victim expected from HRD minister.
The opposition leaders criticized the Minister for her unkind behaviour. However,
she denied such allegations and said she had taken the possible assistance and asked
the local administration to take over the case.
With Re/Tweets about Kanhaiya Kumar–JNUSU president, Kejriwal attacked
Central Government for manipulating the issue and further, he retweeted the tweet
of Sudhir Chaudhary (news anchor on Zee News) ‘Afzal praymio ke lye tu aaj hi
janamsthami hi-desk me ek naye neta ‘kanhaya’ ka janam hua hi; Kanhaya ko
apna nayak aur neta banae ke lye badhai’ (Today is Janamasthami for Afzal’s
lover–Kanhaiya, a new leader born in the country. Congrats who made Kanhaiya
as their leader. He further retweeted an image from India Today mail where leaders
of opposition parties carried Kanhaiya Kumar in basket in similar manner what
happened to Lord Krishna in his childhood.16 The root of the politics lies in the
political discourse irrespective of political ideology when everyone interpreted the
same story according to own vote bank politics.
Henceforth, in another retweet, he tweeted in Hindi ‘@anupampkher ji apne
congress ki papu ki sab ki band bajai mera zikra tak nhi kiya..kiya yahi tolerance
hi’ (Anupam jee you attacked Pappu (Rahul Gandhi) and others but not me, is this
tolerance?) In a lighter mood and sarcastically attacked on Anupam Kher (supporter
of Modi administration) that you (Anupam Kher) often criticized everyone but not
me, is this tolerance politics?
In the next re/tweet, Kejriwal attacked Modi Government for using investigating
institution for divisive purposes and tweeted as ‘can the Prime Minister explain
this? CBI reports directly to him. What does PM want?’ The Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), which is the premier investigating agency in India and the agency
is being misused by the Central Government for divisive politics (see, Footnote 15).
The matter came to the surface after the CBI raid on the office of personal secretary
of Kejriwal. This made Kejriwal fume over Central Government and alleged that
Modi administration was using the CBI for defaming him.
Kejriwal also criticized the Modi Government for increasing 1% excise duty on
Jewellers and asked to the Modi administration to roll back the decision.
The involvement of Arvind Kejriwal was visible on Twitter through his re/tweets
which enabled him to corner his opponents. He retweeted more than tweets and
expressed his version of thinking on different political issues very clearly and openly.
He used the social media (Twitter) at best to counter his opponents. Among the CMs
in India, he was one of the technocrat CMs who used social media for political score
and he was among first generation of politicians who used social media for political
purposes.
4.2.3 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor was probably the first Indian politician who used Twitter and popu-
larize Twitter among politicians (Appendix L). The study found that Tharoor did not
re/tweet on 5 January 2016 and considered an exceptional day when he was away
from his Twitter account. But on 28 January 2016, Tharoor wrote re/tweet. He shared
the blog of Tanweer Alam (TOI)17 where he raised the question of silence of Muslims
over the death of Rohit Vehmula. The blog was an open letter and Tharoor agreed
with the questions raised by Tanweer Alam, and therefore he shared that Muslims
should come forward and extend their support to the movement of justice for Rohit
Vehmula (Appendix G).
16 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Arvind Kejriwal @Arvind Kejriwal March 5, 2016.
17 For more, see, http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/rohith-vemulas-death-was-
an-opportunity-for-indian-muslims-to-express-solidarity-with-other-underprivileged-groups/, Last
accessed, March 22, 2016
In another tweet, Tharoor shared his meeting with Prakash Jha, Bollywood film
Director and Kerala DGP Sen Kumar and addressed a national conference on com-
munity policing on ‘why community policing should be a core strategy’ (Image 4.1).
The issue attracted many critics over time regarding how to check and create confi-
dence within the society against increased crime in the state.
In his next tweet, he ‘addressed an International Youth Summit in Thiruvanan-
thapuram. Key policy idea: listen to youth on what they need’. He favoured to listen
to the youth and came out with solutions and asked political parties to give them
political respect (Image 4.2). The organizer of the conference celebrated the year
2016 as year of Youth to attract the attention of every stakeholder of the society.
He shared another re/tweet, wherein he participated in ‘Make in India’ week in
Mumbai, he retweeted the tweet of Ritu Beri, fashion designer. The initiative of Make
in India is one to make a global presence for India (Image 4.3).
Make in India is a flagship initiative of the Government to pursue and convince
multinational companies to open their production units in India in order to partic-
ipate in the economic development of the country and to increase the employment
opportunities for the youth. He participated in Fashion week in Mumbai where fash-
ion designers presented their designs and discussed the infinite opportunities in the
fashion industry in India.
In next tweet, Tharoor made explicitly clear and was involved in the discourse
when many of national politicians avoided the issue to say something but Tharoor
openly said ‘yes, I am in favour of women’s entry to Haji Ali and all places of
worship’. The women entry issue indeed drew political attention and almost all
Image 4.1 National conference. Source From Twitter A/C of Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor
January 28, 2016
Image 4.2 International

youth summit. Source From
Twitter A/C of Shashi
Tharoor @ShashiTharoor
January 28, 2016
Image 4.3 Global design

and innovation. Source From
Twitter A/C of Shashi
Tharoor @ShashiTharoor
January 28, 2016
sections categorically supported the entry of women in the inner sanctum area in
the Dargah of Haji Ali where women are not allowed to go. Such discrimination
was fought by women’s organizations and they moved the Supreme Court and won
the case. Unlike other politicians, he also extended his grief on the death of Lance
Naik Hanumanthappa who died in an avalanche in the Siachin Glacier and tweeted
‘saddened to hear of the passing of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. His young life was
devoted to service and his brave struggle for life gave a nation hope’. This issue
raised many issues including the living conditions of Indian soldiers, particularly in
glaciers locality. His tweet showed the variations of his thinking and his activeness
on Twitter.
The next tweet he shared was the quote of Mahatama Gandhi where the crux was
that happiness is nothing other than the resemblance of thinking and its practices
in daily life without overlapping to each other. He shared this in order to motivate
his followers and his way of life as well as where he tried to coordinate between
thinking and action (Image 4.4). His re/tweets show his engagement in local politics
that became his daily routine and he tweeted ‘the familiar routine of constituency
events: the lamp; the prayer; the speech; the shawl. Almost never varies…’ Of course,
he made the tweet in lighter mood rather the intentions to criticize and shared this as
a part of the monotonous practice which is almost going the same way.
In another tweet, Tharoor made a rhetoric comment on HRD minister (then,
Smiriti Irani) that ‘Kyunki mantra bhi kabhi saas thi!’ (Minister was mother in law
as well). The incumbent minister was TV actress and became popular by her TV
serial ‘Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi’ that gave her the identity of a ‘bahu’ (sister
in laws) who often had issues with her mother in law in the serial. The message of
the tweet was to show her arrogance when her convoy was involved in an accident
on the Yamuna Expressway. The tweet was part of his political criticism of the then
Image 4.4 Credo of M. K.

Gandhi. Source From Twitter
A/C of Shashi Tharoor
@ShashiTharoor February
28, 2016
minister of HRD in her biopic sense. The episode became contentious across political
parties and all opposition criticized her who was active on Twitter.
Tharoor re/tweeted Dalia Ezat’s piece of article, the discourse emerged prior the
US election 2016 when Donald Trump vociferously attacked on Islam in order to
polarize voters in the election. The intent of the retweet was to make followers look
at the politics of polarization and its extent. Hence, he tweeted ‘Dalia Ezat which
country should you move to if Donald Trump is elected president?’ The Republican
candidate Donald Trump was successful to polarize the voters which is a phenomena
that Tharoor wanted to share with Indians. In continuation, he retweeted Bhanu
Dhamija’s article ‘Why India Needs the Presidential System’ where he forwarded
a different thinking apart from his political affiliations but forwarding any article
on social media including Twitter is not a guarantee that one has accepted all its
arguments. In the article, Dhamija argued for Presidential system to choose the head
of State like US system (Appendix H).
In another tweet, Tharoor raised the question in Parliament and asked ‘why the
Enemy Property Bill sets a bad precedent’ and shared as ‘Rajya Sabha decided not
to pass the controversial Enemy Property Bill, which the BJP had pushed through
the Lok Sabha over my objections, preferring to bring it to a select committee for
closer scrutiny’ (Appendix I).
Again he tweeted on the same issue in different packaging as to why we can’t
have ‘uninterruptable talks with Pakistan’ despite being many problems or inconsis-
tencies from Pakistan’s side. According to this tweet, he firmly believed in bilateral
dialogue and which should not be derailed. He also advocated to go with and tweeted
as ‘Muslim League in Kerala is not the party of anti-national’. In the Conclave
2016 India Today where he and Amit Shah, National President of BJP were present,
they discussed both local and International issues and pushed their ideologies. In
another discussion on Article 377 (Indian constitution) pertaining to homosexuality,
the Rashtriya Sevak Sangh (RSS) had favoured to implement Article 377 and asked
that the Government must ensure this. Shashi Tharoor shared tweet as ‘stimulating
@ndtv debate on Sec. 377 raises provocative issues’ and further shared the view of
one of tallest leader of RSS’s Datta Hosable sense on homosexuality.
In a significant statement that overturns the Sangh Parivar’s conservative view of same-sex
relations, RSS has come out in support of decriminalising homosexual relationships, saying
sexual preference is not a crime as long as it does not impinge on the lives of others. Speaking
at the India Today conclave on Thursday, RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale
said, “Why should RSS have an opinion on homosexuality? It is not a crime as long as it does
not affect the lives of others. Sexual preferences are personal issues.” The categoric statement
by the BJP’s ideological mentor raises the hope that the Government could push to rescind
the colonial era law (Section 377 of IPC) that makes homosexuality a crime though opinion
in most political parties is loaded against same-sex relations. The top RSS functionary’s
comments come in the wake of BJP MPs taking the lead to vote out Congress MP Shashi
Tharoor’s private member’s bill seeking to decriminalise homosexuality in Lok Sabha at the
introduction stage itself.18
18 Formore, see, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gay-sex-not-a-crime-says-RSS-raises-

hopes-of-government-rethink/articleshow/51449298.cms, (Last accessed March 24, 2016).
Shashi Tharoor sent versatile re/tweets that reflected all stages of political lives
ranged from local to regional to national to international politics. He touched upon
all the facets of politics. He firmly spoke in favour of engaging with Pakistan and
improving the relationship with neighbouring countries. He was the only Congress
Party member who was included in the study to reflect the view of his party, though,
views are personal and Congress had nothing to do with such views.
4.2.4 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Subramanian Swamy
The most controversial politician who joined the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), recently
(2013), and known to speak against the Gandhi (Sonia/Rahul Gandhi) family is Sub-
ramanian Swamy. (Appendix L) The re/tweets made by him comprise very diverse
issues. He uses Twitter frequently and almost every day re/tweeting something and
sharing his day-to-day engagement with peoples. The nature of re/tweets made by
him was mostly politically motivated in varied levels. In the selected dates, on 5 and
28 January 2016, Swamy made a number of re/tweets to show his enthusiasm about
the ‘Ethics Committee’ of Parliament (Lok Sabha). He tweeted that he ‘met L. K.
Advani and his daughter, had a nice chat and excellent coffee and offered to appear
before the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha’. The issue was about Rahul Gandhi and
his British citizenship issue when Swamy complained to the concerned authority
regarding to verify his claim. The same issue has been raised in the Lok Sabha, and
therefore the Ethics Committee issued a notice to appear before the committee to
record his statement. He shared his statement and offered to appear before the Ethics
Committee chaired by L. K. Advani. Swamy re/tweeted the nomenclature of the
Ethics Committee and indirectly shared the possible outcome from the committee.
He shared the nomenclature as ‘Ethics Committee has 15 members. Headed by L.
K. Advani. 8/15 from BJP. 11/15 from NDA’ and implicitly shared the position of
NDA against Rahul Gandhi.
In another retweet, Swamy shared his TV debate along with others which com-
prised diverse political background on recent attacked on Pathankot as ‘should heads
roll for (#Pathankot Attack?) Does buck stop with Doval? @Swamy39 @DrAM-
Singhvu @Virsinghvi @AjaiShukla big debate at 9 PM @ibnlive’. Moreover, in
another retweet Swamy disclosed that ‘@Jodhpur News Coverage—5 January, pujya
sant shri Asaram Bapuji ki peeravi karne aaye shri (Swamy appeared in Jodhpur
Court for Asha Ram Bapu, who is in jail past three years against sexual molestation
case-charged by one of his disciple).19
The case of Asha Ram Bapu became contentious between Congress Party and
BJP, with both the parties divided over the issue. While the BJP charged that he was
framed in a false case, the Congress decided to keep distance from any unnecessary
political issue. Therefore, in an undisclosed agreement both BJP and Asha Ram Bapu
hired Swamy as lawyer to fight his case in the court.
19 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Subramanian Swamy @Swamy39 January 5, 2016.
In another political and economic issue, the BJP Government criticized the UPA II
Government for irregularity in the allotment of spectrum which caused a financial loss
to the country, and has been a contentious issue between and the BJP and the Congress
Party. Swamy tweeted in order to create awareness about the politically sensitive case
and tweeted as ‘#Aircel Maxis case to be heard by SC next week’ (Appendix E). He
often shared such cases involving the Congress Party or his party’s leaders or those
who may be against the BJP because most of his re/tweets are politically motivated.
Moreover, in his next tweet, Swamy sought permission from the LG of Delhi to
prosecute both CM Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in a corruption
charge.20
Again, Swamy shared a contentious issue where the Congress Party and some of
the party leaders were involved as ‘only 7…each must be representing 7 accused in
National Herald case’ (Appendix F) and in another tweet he shared that the ‘now
trial starts from 20th February for framing of charges’. Swamy also shared this
enthusiastically because the case was against Congress leadership and further he
tweeted as ‘trial will go on unimpeded with TDK Buddhu and five others held Prima
facie guilty of fraud, cheating, breach of trust’. He often used the word ‘Buddhu’ for
Rahul Gandhi since 2014 when he emerged as a strong contestant for the post of Prime
Minister against Narendra Modi. Across the political spectrum, there is a general
understanding that Swamy was behind the National Herald case which involved
running after the Gandhi family for political purposes. He greeted his followers and
shared a retweet as ‘good morning JNU aka Jehadi Naxal University’.21 He spelled
JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) differently in order to attach the ongoing politics
as JNU is known for its left ideology. In between all this news aired with his name
considered for the post of Vice Chancellor of JNU when the tenure of incumbent VC
would end. Again, news appeared where he put conditions for VC, if his name were
to be considered for that. But Government did not agree to his conditions which he
demanded.
On 17 February 2016, Swamy shared his next involvement when he was to meet
(Karyakartas) workers of office bearers of Ram Mandir (Ram Temple) for future
course of action and retweeted Ashish Shetty as ‘Dr@Swamy39 at @vhsindia UP
Karyakartas meet at #Lucknow today along with other national office bearers #Ram-
Mandir’.22 He often shared such news which he considered politically sensitive and
which can attract viewers and users on social media and the main stream media. The
Ram Mandir is considered to be a contentious issue between both Hindu and Muslim
communities. He shared the news intentionally in order to gear up the issue of Ram
Mandir during the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly election. The most contentious
issue of Indian political space and BJP raises the issue of Ram Mandir almost in
all elections and assumed to the power in both in the state and the Centre as well.
However, BJP won UP Assembly election 2017 with huge majority after polarization
of votes on religious ground. The Ram Mandir politics is considered as one of key
20 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Subramanian Swamy @Swamy39 January 28, 2016.
21 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Subramanian Swamy @Swamy39 February 11, 2016.
22 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Subramanian Swamy @Swamy39 February 27, 2016.
issues of the BJP with which BJP experimented in all elections within the state and
outside the state since 1989. The issue of Ram Mandir shaped the communal politics
in the country and simultaneously shaped the identity of UP as ‘heartland’ of Indian
politics (Moinuddin 2017).
Swamy went for a day trip to Kanpur where Congress supporters opposed his
visit and shouted slogans against him which he shared to his followers as ‘Swamy’s
car pelted with eggs and tomatoes in Kanpur, protesters also threw ink and waved
black flags’ and further in his next tweet he asked people of Kanpur that why they are
throwing Tomato and Egg in very rhetorical sense as ‘dear Kanpur Cong workers:
Tomato I understand it is around Rs. 15/kg but why eggs—One piece is Rs. 5–10 will
reimburse?’ (see, Footnote 22) In the tweet, he asked the supporters of Congress that
why throwing so costly eggs or does 10 Janpath will reimburse it? 10 Janpath was
the official resident of Sonia Gandhi, implicitly he targeted leadership of Congress
Party for such protests against him in Kanpur.
Continuing to make political attacks on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Swamy
again tweeted and informed his followers that ‘seeing unruly behavior of Congi
(Congress) goons I will move the SC to make TDK and Buddhu bail and exemption
given on Congi behaviour as in JJ case’. Swamy shared another tweet where he
targeted P Chidambram (PC) to sue him in a contempt case and asked as ‘If the
Attorney General (AG) does not file Contempt Petition against PC on Ishrat issue
then I will. PC had tried to frame Namo and Amitji. Hence intolerable’. He openly
asked the AG to file a contempt case against PC, otherwise, he would not let him
free and he will file case against him who tried to frame both Narendra Modi and
Amit Shah. In another politically sensitive issue, he tweeted as ‘Maran gone is PC
next?’. The main aim of Swamy’s tweet was to send a political message to both his
political opponents. He is not going to let them free.
Meanwhile, in the middle of all these controversies, he shared his aspirations of
becoming the Finance minister to improve the financial conditions of the country in
an interview on TV news channel on topic what he is expecting from Budget-2016
(see, Footnote 22). He often criticized (Arun Jaitely, Finance Minister) for political
reasons.23
On 5 March 2016, he tweeted ‘my Indore public meeting today’24 to speak on
Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and subsequently he retweeted ‘DrSwamy39 speaking
at Indore on issue of Uniform Civil Code organized by Dr Hegdewar Smarak Samiti
to overwhelming responsive crowd’. UCC is too contested issue unlike Ram Mandir
issue in Indian political arena. He shared many photographs of the meeting which
peoples enjoyed his speeches.
He retweeted ‘JNUSU blames @Swamy39 for their problems’. If that’s true,
I congratulate Swamiji for it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS9AX8rvYhg).
The controversy of JNU further intensified when he (Swamy) said that JNU should
be closed down for four months. This created much furore in the political circle. He
23 For more, see, [https://www.pgurus.com/swamy-expectations-budget2016/, Last accessed March
25, 2016].
24 Formore, see, From Twitter A/C of Subramanian Swamy @Swamy39 March 5, 2016.
found that JNUSU is giving a bad name to the university and therefore advised his
Government that JNU should be closed down for four months in order to neutralize
the campus.
On 18 March 2016, Swamy shared photographs of his meeting with family mem-
bers of Bhinderwala, who had been gun down by Indian Army during Operation
Blue Star in 1984. His visit was politically motived, and he criticized the Operation
Blue Star and tried to bring back the issue to flare anti-Congress sentiments prior to
the schedule of Assembly election 2017 in Punjab.25 However, the Congress Party
won the election with a huge majority.
Swamy retweeted a tweet in which he had been portrayed as ‘the Donald Trump
of Indian politics’ because he often used tough language to criticize his opponents. In
another tweet, he raised the discriminatory policy of Church when the Church asked
for explanation from a member of the Irinjalakuda diocese as to why he wished to
marry a Hindu woman. The issue was against personal choice and the discriminatory
policy which invited political attention of the media and politicians as well prior the
Assembly election which was due in the state.
Stirring up a controversy, the Irinjalakuda diocese of the Catholic Church has sought an
explanation from one of its members for marrying a Hindu woman. Benny Thommana
belonging to the St Joseph’s Church at Oorakam had married Lija Jayasudhan 10 years ago.
The couple follow their respective religions. But Benny was in for a shocker when he got
a letter from the diocese in March 2016, seeking an explanation for marrying against the
sacraments of the church. He was asked to appear before a special administrative tribunal
of the church. The marriage was registered under the Special Marriage Act on February 7,
2005. “I have not done anything against the law. We are being threatened. We want to lead
a peaceful life,” said Benny.26
The intention behind sharing such a tweet was nothing other than to make political
score or in search for political issue in the election ridden state, wherein left liberals
having edge over right wing politics. He retweeted ‘Swamy ji ne ma bête ki raato ki
neend haram kar rakhi hai’ (Swamy become nightmare for Gandhi family), wherein
he revealed every day something about Gandhi family irrespective of social, political,
economic, and religious (see, Footnote 25).
After a long time, he asked from his Government to fulfil the demands of fishermen
and tweeted ‘Modi must take up demands of fishermen’ and demanded that fishing
be recognized at par with agriculture and further he tweeted that ‘fishing should be
recognized on a par with agriculture: fishing being established as an allied subject
of agriculture has made it remain a department under the Ministry of Agriculture for
the past 67 years of Independence. Though called an allied subject of agriculture,
fishermen have not enjoyed the benefits or concessions that the farmers are enjoying’,
he said in a statement.27
25 For more, see, From Twitter A/C of Subramanian Swamy @Swamy39 March 18, 2016.
26 For more, see, [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Church-seeks-explanation-from-
member-for-marrying-a-Hindu/articleshow/51448139.cms, last accessed March 19, 2016].
27 [http://m.thehindu.com/news/national/modi-must-take-up-demands-of-fishermen-swamy/
article8366624.ece, last accessed March 21, 2016].

The re/tweets of Subramanian Swamy have made many politicians uneasy, specif-
ically the Gandhi family. The tweets and retweets are designed to attack the national
leadership more than the regional leadership. He often re/tweets in search of political
issues to benefit his political carrier and BJP as well. The re/tweets he shared often
belongs to communal nature and politically sensitive.
4.2.5 Political Mapping of Re/Tweets of Sushma Swaraj
Sushma Swaraj made re/tweets when it required or being capacity of Minister of

External Affairs (Appendix L). Among selected politicians in the study, Sushma
Swaraj made least re/tweets. The selected dates do not coincide with the re/tweets
made by Swaraj. Swaraj is active on Twitter to send humanitarian help in her official
capacity. She tweeted in response to a call from Warsaw, Poland and asked the
concerned officials to help. She replied to the tweet as ‘our embassy in Warsaw
has informed me about the demise of Arun Ramachandran an Indian student from
Kozhikode who was studying in Latvia’. She followed the issue and tweeted that
‘They will send his mortal remains to his family in Kozhikode at the earliest’. She
had taken the call as being of utmost importance and immediately tweeted as response
when she came to know the demise of Indian in Warsaw and need authorities help to
send the dead body back to his parental city at earliest. In another tweet, she replied to
a query of an anonymous person (@bmanish777) that there is no need to be in panic
and she said, our ‘Indian embassy in Oman has also got in touch with his employers.
The embassy will provide all assistance’. She has responded all such responses.
The nature of tweets has been official and she delivers her duties of being the head
in the office by helping the needy as and when required. Therefore, the study found
that every tweet sent by her carries a specific message and gives direction. Unlike
others re/tweets, the nature and contents of her re/tweets are completely different
in orientations. Similarly, when she was looking a missing person in Djibouti and
conveyed her grievances to an anonymous person as ‘our Camp office in Djibouti
is trying to ascertain the whereabouts of Father Tom Uzhunnalil so that we can
secure his release’. In another tweet, she informed in response to a query that ‘we
closed Indian embassy in Yemen after operation RAHAT was over’. The operation
RAHAT was started by Indian coastguards and navy to rescue those who were caught
in the ongoing civil war in Yemen. In another tweet, she shared her engagement
with the delegations from Pakistan which she tweeted as ‘bilateral after ministerial!
with Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz’.28 She shared photographs when
she was along with other members of Pakistani delegations in an official meeting.
Further, she tweeted about her next meeting with ‘India’s most favourite nation in
all seasons Maldives Foreign Minister Ms Dunya Maumoon’ (see, Footnote 28). She
shared photographs of meeting held between the two counterparts. The intent of such
tweets was a bilateral understanding between the two nations.
28 For more, see, From Twitter A/C from Sushma Swaraj @Sushma Swaraj March 18, 2016.
The nature of Sushma Swaraj’s tweets is official and administrative and involves
her directing the concerned officials to look after the concerned cases. The contents
of re/tweets are simple and clear without a political touch, with the sole intent being
to console the aggravated person and reduce grievances at the earliest. She uses her
Twitter handle to respond to queries that people may have. Some of her re/tweets
also show her humanitarian attitude.
4.3 Conclusion
Twitter has become a political tool and politicians use it to share whatever they find
suitable whether political or otherwise. The study considered five Indian politicians
who are popular among Twitter users for political reasons. The contents of re/tweets
were political in nature to attack their opponents; but, at the same time, the tweets and
retweets are posted in three different categories—administration, governance, and
political. The politicians share posts on the Twittersphere to show their engagements
to bind followers for political purposes.
The next chapter discusses the digital political revolution based on surveys col-
lected from small groups of experts who are familiar with the functioning style of
the Twittersphere and other social networking sites in the country.
References
Moinuddin S (2017) Mediascape and the state: a geographical interpretation of image politics in
Uttar Pradesh, India. Springer, Switzerland
Chapter 5
Digital Political Revolution in India
Abstract Social media has generated a broader set of implications across the world
and set a new predicament for communication dialogue and involvement. Here, we
examine, measure, and predict the likely changes in day-to-day political communi-
cation among politicians through social media particularly Twitter, between voters
and politicians, has shaped the political discourse in spatio-temporal dimensions and
to what extent has it been revolutionized.
Keywords Social media · Twitter · Like · Follower · Political
5.1 Digital Revolution
There has been no moment in the past when the media environment was static.
The changes brought through the Internet and the subsequent rise of social media
presents a change from the previous order. At the present time, Twitter has become
a political tool to share the political discourse. Political scientists have long known
that differences in the way information is propagated can generate changes in the
political behaviour of large populations (Converse 1962; Kernell 1994; Prior 2007).
The most catalytic effect of this shift in Information Technology (IT) is in the amount
and timeliness of the information available (Kinder 2003). There is a substantial
difference between the media environment that existed in the 1930s, a time when
newspaper circulation reached one out of three Americans, and the 1960s, when
television became almost universal (Prior 2005). In India, the ‘digital divide’ is
wider between rural and urban spaces, though the gap has reduced over a period of
time (by the year 2020) in the wake of the expansion of communication networks
and low-cost mobile phones.1 However, the television was particularly influential as
it brought information directly into a visual medium which is easier to digest and
more effective than the previously available medium such as printed news (Graber
2010). The shift from traditional media to social media is because there are a host of
options to comment on the post.
1 Liberalization
policy (1991) made many changes and reduced digital gaps wherein role techno-
logical developments, economic policy shaped the communication industry in India.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6_5
82 5 Digital Political Revolution in India
The growth of social media is not simply an improvement in communication

technology but rather a foundational change in how people communicate, not just
between each other but with political actors and institutions. All of the technological
changes affect how we communicate with each other. In this sense, social media is
not only a huge leap in efficiency but is also a substantively new way to interact.
Each previous advance in communication technology influenced how we chose our
leaders and even why we chose our leaders. It is no accident that the visual medium
of television has led to an electoral advantage for taller candidates (Sommers 2002).
Nonetheless, we suggest that social media while is a progression on this continuum,
it is not just another step but rather a leap into a fundamentally different environment
because of the nature of the communication. Online social networking is a change
of a different order and will create a new paradigm by redefining who each citizen
talks to and how, when, and why that communication occurs.2
Social media is a two-way communication system. It allows the users to not only
choose what network they want to be a part of but also whether to be active participant
in the network. In the age of social media, the user is considered as the news creator
and not simply as a receptor, while in the past it was considered as just a viewer. This
ground-shifting advance creates an entirely new way to view politics and the values
attributed to advertising and campaigning during election times. Different political
behaviours are incentivized including short video messages and virtual town halls,
while some traditional behaviours, such as printing and mailing physical brochures,
are no longer as useful or productive. Social media creates interaction across the
boundary and diminishes the boundary between developed and developing, rural
and urban and literate and illiterate.
This study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods to decode the
responses of different sections of peoples including politicians and media personal-
ities. The study entails the general perception of respondents about why politicians
shifted towards digital politics through SNSs (social networking sites). The survey
took place in a national seminar with both politicians and media personalities were
interviewed.
The true story of social media is multiplied when many apps are added to facilitate
the people and their needs for different reasons. Twitter is one of the digital medium to
express the idea with others therefore politicians endorsing. Hence, over time, Twitter
emerged as an effective channel for strategic political campaign during election time,
as seen during the 2014 (Parliament election) and 2015 (Delhi Assembly election).
The use of social media was inevitable and Twitter became a fundamental medium
to convey or to share understanding over an issue. Twitter made a substantial change
to the social media system in both how information is reported and distributed with
significant implications. The political implications alone are substantial to understand
the popularity of Twitter in politics. Tweeting is becoming popular among Indian
politicians to share his/her positions irrespective of issues.
2 Gainous and Wagner (2014, p. 4).

5.2 Political Mapping of Twittersphere 83
5.2 Political Mapping of Twittersphere
A larger shift occurred in the application of social media (Twitter). Twitter emerged an
alternative to Facebook where politician messages considered as an official message
irrespective of nature. For example, Former President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
has been invited by Rashtrya Sevak Sangh (RSS) to speak in the annual gathering of
volunteers of RSS at Nagpur on 7 June 2018, while he accepted the invitation. The
acceptance of invitation became so contested and many of Indian Congress Party
leaders expressed unhappiness that why Pranab Mukherjee participated while he is
veteran and one of old guard of Congressmen in the country and has been promoted
up to the President of India as well as carried many portfolios during Congress
Government. However, in whole episode, Twitter was the lone medium which has
been used by both sides to expressed their views while from Pranab Mukherjee side
his daughter Mrs. Sharmishtha Mukherjee tweeted to put forth his opinion. ‘It was
reportedly at the instance of Mr. Gandhi’s mother, Sonia, who was the party’s top
boss till December that Mr. Mukherjee was questioned for his voyage to Nagpur on
Twitter last night by top Congress strategist Ahmed Patel.’ ‘I did not expect this from
Pranab da,’ Mr. Patel tweeted. It wasn’t just former colleagues who offered public
remonstrance. Mr. Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee, who is a member
of the Congress, said, also on Twitter, that while Mr. Mukherjee’s speech would be
forgotten, the visual imprint of his visit would linger damagingly.’3
Social media has generated a very broad set of implications wherein anyone can
share issue irrespective of social, cultural political, and geographical. This study
looked up the media as medium to examine, measure, and predict the likely changes
in day-to-day political communication.
Television was particularly influential as it bringing information directly into a
visual medium and this made it easier to digest and more effective than previously
available medium including print news (Graber 2010). Social media became a pop-
ular medium across the sections of people and politicians, because of two ways
communication where audience/reader can respond to the comments as tweets or
retweeted without any delay. The growth of social media is not simply an improve-
ment in communication technology but rather a foundational change in how people
communicate, not just between each other but with political actors and institutions
whether to lodge complain or allegation or to express their feelings. All these tech-
nological changes have determined how to communicate with each other and how
this became phenomenal since the advent of SSNs. Social media is providing a space
to those who are more vocal and even those who are not.
This study discusses the views that are familiar with the functional style of social
media and closely watched the ongoing trends in the SNSs including Twitter. The
study assumed that everyone is aware about Twitter, tweets/retweet, and its political
implications. During the survey, every participant had a smart mobile phone and the
Twitter app. However, around 98% of the respondents stated that they used social
3 Formore, see https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pranab-mukherjees-rss-date-today-as-daughter-

tweets-resentment-1863683, last accessed June 7, 2018.
media for different purposes. The respondents agreed that the popularity of any issue
is determined by how much the issue has been liked or shared or in other words,
how long it has been in trend. The number of likes or shares matters in social media
because in a democratic society, the number itself is a responsible factor to determine
the popularity of a person. People follow politicians because of so many reasons either
for political ideology or to know the perspective apart from their political ideology.
Both likes and shares are considered as an attribute of social media which is
shaping and reshaping the contents of social media. The users are using social media
is because of such attributes that shape the features of social media. However, these
attributes-follower and like-work in the shape of texts or pictorial messages-are
considered an extension of mediated politics wherein users like or follow someone
for different reasons. Hence, it needs further research as to why someone follows
or likes another on social media. Around 53% agreed that Twitter works in the
formula of likes and followers while 47% did not agree and rather believed that
it is a mere notion to represent the popularity. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds
of the respondents believed that most of the politicians switched over to Twitter to
establish a better communication with followers to propagate their political ideology.
The motive behind this is to like or to become follower is an open vent which cannot
be answered very easily rather it is considered as ‘social capital’–the popularity of
an individual that increases over a period of time based on mutual understanding
to move simultaneously without overlapping the interests of others. Sometimes,
followers retweet the same content to expand the horizon of the post across the
users or open new vista for new users. Thus, like and followers on social networking
sites shape the reach of the post. During the survey conducted, the study found that
respondents were divided over the issue of likes and follower in proportions of almost
half-half: they felt that it does matter in the business of Twitter (around 53%) while
close to half of them (around 47%) did not agree and rather considered it is merely
an optional notion and not a compulsory notion or binding on someone else. Almost
every respondent agreed that Twitter helps politicians and around 83% politicians
used Twitter for political purposes (Appendix/Graph 5.1).
Twitter emerged as one of the popular SNSs among politicians where they can
share their views instantly compared to traditional media (Gainous and Wagner
2014). With time, Twitter expands its horizon to be used as the official platform by
authority or agencies. The use of SNSs has increased among politicians, and every
political party has tried its best to become familiar with SNSs. In India, national
political parties are better equipped with social media while regional political parties
are trying to exploit it. Twitter is a new medium, and most politicians still do not
believe that it can be a powerful medium and rather consider it as only technology.
However, the BJP leadership has accepted the technological changes in the country
and most of them have Twitter accounts and they have regular features on social
media. Moreover, the leaderships of other political parties are too accepted to use
Twitter, but this is taking place at a slow pace since most of them belong to an older
and less technology-savvy generation. The Indian National Congress (INC), India’s
oldest political party, is not as adept in the usage of social media as the BJP and
is trying its best to recover and tap voters of new generation—those who lived on
5.3 Political Facets of Social Media 85
Graph 5.1 Facets of Twitter. Source After survey, 2016
social media at mundane capacities. The politics through SNSs (Twitter) has become
inevitable in the Indian political space.
5.3 Political Facets of Social Media
The popularity of social media has multiplied in many ways. Every two out of three
people have social media apps (Twitter) on their mobile phones. The study found
that almost every respondent used social media and considered social media played
a catalytic role towards shaping and reshaping the political discourse in the country.
However, around 66% respondents believe that the social media plays an instrumental
role for political propagation while 34% think differently and do not subscribe to
the utility of social media towards shaping and reshaping of political discourse.
Instead, they consider it as a mere a medium and nothing more than that. When the
respondents were about their associations with political parties and politicians on
social media, around 74% agreed upon that the functional attributes of social media
do play a crucial role shaping the political discourse while 26% did not agree and
believed that these attributes are a mere icon and not binding upon the users either
to accept it or reject it (Appendix/Graph 5.2). The user is free to follow or like any
post but, follow or like only those to whom they felt comfortable or in other words,
political ideology does matter in most of cases whether to follow/like or not.
Around 59% agreed that political affiliation does matter in expressing solidar-
ity whether to follow the contents or not while 41% do not subscribe to such an
understanding. Instead, people may like the post without any political deliberation
or political affiliation. They simply like it because of the content of the post or some
other reasons which can be considered as a tool to create an understanding of how
many people simply liked or followed. This ultimately also depends upon the fol-
lowers who make it travel by directly or indirectly linking with the shared post. The
Graph 5.2 Facets of social media. Source After survey, 2016
use of social media and other SNSs has increased because of its user-friendly nature.
‘Change in our political system is an inevitable result of the rise of the internet and
SNSs use in particular as the penetration of this technology increases, successful
political actors will harness it, and the late adopters will fall behind’ (Gainous and
Wagner 2014: 158). The popularity of SNSs is not because of human-friendly gad-
gets or because anyone can operate it very easily. It is popular because it provides a
vent to express what was absent in the early mediated gadgets such as the provisions
to make comments, to criticize, to applaud, to share, to like, etc.
Poster (1995) differentiated between the ‘new media’ and the ‘old media’, and
characterized new media as ‘active’ while old media is ‘passive’. Digital mapping
of SNSs creates production, distribution, and consumption of contents that shares
information in a loop.
Politicians use social media as a platform to share views and political reason.
Social media has become embedded in the day-to-day lifestyle (Appendix/Graph 5.3)
to share views either in the capacity of personal or political or cultural or economic,
etc. During the survey, the respondents pointed that Facebook (59%) is popular
because of its familiarity in daily lifestyle and easy to operate along with established
as public platform over time. The popularity of Twitter (2%) is least while WhatsApp
(35%) was noted among respondents (Appendix/Graph 5.4) along with ‘others’ (4%)
variants of social media (WeChat, Instagram, etc.).
Political parties/politicians use social media for politics/political purposes.
Although the content varies in nature and looks alike in specific fold or trends
on Twitter, it is often considered for political purposes. When respondents were
asked to identify the issues discussed across the SNSs, they marked political issues
(69%) followed by ‘others’—personal (22%), cultural (9%) and religious issues
(0%). However, the contents of religious are too found across the SNSs and are
visible in mundane shape and size (Appendix/Graph 5.5).
The content across the SNSs is varied in nature, and the respondents too were
suspicious about social media and it’s every day changing role but they agreed that
5.3 Political Facets of Social Media 87
Graph 5.3 Politicians used

social media. Source After
survey, 2016
Graph 5.4 Popular social

media sites. Source After
survey, 2016
Graph 5.5 Contents on

survey, 2016
Graph 5.6 Purposes of

survey, 2016
political contents are prevailing across the SNSs including Twitter, also. ‘The impor-
tance of social media in the political sphere is based in part on how we consume and
understand information’ (Gainous and Wagner 2014: 106).
Across SNSs, there is ample ‘flow’ of information which was found in significant
ways. During the survey, respondents agreed that political information was available
in significant ways and the contents of informative knowledge were followed by
cultural and peer group information along with personal information in mundane
size (Appendix/Graph 5.6). Respondents agreed that across SNSs, there is ample
flow of information which can be treated as informative of varied ranges. Social
media is considered as an information hub wherein the volume of information is
available in varied shape and size and can be used for different purposes.
When asked further about politicians and what they are supposed to be doing
on social media. The response was not patterned, and respondents were divided.
Almost everyone agreed that the politicians joined social media to contact peo-
ples and to share views on different issues whether it is directly connected with or
not. In fact, they joined social media to share contemporary political issues and to
know the responses on the shared posts. The basic difference between social media
and other media is that social media provides a vent to share in terms of reac-
tion, comment, observation, and criticism which is absent in main media where no
such option available. In other words, politicians use social media primarily to save
their political interests and to share their political understanding/ideology and others
(Appendix/Graph 5.7).
In the age of social media, the role of politicians has changed and they are com-
pelled to live updated either for political reason or to make political score over
opponents. The study observed politicians shifted towards social media to improve
their own image (political) followed by other interests.
5.4 Conclusion 89
Graph 5.7 Political

patterns of social media.
Source After survey, 2016
5.4 Conclusion
Social media provides mundane choices as well as opportunities to be used either in a

positive way or misused for various purposes. It opens new avenues for politicians to
share and to shape the political narrative. As a result, social media appears to provide
open communication with limitless choices, but in escaping media filtering, the SNSs
have provided a fertile ground for the politicians to influence the contents (Gainous
and Wagner 2014). The myth of social media depends on its attributes—like and
followers—and both provide a new lease of life. Both like and followers represent two
different segments and work in two different directions and sometimes contradicts
each other, in some issue when followers do not hesitate to criticized the person
whom they are following. Moreover, it works as a weighing machine on social
media to measure the reach of the post and to some extent the political weight of
politicians. Politicians joined social media to enhance their personal credential more
than political affiliation, although political affiliations become secondary for him/her
to represent. Meanwhile, the contents of political activities and political discourse are
found in abundantly on social media. During election time, the use of social media
by politicians/political parties are inevitable and often noticed in myriad portrayals
around the spatiality in the country.
The next chapter will discuss the digital political economy with reference to the
growing digital culture in India. Digital culture became inevitable since the expan-
sions of digital gadgets particularly smart mobile phone which have shaped the digital
culture in the country. It is necessary to understand the facets of digital economy that
how it works and for whom it works. The Twittersphere is an extension of the digital
economy, and over a period of time, it has become an inevitable communication app,
popular among professionals, celebrities, and politicians. In order to understand the
dimensions of the digital political economy in the country, the next two chapters
(sixth and seventh) discuss two different orientations to highlight the importance of
social media. Therefore, these chapters discuss to understand the political mapping
of the Twittersphere and how it became a political tool over period of time in the
country.
References
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26(4):578–599
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Chapter 6
Digital Political Economy of India I
Abstract Culture may be expressed in various ways through religion, language,

dialects, festival, attire, cuisine, and livelihood. Culture is an essential part of life
when every person follows it to some extent in different ways. Culture can be termed
as being inseparable to or may be seen as a vital aspect that shapes an individ-
ual’s identity. Apart from the traditional cultural traits, digital culture is becoming
inevitable in daily activities, wherein the role of gadgets is witnessed in a variety of
ways. The dependency on digital gadgets has increased over a period of time.
Keywords Digital culture · Political economy · Network society · Internet
6.1 Negotiating Digital Culture
Digital culture is a way to perform day-to-day cultural practices with the help of any
digital device. The cultural transformation is shaped by digital devices over a period
of time. During the 1990s, across the public and private offices, it was observed that
people began using ‘Hinglish’ (a combination of Hindi and English languages) as
a language to communicate with each other. ‘Hinglish’ was used to communicate
in day-to-day communication to create a working office atmosphere. Such cultural
traits have been shaped by TV serials, which also play a great role.1 The expansion of
TV across the households and liberal economic practices has allowed the technology
to shape the working culture in the office. At the same time, Television serials have
further shaped the social understanding towards an average-looking girls in the office
or in the society after Television serial “Jassi Jaisi Koi Nhi” (No one like Jassi) (during
year 2000) which was popular among viewers (Moinuddin 2010). The attitude of
society towards average-looking girls and social changes has been further shaped,
wherein role of TV was incredible. Hence, TV (through serials and advertisements)
laid the foundation of cultural transformation in daily practices parallel to consumer
culture including video games in the country.
1 During 1990 when speaking Hinglish became popular across the TV shows particularly in office
scene, wherein both Hindi and English used to communicate each other and considered as standard
language to enhance the productive culture across public and private offices in India.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6_6
92 6 Digital Political Economy of India I
The popularity of video games among children and adolescents is well known,
and hence the popularity of cartoon networks and other cartoons characters was too
prevalent among children. At the same time, playing games through apps has also
become popular over time. In both public and private places, it was often visible
that people play video games irrespective of age, class, religion, and gender. An
example of this is visible in Delhi metro where people are often busy with their own
mobile phones and most of the time are either playing games or watching videos.
One can amuse themselves by seeing a man running with a bike/car on video games
or by playing some other games on his/her mobile phone. Why is this the case?
How have gadgets changed the public and private places? Meanwhile, apart from
playing games, listening/ watching songs/video/movies have also become popular
across public spaces/places. How have gadgets became an important part in daily
activities? The popularity of video games is found among all age groups of people.
There are many types of games, but some of the games are popular among people
irrespective of age and gender. The games are: ‘Temple Run; Rail Rush; Jet Pact
Joyride; Subway Surfers; Pitfall; Into the Dead; Agent Dash; Run Like Hell; Totem
Runner; The EndApp,’ etc.
For example, the game ‘Temple Run’ was developed by Imangi Studios. According
to gadget.ndtv.com, analysed about the game ‘right from day one, Temple Run has
been a huge hit among the masses for its simple gameplay, missions and the one
motive that keeps you hooked: keep running. Your reflexes are put to the ultimate
test as you navigate through cliffs and ruins by sliding, jumping, turning, and tilting.
Collect coins to unlock various characters, abilities, and power-ups that can be put
to good use during the game.’2 In public and private spaces, it is often visible that
even older people are playing games. It is still unknown as to why people do so. It
may be possible that people are playing in order to avoid boredom or being engaged
or to avoid stress. The imagination of an individual is shaped for while when he/she
for a moment starts to play the game and feels unlike the peer group he/she belongs
to. The achievements are represented through how much he/she scored in the game
and gives the person some sense of juvenile feeling that shapes the attitude or boosts
the confidence which may be contrary to day-to-day activities.
The digital culture has been further shaped in two ways—online and offline. Peo-
ple chat and share something through apps or social media, i.e., Facebook, What-
sApp, Twitter, Google+, Wechat, Hike, etc. Apart from social media (online) when an
individual playing/listening/watching something else may influence attitude to some
extent. Offline is a static way when an individual store’s information in the system
and uses it during leisure time. The online shapes the daily activities in a certain way
when an individual shares his/her anguish and anxiety and wishes for the same from
the other side too. The daily activities include cuisine, attire, language, religion, and
other habits as well. The Internet has shaped the network society where people are
connected to each other for various purposes and share information with each other.
2 Formore see, http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/features/top-10-non-stop-running-game-apps-for-ios-

and-android-341845 (last access, January 23, 2016).
6.1 Negotiating Digital Culture 93
In ‘Network society’ (Castells 1996/2000), it has been argued that networking and
communication technology plays a vital role in social, economic, political, and cul-
tural contexts. Network society works in three ways or is comprised of three aspects:
more than two nodes (points), multiple ties between them, and the flows between
the nodes and along the ties which maintain the network. Castells (1996/2000: 412)
draws an explicit link between the morphology of the network and the process of
globalization, which he calls ‘the spaces of flows’–‘is the material organization of
time-sharing social practices that work through flows’-‘nodes and hubs’.
Network society works in a horizontal way and shared knowledge is either in text
or pictorials have spatial, social, economic, political, and cultural influences. The
connectivity between two nodes (points)/people are shared knowledge when it was
directed between both of them. So, whatsoever, communication happens between
them is restricted between them and both acknowledge that knowledge and net-
work connectivity play an inevitable role in this process. Whenever the connectivity
between more than three nodes (points)/peoples is shared, the third person is sup-
posed to share such knowledge even without direct connection as digital technology
provides such features. When connectivity is through multiple ways and knowledge
is shared equally at every node it can benefit everyone equally. Network society is a
virtual society, wherein people share knowledge without knowing each other and the
role of digital gadgets is to spread the knowledge horizontally. Thus, digital culture
is a by-product of the network society where people are connected through gadgets
and sharing their knowledge.
Network society further shapes the virtual ‘public sphere’ where peoples share
their feeling irrespective of politics, cultural, social, economic and geographical
issues. Network public sphere emerged as an alternative public platform where people
share their views openly. People have also started writing blogs which is a platform
to share personal views. The blogs are often named to reflect the knowledge and
meeting place of like-minded peoples who are distance away from to each other.
Habermas (1974) argues that people during medieval often gathered at saloons, coffee
houses, and other public places to share their opinions and to know what is going in
the surroundings. The same activities are still very much practiced in the marginal
spaces (countryside) where modern means of Government has not reached so far.
The ‘Anna Hazare movement’ (2011), Nirbhaya episode (2012), and Rohith Vem-
ula 2016) discussed in many folds including caste, class, and religion in India. Social
media shaped social, cultural, and political discourse because every person can con-
sume some amount of mediated knowledge that is shared and discussed across the
digital media in various ways. The Blogosphere emerged as a virtual public sphere
where people share his/her state of mind even without disclosing their real identity.
The expansion of social media and popularity of gadgets irrespective of features
are providing ample opportunity to read, write, and criticize on certain issues. The
case of Rohit Vemula has been discussed across the SNSs at length. The discussion
can be understood as digital activism. The digital activism takes place when people
are outspoken with the help of SNSs. Since the case of Rohit Vemula surfaced in
the media, the issue discussed in various dimensions and people termed it as cultural
clash or caste clash which still continues in the country. The social media shaped the
discourse as per the need of an individual either to sympathize with the issue or to
speak against it. The issue sustained over two weeks and was discussed across the
social media in shapes of digital activism. People have made digital gadgets their
weapons to participate in the discourse even away from the physical space. It seems
it was digital culture that shaped the movement and made the voice stronger. The
people made their voice heard with the help of gadgets.
The digital culture3 is growing across the society. People use various modes of
social media platform to express their ideas and every day a new issue surfaces on
social media and some of them get acknowledged while other remain unacknowl-
edged. For example, in India, a malicious CD caused communal riot in the district
of Muzaffar Nagar (in the year 2012) which caused both human lives and property
loss, however, the CD was seized by the police but by the way it caused the social
conflicts between the two communities—Hindu and Muslim in the region of western
Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, sometime, social media became a very delicate subject
and it needs to be regulated otherwise it can cause both human lives and property.
Such things are often reported from various parts of the country when social media
became contentious in order to spread the false, malicious, and rumour contents in
myriad colours. But, at the same time, social media is also promoting digital culture
which benefits across the society irrespective of class, caste, education, profession,
religion, and gender.
The digital culture is growing as cultural traits unlike other daily cultural practices
when people use gadgets to share their feeling in mundane ways anguish or solidarity.
The digital culture is a way of life when daily acts are determined by these gadgets
irrespective of shape, size, colour, and features. People use these gadgets for their
day-to-day practices. So, to a certain extent, culture has taken a digital turn and it
was inevitable for culture to be shaped by digital in the society. Such digital turn
shaped as result of digital gadgets which became inevitable over period of time and
as result the identity of an individual is gradually changing as well, wherein role of
digital gadgets is critical.
6.2 Digital Identity in Everyday Life
What is identity? How it is different from ‘digital identity’4 ? To what extent has
digital identity shaped everyday life? And, how does digital identity become an
everyday phenomenon? The identity has peculiar characteristics of an individual
when it reflects or is attached to an individual or groups in certain ways over a period
of time. The identity might be cultural, political, social, economic, and geograph-
3 Digital culture is unlike other cultural traits when an individual supposes to consuming or using
more ICTs gadgets in order to enhance or be compatible in and around the spatiality at best. For
more, see, Miller (2011).
4 Digital identity is constructed identity wherein both online and offline shapes where both texts and
pictures represents either in anonymous or known ways. For more, see, Miller (2011).
6.2 Digital Identity in Everyday Life 95
ical as well. This section considers culture as an inseparable part of an individual,

particularly the political and religious identity.
Identity is a mix of cultural contexts linguistics, dialectics, religious, festivals,
cuisine, attire, etc. These cultural aspects change over time under the influence of
globalization, privatization, and liberalization. How does and to what extent does
social media change the day-to-day cultural contexts? Social media has become
inevitable, nowadays, and everyone consumes some amount of media bites in differ-
ent proportions. Thus, cultural identity has become an important issue in the media
age.
Identity is a constructed phenomenon. Media becomes a major driving force that
is shaping and reshaping identity every day. Digital identity is indeed a new identity
through which technology allows an individual to associate with technology to meet
day-to-day requirements. The media is a digital product that has been shaped from
analogue to digital over period of time. The products of digital media are around
us in myriad shape and size. Every person carries some amount of digital products
including mobile phone, laptop, and tablets. Nowadays, no one can think a day
without a mobile phone and it has become so important in our cultural life cycle.
How have mobile phones and other gadgets shaped our cultural attributes in such a
manner?
Descartes emphasized on ‘mind’ and ‘self’ while Aristotle inferred the superiority
of ‘mental life’ and Plato suggested the ‘pure forms’, not the substance of material
world which were considered as a part of identity construction. However, by the
1980s and the 1990s, these essentialist modes of thinking were being challenged
by post-structural philosophers such as Barthes, Derrida, Lacan, Foucault, Deleuze,
and Guattari. Derrida suggested and deconstructed the notion of the ‘self’ and made
the point that it is always temporal and unstable effects of relational differences.
Derrida further pointed that it is based on two bipolar hierarchies like man/woman
or black/white. Lacan influenced by Derrida decentred the ‘self’ and pointed out
that ‘self’ is based on language. However, language is shaped over a period of time
and they get acquired as self-consciousness. Foucault suggested that identities as
constructed within discourse of historical contexts and by institutions with specific
practices (Miller 2011: 160).
Identity becomes a ‘constructed’ phenomenon, and it is subject to spatial and
temporal contexts or at present time, gadgets are shaping identities in dimensions
in order to fulfil the spatio-temporal needs. Miller (2011: 181) summed the digital
identity as: ‘self-representations was almost exclusively text-based; online social
environment were largely anonymous, or characterized as being such; there was
seen to be little integration between ‘online’ and ‘offline’ spheres, which included
the view that online identities were ‘disembodied’ and therefore free from embodied
identity discourse’.
Moreover, Miller (2011: 182) pointed out following that how identity is performed
in the age of internet.
• All online environment increasingly dominated by images and, in particular, self-

representation based on images, particularly photographs, at the expense of textual
self-description.
• Mainstream online social environments have become more ‘nonymous’ in that
social networking profiles, in particular, have become tools to represent and aid
‘offline’ selves.
• As a result, there has been an integration of ‘offline’ and ‘online’ frames or life
worlds in a way that leaves little room for identity play or decentred identities’.
Instead, there has been a centring of the online self within the embodied, offline
self. Instead, there has been a centring of the online self within the embodied,
offline self.
Digital culture has been discussed around self and network technology where ‘all
manners of contacts, friends, and family members from different contexts and stages
of life are kept up to date through the use of static and mobile technologies’ (Miller
2011: 182).
Digital culture has become contentious because it is changing everyday and poses
a new identity of known or unknown. Digital identity is also established through the
means of using patterns when a person is using a particular mode of apps that are
known among their peer groups with distinct names. For example, the use patterns
of an individual which vary person-to-person. Network society shapes the digital
culture when an individual or groups make close cooperation for certain causes in
order to execute the project. For example, in the Indian case, religion is inevitable in
cultural practices. Digital culture is about people using digital gadgets for religious
practices and making gadgets more inclusive to satisfy the religious needs. How can
the identity of an individual be changed particularly when gadgets are placed around
the human beings to serve public and private needs? Every person in Delhi carries a
mobile phone. Mobile phone has become an instrumental gadget that shapes digital
culture.
6.3 Political Economy of Digital Culture in India
The expansion of digital culture in India can be understood through two ways—first,
the business of gadgets, specifically the business of mobile phones, and second, the
policy of the Government of India in order to promote the ‘digital India’ programme.
The popularity of mobile phones among people is already established by different
research studies. The Economic Times newspaper (Delhi edition, 3.2.2015)5 pub-
lished a report about the estimated growth of mobile phone industry in the country
(Appendix W).
Moreover, in order to promote digital practices in day-to-day use, the Govern-
ment of India launched digital India as an initiative to ensure Government services
5 See more details, http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-02-03/news/58751662_1_
networking-index-mobile-users-population (last access, January 25, 2016).

6.3 Political Economy of Digital Culture in India 97
on an online platform. Digital India programme was launched on 1 July 2015 by

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative includes plans to connect rural areas
with high-speed Internet networks. Digital India has three main core components.
These include:
• The creation of digital infrastructure
• Delivering services digitally
• Digital Literacy.
A two-way platform was created through which both service providers and con-
sumers will benefit. The programme is monitored and administrated by the Digital
India Advisory group chaired by the Ministry of Communication and IT, and it is an
inter-Ministerial initiative where all ministries and departments offer their services
to the public such as Healthcare, Education, Judicial, and Information. The pub-
lic–private partnership model was adopted selectively, and the plan was to restructure
the National Informatics Centre (NIC) as well. The Digital India programme was
one of the most ambitious projects of the NDA Government.
Digital India (DI) schemes include the following works with connecting the rural
areas as the top priority. Broadband connectivity in 0.2 million village, universal
phone connectivity, Net Zero Imports by year 2020, 400,000 Public Internet Access
Points, Wi-fi in 0.25 million schools, all universities; Public Wi-Fi hotspots for citi-
zens, Digital Inclusion: 17 million trained for IT, Telecom and Electronics Jobs cre-
ation: Direct 17 million and Indirect at least 85 million e-Governance & e-Services:
Across Government. India to be leader in IT use in services—health, education, bank-
ing digitally empowered citizens—public cloud, Internet access. The Government of
India entity Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) will execute the National
Optical Fibre Network project which is a part of the Digital India project. BBNL
ordered United Telecoms Limited to connect 250,000 villages through GPON to
ensure FTTH-based broadband. This will provide the first basic set-up to achieve
digital India and is expected to be completed by 2017 but delayed for some reasons
and Government is working to complete it before 2019. Optical fibre cables have
been laid out in more than 68,000 village panchayats. Panchkula district of Haryana
became the top-performing district under the digital India scheme. However, the nine
pillars of digital India programme are as (Appendix X);
1. Broadband Highways
2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
3. Public Internet Access Programme
4. e-Governance—Reforming Government through Technology
5. e-Kranti—Electronic delivery of services
6. Information for All
7. Electronics Manufacturing
8. IT for Jobs
9. Early Harvest Programmes.
These nine programmes are own dimensions to provide their services under digital
India initiative; although, the project will enhance the capacity building infrastructure
and service skilled over period of time.
6.4 Conclusion
Digital culture is based on two ways—first, online and offline, and second, the social
media (SNSs). The SNSs are the main service provider where a person can identify
his/her political or religious imagination. Apart from the mediated practices, the
political or religious values in the society do play an important role to put forth an
identity. The identity is a contentious issue and differs from people to people and
society to society. The level of education and technology also determines the making
of an identity. The expansion of network society allows more penetration of digital
values in day-to-day life, and therefore as a result the use of digital products has
increased in all spheres of life including politics/political.
The next chapter deals with the digital political economy of security and surveil-
lance in the making of smart cities in India—how legislative provisions were made
to procure such digital gadgets for different purposes because the absence of such
provisions would certainly impact the growth of digital culture in the country.
References
Castells M (1996/2000) The rise of network society. Blackwell, Oxford

Habermas J et al (1974) The public sphere: an encyclopedia article. New Ger Critique 3:49–55
Miller V (2011) Understanding digital culture. Sage Publications, Los Angeles
Moinuddin S (2010) Media space and gender construction: a comparative study of state owned
and private channels in the post liberalisation period. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle
upon Tyne
Chapter 7
Digital Political Economy of India II
Abstract In India, the urban population is currently at 31% of the total pop-
ulation in the country and contributes over 60% of India’s GDP. It is pro-
jected that urban India will contribute nearly 75% of the national GDP in the
next 15 years (https://www.nbmcw.com/tech-articles/tall-construction/34169-smart-
cities-a-critical-appraisal.html, last accessed May 24, 2018.). Urban centres become
the engine of development and at the same time negotiating with slum, sanitation,
electricity, pollution, health, drinking water, and security and surveillance as well.
Urban centres are becoming the hub of security and surveillance. Moreover, the smart
cities are considered as an intricacy of competitiveness, capital, and sustainability.
These intricacies cannot grow unless security and surveillance mechanisms are not
functional across urban centres. These urban centres have the potential to develop
into smart cities in India and shape the business of the security and surveillance in
multiple folds.
Keywords Security · Surveillance · Smart cities · Mapping · Political economy
7.1 Security and Surveillance
Security is inherently spatial in nature. This does not mean that space/place with
or without security is perfect or imperfect rather that security and spaces/places
are interrelated at micro, meso, and macro levels. The security and surveillance
are placed to make places safer or are considered as an utmost requirement when
someone feels threat from unknown sources whether directly or indirectly. Security
is about protecting one from invisible threats including terrorist threats which are
often noticed across the urban centres. Security is a way of protection when a sense
of safety prevails over spaces/places. Security can be understood through a power
dominion as well or in other words, it is a spatial struggle or it can be summed as
‘third space’ (Soja 1996, 2009).
The chapter discusses how security and surveillance are shaping the growth of
smart cities in India. Security and surveillance closely monitor the lives at public
and private transport, defence centres, industrial centres, airport, cyber centre, and

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6_7
100 7 Digital Political Economy of India II
business district or centre/market, etc. The sense of security must prevail at every
level. The authority must ensure safety at every public space/place. The transporta-
tion system should equip itself with safe and modern technology to provide better
security (Kumar 2015). Moreover, authorities should take such safety cognizance
at all. Since 9/11 attacks, India authorities have issued directives to strengthen the
security measures to avoid such attacks. Similarly, there are natural calamities apart
from terrorist attacks which can cause loss of human lives and property as well. The
frequent occurrence of natural catastrophes can damage or hamper the growth of
smart cities, and therefore, there should be a strategy to tackle such issues as well.
India has around 38 cities, which are highly prone to earthquakes, and almost 60% of the
country’s entire landmass is prone to seismic activities. In such a scenario, the potential
destruction by an earthquake measuring anywhere above point 6 on the Richter scale is
beyond imagination. Also, according to the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, increasing temperatures can result in sea levels rising by 82 cm (32 inches)
due to melting ice, creating a threat to coastal cities of the globe. The proposed 100 smart cities
therefore cannot risk not being equipped with disaster management solutions, or ignoring the
potential of surveillance technologies to predict a calamity, which in case of an emergency
(natural or man-made) can help in saving more lives and ensuring that the city doesn’t come
to a standstill1
In order to tackle such natural calamities, the National Disaster Management

Authority (NDMA) has been constituted in India which aims ‘to build a safer and
disaster resilient India by a holistic, proactive, technology-driven, and sustainable
development strategy that involves all stakeholders and fosters a culture of preven-
tion, preparedness, and mitigation.’2 NDMA too uses the security and surveillance
technology to keep constant vigil on the natural catastrophes to reduce the damages
to a minimum level. Hence, the selection of cities for the project of smart city needs
to be evaluated with precaution and prevention measures as top priorities.
The Government of India announced the development of hundred smart cities
in the country over the next few years. This list included the cities mentioned in
Table 7.1.
These selected cities have their own geographical location, and some are even
known as million cities in India.3 The selection of these so-called smart cities has
geographical importance to provide services in the surrounding territoriality. In fact,
these cities have primary infrastructure on which modern smart cities can build.
These cities are known for some specific functional activities as well. The functional
aspects of these cities are further shaped after security and surveillance measures
were implemented in both quantitative and qualitative ways. The functional identity
of the city and the people is reshaped after security and surveillance measures are
operational. Such functional aspects shape the territoriality also or in other words,
1 For details see, Report published in show daily 2015, exhibition and conference, Pragati Maidan,
New Delhi, May 20–22, 2015,
[http://www.smartcitiesindia.com/pdf/Smart_Cities_India_2015_Show_Daily-21_May_2015.
pdf, last accessed Oct. 30, 2015].
2 For details, see [http://ndma.gov.in/en/about-ndma/vision.html#, last accessed, April 20, 2016].
3 For details, see Census of India, 2011 (for million city population).
7.1 Security and Surveillance 101
Table 7.1 List of smart cities in India

S. No. Smart city S. No. Smart city
1 Bhubaneswar, Odisha 11 Indore, Madhya Pradesh
2 Pune, Maharashtra 12 New Delhi Municipal Corporation
3 Jaipur, Rajasthan 13 Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
4 Surat, Gujarat 14 Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh
5 Kochi, Kerala 15 Belagavi, Karnataka
6 Ahmedabad, Gujarat 16 Udaipur, Rajasthan
7 Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh 17 Guwahati, Assam
8 Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 18 Chennai, Tamil Nadu
9 Solapur, Maharashtra 19 Ludhiana, Punjab
10 Davangere, Karnataka 20 Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Source The Hindu (newspaper), January 30, 2016
known by specific products or ‘geographical indication’ (Kapur 2016). The selected

cities will graduate as, in which twenty four are capital cities, another twenty four
are business and industrial centres, eighteen are culture and tourism influenced areas,
five are port cities, and three are education and healthcare hubs.4 Thus, every smart
city has its own specialization and develops accordingly along with security and
surveillance measures to do business.
The issue of security and surveillance is discussed across the world. ‘The Septem-
ber 11, 2001 terrorist attacks sparked the largest telecommunication events in human
history and in the process focused attention on the pervasiveness of the digital net-
work infrastructure in today’s cities. While transportation, water, and power networks
are all critical to the proper functioning of a modern metropolis, during crisis and
times of uncertainty communications networks play a critical role in urban survival’
(Townsend 2004: 145).
The demarcation of smart cities is based on an operational and functional mod-
ule which needs specific technology to support the other systems such as water,
sanitation, traffic, electricity, and security and surveillance too. The security and
surveillance gadgets are considered an important technology to maintain law and
order situation in the city at various orders. Fishman (1987) argues that there can be
two ways to use technology across the cities—‘techno-city’ and ‘technoburb’.5 The
4 For details, see [http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/list-of-first-20-smart-cities-under-smart-
cities-mission/article8162775.ece, last accessed April 19, 2016].

5 Fishman (1987) argues that the technoburb is a peripheral zone, perhaps as large as a country and
high-growth corridors, shopping malls, industrial parks, and campus like office all found in the
surrounding vicinity, and in other words, it reflects socio-economic unit too. However, techno-city
is whole metropolitan region that has been transformed by the expansion of technoburb over period
of time, e.g. the growth of Silicon Valley in northern California, Route 128 in Massachusetts, and
the growth of Silicon Valley in Bengaluru (India). Fishman (1987). Bourgeois Utopia: The Rise and
fall of Suburbia. Basic Books (A members of the Perseus Books Group).
spatial expansion of these gadgets will shape the smart cities or, in other words, we
can say that the idea of smart cities is influenced by the political economy of security
and surveillance.
7.2 Political Economy of Security and Surveillance
‘When Narendra Modi announced the idea of creating one hundred smart cities, it
created waves in the video surveillance and security market.’6 The announcement sent
a boost to the electronic markets particularly the scattered security and surveillance
market. Meanwhile, the nature of the security and surveillance market shaped after the
World Trade Organization twin tower attacks. ‘Urban surveillance was not invented
on September 11th, 2001, the day New York City received a devastation attack on
the World Trade Centre twin towers. But the event served to accelerate and widen
surveillance processes that were evident, not only in New York but in major cities
throughout world. Surveillance is now a commonplace feature of city life, but it is
worth considering what is involved in this’ (Lyon 2004: 300). How have security
and surveillance become an urgent need in the age of modern development? These
surveillance gadgets7 became popular technology over time in both developed and
developing countries (Sassen 2004; Mosco 2004; Murphy 2004; Dodge 2004).
In India, more than two hundred surveillance companies function in various vol-
umes while they are servicing under the banner of Electronic Security Association
of India (ESAI), formed in 2013. ‘For the past few years, India’s electronic security
as well as surveillance market has been experiencing significant growth, amidst the
backdrop of rising concerns for safety and security.’ According to an ASSOCHAM
(The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India)8 study, the total
electronics security market in India can be pegged at 325 million INR (Indian
National Rupee) (2012), with an estimated compounded annual growth rate of 25%
during 2013–16. The security and surveillance market in India can primarily be
sub-categorised into four sub-sectors such as the following: video surveillance and
closed-circuit television (CCTV), access control, alarm systems, and other peripher-
als (detectors, scanners, etc.).’9
6 For details see, [http://www.cio.in/article/modi-s-smart-cities-video-surveillance-angle, last

accessed, Oct. 31, 2015].
7 The surveillance technology such as cameras and closed-circuit television (CCTV) can term as
surveillance gadgets.
8 The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) is one of the
apex trade associations of India. The organization represents the interests of trade and commerce
in India and acts as an interface between industry, Government, and other relevant stakeholders on
policy issues and initiatives. For [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASSOCHAM, accessed, Oct. 28,
2015].
9 ASSOCHAM India: Safe Cities- The Indian Story, for more [https://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/
industries/government/safe-cities-the-india-story.pdf, last accessed, Oct. 30, 2015].

7.2 Political Economy of Security and Surveillance 103
The flood of such demands has become possible only after four projects were
sanctioned by Government of India: first, UID (unique identification) scheme,10 ;
second, the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID),11 ; third, the Crime and Crimi-
nal Tracking Network System (CCTNS)12 ; and fourth the Central Monitoring System
(CMS).13 These auspicious projects which needed electronic gadgets for monitoring
purposes changed the nature of security and surveillance and paved a way for private
companies to do business in the country. Meanwhile, the expansion of mobile phones
and UID scheme was to some extent pioneers that shaped the surveillance industry
more in comparison with other surveillance projects. Apart from all these, Informa-
tion and Technology Act, 2008, provided more tooth to the security and surveillance
jobs.
The political economy of security and surveillance pertains to how the secu-
rity measures were conceptualized in day-to-day lives and popularized as necessary
equipments against known or unknown threats; therefore, the surveillance equip-
ments became necessary over a period of time. In India, the installation of CCTVs
started since the year 2002 when airports were covered with these devices. By 2004,
the police urged the banks to install CCTV in order to restrict bank robberies. ‘As
per the market analysis of 2010, the total market for video surveillance in Asia was
estimated to have been worth over $3.3 billion in 2009 and forecast to grow at a
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 15.2% to be worth over $6.7 billion in
2014. In addition, the network video surveillance market in India is currently valued
at USD (US Dollar) 26.1 million and is poised to grow to USD 89.2 million by 2013.
India has the second highest forecasted growth in Asia with a CAGR of 22.1% as
per IMS 2010 Asia report’.14
10 Unique identification Scheme (UID) was multi-aspects projects; later, it was known as Aadhar
programme since UPA I & II Government under Nandan Nilkeni who supervised the programme.
11 NATGRID is an integrated intelligence grid connecting databases of core security agencies of
the Government of India to collect comprehensive patterns of intelligence that can be readily
accessed by intelligence agencies. It was first proposed in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on
Mumbai in 2008 and was yet to establish as of 2014. For more, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
NATGRID, last accessed, May 25, 2015].
12 The Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS) is an important project of
Government of India for creating a comprehensive and integrated system for effective policing
through e-Governance. The system includes nationwide online tracking system by integrating more
than 14,000 police stations across the country. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_Criminal_
Tracking_Network_and_Systems, last accessed May 23, 2015].
13 The Central Monitoring System (CMS) is an electronic surveillance data program installed by
the Centre for Development Indian Government owned telecommunications technology develop-
ment centre and operated by Telecom Enforcement Resource (TERM) Cells. The CMS gives law
enforcement agencies to access to India’s telecommunications network and the ability to listen in
on and record mobile, landline, and satellite calls and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and read
private emails, SMS and MMS and geo-locate people via their cell phones, all in real time. For
more details, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Monitoring_System, last accessed, May 23,
2015].
14 For details, see [http://www.thesecurityage.com/interview_details.php?id=, last accessed, May
22, 2015].
The gradual expansion of the security and surveillance industry attracts criticism
as well particularly when Governments are accused of spying on their citizens at
various levels. Jacob Applebaum15 studied how Government agencies spy on an
individual and how the state is working as a surveillance state. Or, in other words, we
are living in ‘surveillance society’ where each movement is recorded, not because it
is necessary for security purposes rather it considers everyone as a potential suspect.
A pertinent example is that of Surat where security and surveillance gadgets are used
to their maximum extent.
Surat is a case in point to understand how video surveillance can be effectively used for
citizen service. It is the only city in India which has deployed 104 state-of-the-art cameras
in 23 locations and is planning to deploy 5,000 more. Surat also has the largest video wall
in the country, measuring 280 square feet, to supervise videos generated by the surveillance
cameras.16
Moreover, Surat is named as one of the smart cities by the Government of India.
The security and surveillance mechanisms work in the city through state-of-the-art
cameras or we can say it is CCTV playing an instrumental role to surveillance at
different purposes.
The issue of security and surveillance has been discussed at myriad levels and it
has become a part of political manifestos as well. An instance of this was seen when
AAP (Aam Admi Party) included it in their political manifesto in the Delhi Assembly
election, 2015. During the election campaign, AAP promised to install 1–1.2 million
CCTVs to provide better security and surveillance to check crime in Delhi.17 The
concept of smart cities indeed accommodates the agenda of security and surveillance
additionally; where private technocrats are going to rule over the space/place in
myriad ways-they are supposed to collect more charges in lieu of services they will
provide in the name of security and surveillance-when lives completely based around
security and surveillance. Smart cities are about to provide basic amenities in nearby
locations (Burte 2014). The smart cities accommodates the agenda of security and
surveillance wherein private technocrats are suppose to make more charges in lieu
of what services they will provide in the name of security and surveillance. The
development of CCTVs and others surveillance technology will enhance the private
exchequer, and subsequently, state becomes more powerful while people lose their
privacy.
15 Jacob Applebaum (born 1983) is an American independent journalist, computer security
researcher, and hacker. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum, last accessed, Nov.

9, 2015].
16 For detail news see, [http://www.cio.in/article/modi-s-smart-cities-video-surveillance-angle,
accessed, Oct. 31, 2015].

17 AAP is Delhi-based regional political party and recently won the Delhi Assembly election, 2015,
under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal.

7.3 Negotiating Security and Surveillance in Smart Cities 105
7.3 Negotiating Security and Surveillance in Smart Cities
‘Why is surveillance important for understanding the city today? Surveillance has to
do with focused attention to persons, and in particular, the gathering of personal data
for specific purposes’ (Lyon 2004: 301). Everyday people negotiate security problems
in various ways while authority tries to settle issues with the help of surveillance
technology. Moreover, surveillance technology is eroding the privacy of an individual
in many capacities. Why are some of the spaces more suspicious in terms of attacks?
The nature of such attacks can vary across the world including the attacks of bugs or
anti-virus or hacking the system as well.
A blackout affected an estimated 10 million people in Ontario and 45 million people in
eight US states. The blackout’s primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a
control room of the First Energy Corporation, located remotely in Ohio. A lack of alarms
left operators unaware of the need to redistribute power after overloaded transmission lines
hit unpruned foliage. This triggered a software bug known as a race condition in the control
software. The race condition existed in General Electric Energy’s Unix-based XA/21 energy
management system. Once triggered, the bug stalled First Energy’s control room alarm
system for over an hour. System operators were unaware of the malfunction; the failure
deprived them of both audio and visual alerts for important changes in system state. What
would have been a manageable local blackout cascaded into widespread distress across the
electric grid. Some information about the blackout impact: • 508 generating units at 265
power plants were shut down • Water systems in several cities lost pressure • At least 10
deaths were reported • New York City had 3,000 fires calls • The New York City 311
information hotline received over 75,000 calls • Mobile networks overloaded and were
disrupted • Hundreds of flights were cancelled • New York State was responsible for billions
of dollars in costs These simple software bugs had a big impact, and there are many more
examples. Imagine what could happen, if an attacker could trigger bugs like these at will.18
Similarly, post 26/11 Mumbai attacks (2008) Indian security agencies strength-
ened the CCTV network in the country. However, the spatial pattern of terrorist
attacks in India is not uniform and is scattered and almost all regions have been
attacked in different intensities. The attacks from Naxals and other groups are often
reported from different parts of the country. The western part of the country is more
susceptible because proximity to open international water boundaries and potential
business centres. However, the northern region has had more attacks of different
intensities which have caused more than three hundred lives meanwhile western
region had almost same number of incident unlike northern region, but the number
of fatalities was more in compared to northern region (Table 7.2). Following loca-
tions in the west has been targeted by terrorists group such as Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur,
Ahmedabad, Malegaon, and Ajmer, while in the northern region it was Delhi, Sri-
nagar, Ludhiana, and Varanasi. In the eastern region, most of attacks happened in
the Assam region where Bodo and non-Bodo conflicts have taken place, while in the
southern region it was restricted to Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. In fact, all
these attacked cities have some extent potential to develop as smart city in India.
18 See, [http://www.ioactive.com/pdfs/IOActive_HackingCitiesPaper_CesarCerrudo.pdf, last

accessed, Nov. 7, 2015].
Table 7.2 Spatial pattern of terrorists attacks in India

Region North West East South
No. of Incidents 16* 14* 6* 8*
No. of fatalities 354* 872* 107* 90*
Source After [www.wikipedia.com.in.terroristattacksinindia, last accessed Feb. 23, 2015]
Note * figures can vary (tentative) and considered in between year (1984–2014)
The strategy used by surveillance agencies might create some buffer zones to
tackle the situation. But, there is caveat has been issued by South Asia Human
Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC), New Delhi.
India’s creeping move towards surveillance and censorship should give us all pause and
reflection, if for no other reason than to ensure that the country does not follow the path
of the East German Stasi or the totalitarian state in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
The edifice of a police state in India continues to be constructed brick by brick and may be
accelerating. There appears to be a slow, insidious security creep on all aspects of citizens’
lives, even beyond the long history of abuses by unaccountable intelligence agencies that
are not under the active control of Parliament,…or any other democratically accountable
body.19
All the places where attacks happened are proposed sites for smart cities wherein
surveillance technologies play important role to maintain law and order situations.
The surveillance and security can curb many of such attacks, but authorities should
be equipped with better management. So, in such cases, there are possibilities of
exploitation of indigenous lifestyle when an individual can lose his/her voice in the
name of security and surveillance. Technology constructs empirical ideology and
at the same time negating normative values; therefore, we have to develop sense of
normative value at best to save the people’s interest.
How can such surveillance reduce the sanctity of indigenous life style? What
is indigenous lifestyle? It is simple lifestyle where people act as per traditional
forms or very normative even without empiricism. Why do people become extra-
conscious when faced with a camera or other objects? Of course, they do not want
to react and rather behave in decent ways in front of cameras. When smart cities
monitor through CCTVs or some other security and surveillance technology, the
lifestyle of the city shall behave in a pattern that looks alike: professional, experiential,
pragmatic, practical, and empirical in certain way. On the contrary, without CCTVs
or cameras the lifestyle shall be the traditional with people behaving in mannered
way like disciplined, cooperation, and agreement to a certain extent for practical and
professional reasons.
The security and surveillance can shape the smart cities in two ways—functional
and structural purposes. The functional can be interpreted as ‘representation of space’
while structural can be addressed as ‘representational space’. The functional purposes
19 For detail see report of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, New Delhi or Architec-
ture of Surveillance. Vol - XLIX No. 1, January 04, 2014. Mumbai (India). Economic and Political
Weekly (EPW).
7.3 Negotiating Security and Surveillance in Smart Cities 107
can be called as ‘space of plans (including security and surveillance) and elevations,
geometrics and quantitative ordering’ or everything has planned settlement in order
to reflect spatial glory. The structural purposes can be called as ‘lived space’ or
‘the realm of occupation in which people produce meanings and desires, call on
memories and associations and re-order spaces’ (Miles 2007: 27). Both (functional
and structural) aspects can survive side by side in the smart city and overlap with
each other to a certain extent and shapes the spatiality into a crime space as well.
The surveillance technology is about decoding such grey areas. ‘The global crim-
inal economy is solidly rooted in the urban fabric, providing jobs, income, and social
organization to a criminal culture which deeply affects the lives of low-income com-
munities and of the city at large. It follows rising violence and/or widespread paranoia
of urban violence, with the corollary of defensive residential patterns’ (Castells 2004:
84). Smart cities seek to provide defensive patterns where peoples suppose to nego-
tiate every day in the urban fabrics. The spatial negotiation takes place in two ways:
first, space creates its own identity through heritage or when it is part of older her-
itage that it reflects in the daily aspects as lived-culture, politics, social, geography,
language, literature, race, gender, and class, while the second, when spaces/places
known across the sections of peoples for different reasons viz. violence, rape, crime,
poverty, and loss of human sensitivity as well. Apart from both, communal threats
are also looming everyday over Indian cities. These unsolved spatial conflicts per-
taining to ‘global–local’ are shaping communal conflicts in the country (Chatterjee
2014). The gaps can be understood in various dimensions—local–global; rural–ur-
ban; literate–illiterate, digital divide, etc. The so-called information society is an
increasingly urban society. ‘The ‘digital age’ is an age which is dominated by cities
and metropolitan regions to an extent that is unprecedented in human history. This
situation raises a critical question: what is the intersection between digital technolo-
gies and urban life?’ (Thrift 2004: 3). At the same time, the planners should look into
how technology can work efficiently to check the emerging global downtowns when
slum population is inevitable and looks like planet of city slums’ (Archer 2013: 5).
The fabric of smart cities is connected with slum population and needs to be mapped
beyond the scale of being suspects. Slum sprawl remain considered as problem in
fact, slums work as the back bone for the urban cities, and without slum population,
none of the cities can achieve the target for what the city has been conceived.
7.4 Conclusion
Security and surveillance gadgets are becoming the feature of the cities across the
world and have become so instrumental over time. It shapes the city as an entity
when empiricism to replace the normative values when everybody is considered as
potential suspects. The growth of smart cities is inevitable, and security and surveil-
lance are one of the contentious projects shaping and reshaping the city into smart
cities. However, they are considered as ‘worsening of social divisions, paradoxically
through surveillance for risk management is one negative outcome of contempo-
rary urban trends. It is one that calls for a renewed sense of what social justice in
the city might comprise. But today’s surveillance is a mode of social orchestration
that operates, not according to some shared standards of morality and of justice, but
according to merely utilitarian norms, so it tends to bypass the language of justice’
(Lyon 2004: 304). The limitations of natural justice must prevail so that no one can
encroach upon the freedom of lives in the name of security and surveillance. The
digital political economy shapes the daily attitudes which often reflect in mundane
ways including re/tweets. The re/tweets are nothing other than spatial expressions
which the Twittersphere propagates in different senses including political.
The next chapter is the conclusion with findings that the Twittersphere is all
about political and politics. There are many issues, but the political rhetoric and sar-
casm travelled much distance than apolitical tweets and retweets. The Twittersphere
became phenomenal over time and revolutionized the digital political culture in the
country.
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Chapter 8
Postscript
Abstract The Twittersphere is a newer dimension of Twitter wherein tweets and

retweets are customized with rhetoric and sarcasm to attack the opponents irrespec-
tive of their fields. The expansion of social media has made easy in sense of dual
conversation when both senders and receivers feel comfortable. The utility is vali-
dated by available attributes in shapes of likes and followers wherein users can enjoy
certain social privileges along with other geographical indicators.
Keywords Like · Follower · Social networking sites · Digital revolution
The rays of digital revolution are visible everywhere in India in two different for-
mats wherein male and female, rural and urban, skilled and unskilled, and literate and
illiterate users behaved in mediated ways wherein influences of the media including
social media are inevitable. Carrying two mobile phones for different purposes is
too visible in urban spaces. Since the expansion of mobile phones and availability
of information in the size of apps has made the communication and information
technology user-friendly, the use of gadgets is not restricted to an individual, how-
ever, and institutions too are forced to move with time and adopt information and
communication technology to enhance their outputs in terms of accountability and
responsibility. Therefore, institutions have their own Twitter handles to respond to
the concerned issues accordingly. The politicians shape the gadgets further when
shifted towards social networking sites to establish better communication with peo-
ple including political issues. There are a number of politicians who have joined
different social networking sites including Twitter. They have become popular in a
short period of time since they established regular dialogue with followers in different
capacities. Why have politicians joined social networking sites including Twitter?
How has Twitter become so crucial among politicians to share their views irrespec-
tive of personal, political, cultural, and many more variants of life as well? Since
2010, the popularity of social networking sites among politicians has been noticed
and was considered a turning point when politicians from both national and regional
political parties joined gradually to exploit the social media.
The study discussed the five politicians: three belonging to BJP and one each from
AAP and Congress Party. Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal, and Sushma Swaraj are
retweeted in the capacity of custodian of administrative posts, while the other two

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6_8
110 8 Postscript
politicians re/tweeted to share their personal views irrespective of issues. Subrama-

nian Swamy and Shashi Tharoor re/tweeted more than 45 thousand and 30 thousand,
respectively, and Sushma Swaraj was alone in these politicians who sent fewer tweets
compared to these politicians.
Narendra Modi had the highest number of followers over Subramanian Swamy,
but Swamy sent more re/tweets in comparison with Modi. Arvind Kejriwal holds the
second position in terms of followers and popularity, and considering social media
has played an instrumental role in enhancing his political career. The politicians
made re/tweets to attack opposition political party or rhetoric comments or to clarify
stands. For example, Swamy and Tharoor often made re/tweets to clear his stand or his
engagements variedly. The governance issue is something that politicians address in
their re/tweets to create awareness about the decisions taken by the Government. The
shift towards Twitter validates the importance of social media to make people aware,
to discuss, to comment, to acknowledge, and to criticize the authorities, institutions,
organizations, and even the Government.
Politicians use Twitter as a political tool to poke opposition leaders irrespective
of issues, and some of the politicians share their personal day-to-day engagements
or clarify the positions over an issue. The political information has the maximum
proportion in the total available information which is circulated across the social
networking sites. It functions through customized attributes.
The functional attributes of social media—how does it work and how to measure
the popularity of anyone who is on Twitter either increased or remained the same—-
can be understood through two important attributes (a) like and (b) followers. Both
have shaped the social networking sites, or we can say, provided a new lease of
life to the social media and therefore, because of these attributes, it has become
popular among the available mediated spaces. In fact, both have shaped the psycho-
logical understanding of an individual who is either engaged to reply the comments
or remains at the centre of the discourse that circulated around, if any. Both like and
follower represent different orientations where one shows an individual’s interests
and the second, simply neither like nor followed. The first orientation leads to becom-
ing a follower for two reasons either to criticize or to accept the point made without
comments. Moreover, both the attributes of likes and followers are considered phe-
nomenal which has attracted users to become part of the social media revolution.
These attributes are understood as game-changers as well because they show us how
many people like the texts or photographs uploaded by someone else. Similarly, how
many followers are following certain people which can be interpreted as peer groups?
For example, the Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi has added around one mil-
lion followers on Twitter in the last two months. According to Congress sources, his
followers stood at around 2.5 million in July 2017 and have risen to 3.4 million by
September 2017. The net growth was results of engagements of Rahul Gandhi’s on
Twitter. However, the sudden number of increase of followers has been criticized for
political reasons and oppositions political parties cries as digital scams (Appendices
J and K).
Both attributes may be addressed as icons as well which work in two different
directions and contradict each other. One works as a weighing machine for popular-
8 Postscript 111
ity in social networking sites and measures the reach of that message delivered in
various capacities. For example, Shashi Tharoor (4070 K) has number of followers
in comparison with Rahul Gandhi (547 K) on Twitter by year 2016. Shashi Tharoor
is running his Twitter account since 2009, and everyday he re/tweeted while Rahul
Gandhi was a passive user or authenticated his Twitter account by 2016 only. Over
time, Rahul Gandhi became active on Twitter to boost the ideological expansion of
the Congress Party to keep in mind of 2019 Parliament election. Since he became
active on Twitter, his image among voters has improved and gradually his number
of followers is increasing. Though it is not easy to predict how much it will help
the Congress Party and stature of Rahul Gandhi, the stature of the politicians is to
some extent shaped by these re/tweets, but the popularity of Shashi Tharoor cannot
be seen in isolation since he worked in United Nation at different positions and his
exposure to the global politics is considered much better than Rahul Gandhi. Social
media shapes politics in shape of hashtag politics, but apart from like and follower,
the politics have different parameters where Shashi Tharoor supposed to work under
Rahul Gandhi because Congress Party has shaped the political career of Shashi Tha-
roor. So, the use of social networking sites has its own implications which need to
be understood in political isolation.
The number of followers does matter at a certain level to count that how many
are following him/her. But, it needs large data analysis to establish whether a large
number of followers played any role to shape the political career or politics in the
spatiality. The study found that both Modi and Kejriwal had a large number of
followers on Twitter, and indeed both moved to establish their political ideology
in respective elections in the country. The rest three leaders who are studied in
the study, have also a large number of followers but at what extent the number of
followers does play in the making of popular leadership? The sudden increase in the
number of followers of Rahul Gandhi has boosted his image in the political arena,
but sustainability needs to be analysed objectively. His image of being a leader and
to have the potential to lead the country is discussed on Twitter, and other mediated
spaces of course all are digital in nature which shaped the image of Rahul Gandhi.
Since he became active on Twitter and other social networking sites, his political
images has turned into positive side.
Digital culture is based on network flows which need Internet; however, it func-
tions in two ways—first, online and offline; second, the social networking sites.
Internet as the medium provides connected connection with the world when differ-
ent gadgets shape the cultural traits of an individual in mundane orders. The use of
gadgets depends upon the users and how frequently and efficiently they are using it to
express their identity irrespective of traditional identity. Digital culture has become
synonymous across urban spaces when without digital gadgets both efficiency and
effectiveness of an individual are often considered comprised. Thus, the digital cul-
ture is an electronic culture wherein the consumption of images has increased as well
as the use of digital gadgets. It encompasses all parts of life activities.
Digital culture expands in many directions including security and surveillance
gadgets as well to secure safety of all, and this has become the feature of the cities
across the world and has become unavoidable. The digital gadgets have become a
112 8 Postscript
necessity over a period of time and shaped the city as an entity when empiricism
replaces the normative values. The digital culture become accessible to provide bet-
ter amenities and services at door steps. Such development is only possible after
implementation of digital gadgets which provides from religion, to politics, to cus-
toms, to culture many more as per needs. The expansion of digital culture is only
possible after smart mobile phone and other gadgets along with social networking
sites including social micro-blogging networking sites (Twitter). Twitter shapes the
world politics and brings world politics much closer in shape of hashtag politics.
Twitter has worked in a structured way and provides a platform to express your
views like other social networking sites. Similarly, an individual can run their own
Twitter account and can become follower or followed even without any rational or
technical hindrance. The study has discussed digital politics in shape of re/tweets in
various formations to understand the contextual representation of such re/tweets. The
nature of re/tweet contents in the study can be categorized in three broad subjects:
first—political, second—governance, and third—personal engagement in politics or
administration. During the survey, the study found that Twitter revolutionized the
digital politics where every political party has tried hard to accommodate more and
more digital attributes in their political discourse. At present stage, no political party
can bear such pain of digital isolation whether national or regional. Thus, political
re/tweets shaped the digital politics of both sides—politicians (or political parties)
and people and assumed that the future of digital politics is inevitable despite the
existing ‘digital divide’ in the country. Digital has become inevitable over a period
of time, and even without digital gadget, life seems to be paralysed at certain extent.
Within digital waves, Twittersphere shapes the political discourses wherein Indian
politicians often argue on politically contested issues and other issues to expose their
understanding either to make political score or to enhance personal reach among
users.
Appendix A
Huma Naqvi ‘Dilli me chal rahe adhyatimic guru shree shree ravishankar ke
dharmik aayojan me saniwar ko ek ajeb nazara dekhne ko mila. Manch per
maujood thee grihmantri rajnath Singh aur unke samne hi shree shree Ravishankar
ne jai Hind aur Pakistan zindabad ka udghosan kya. Ek bar ko koin heart me pad
gya lekin jald hi shree shree ne mansha spasth karte hue kaha ki jai Hind aur
Pakistan zindabad ka nara ek saath kue nhi lag sakta. Bhakto kanhyaha yaad hi
tumko? Aur waqil babu aap hi jee jinhone Kanyaha to adalat me thok dya. News
from Hindi daily, AmarUjala’.
Rajkumar Verma ‘Huma jee yaha to tasvir ulti ho gai, yaha per Pakistan zind-
abad ka nara lagane wale ko puri suraksha muhaya hi, balki deshbhakt Sarkar
sena ko bhi inka naukar bana deti hi, aur to aur upar se deshbhakt Sarkar ko chee
chee dhamki bhi dete hi ki who jurmana bhi nahi denge’.
रश्मि सिंह ‘Shree Shree ne ye bhi bola kya ‘bharat tere tukde honge insallah
insallah?? Logic bhi bada ajeeb Vishay hi’ insan ka khun lal hi gadhee ka khun bhi
lal hi so insan gadha hi.
Vijay Pal Singh Sangwan ‘Iss Shri Shri ko Pakistan kab bhej rahe ho sanghio?’
Dinesh Sharma ‘Sunyojit apradh aur anjane me hue apradh me antar hota hi aur
uske picche chupi mansha ke bare me bhi jankari honi chayeh. Koi baat kisi bhi
parasthiti me kis andaj me boli gai hi yeh bhi mayne rakhti hi. Aap to samajdhar hi
ki galti ho to chama prathi jee.’

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix B
Facebook has been the undisputed behemoth of social media for years now, but a
study shows that this may be changing among the youth. It is easy to come across
people who can’t go through a day without accessing Facebook. But now, Twitter
has entered the fray and is eating into Facebook’s user base. And importantly it is
attracting the youth who form such a big mainstay of social media business. Twitter
is used more as a listen exercise. Users listen in on what the target audience
discussed. That way, they can stay up to date on industry trends and give users what
they want. It can be a valuable tool to get almost instantaneous news updates. By
the end of 2012, 21% of the global Internet population used Twitter on a regular
basis. Each month, 288 million people sign in at least once. The popularity of
Facebook and Twitter differs by age ranges. Just over 30% of Facebook users are
younger than 34 years old. Meanwhile, 45% of users are over 45 years old. But
nearly half of all Twitter users are under the age of 34 years old, and only 30% are
over 45 years old. When asked, Jayanti M, a final-year medical student who uses
Twitter very regularly and has a few hundred ‘followers’ on the platform said
‘Twitter works well for people who are too lazy to sit and write entire blogs. It
makes it easier to connect to like-minded people from across the globe, and also, it
is easier to voice your thoughts on Twitter because all the family and relatives are
yet to discover Twitter unlike Facebook’.1
1
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report-Twitter-becoming-more-popular-than-facebook-among-
the-youth-1872226, last accessed March 21, 2016.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix C
When the saga of Twitter started in India is not exactly known but among politi-
cians, Congress Party member of Parliament and former Union Minister Mr. Shashi
Tharoor were somehow responsible when he once twitted ‘cattle class’ in solidarity
with all our ‘holy cows’.2 Of course, it became contentious issue in the politics and
Congress Party had defended that he is being a new in the politics; in future, he
would care of all this; no one should hurt at all. The gossips about Twitter discussed
in various colour across old media and social media. In between such contentious
idea, Twitter expanded its reach, and over a period of time, it established and
became one of important SNSs across different sections of people including
politicians as well.
2
For details see, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tharoors-cattle-class-tweet-annoys-
congress/article21179.ece, last accessed March 23, 2016.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix D
Without knowing what he was doing, Sohaib Athar, a.k.a. @ Really Virtual, has
more or less just live-tweeted the raid in which terrorist Osama bin Laden was
killed on Sunday. The IT consultant resides in Abbottabad, the town where Osama
bin Laden was found and killed by US military operation. Athar first posted about
events surrounding the raid 10 h before the publication of this article, written,
‘Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1 AM (is a rare event)’. He didn’t realize
that he’d been tweeting about a top-secret attempt to kill an internationally wanted
terrorist until nine hours later. Athar reported that one of the copters he’d heard had
crashed and that the aircraft were not Pakistani. We now know that four helicopters
had been sent to raid bin Laden’s mansion in the town, and one was hit by enemy
fire from the ground. During the raid, Athar speculates that he was two or three
kilometres away from the shooting that took place. Once news broke that bin Laden
had been killed in Abbottabad, Athar tweeted, ‘Uh oh, now I’m the guy who live
blogged the Osama raid without knowing it’. Athar further reported that traffic was
shut down in some areas, and the army had cordoned off the helicopter crash site.
Yet, he remains humble. ‘I am JUST a tweeter, awake at the time of the crash. Not
many Twitter users in Abbottabad, these guys are more into Facebook. That’s all’.3
3
For details see, http://mashable.com/2011/05/02/live-tweet-bin-laden-raid/# last accessed, March
20, 2016 (It was Sohaib Athar who first acknowledged the incident even without the knowing what
exactly going on).
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix E
Aircel-Maxis Deal
April–May 2011: The Aircel-Maxis deal came under the scanner after Aircel owner
C. Sivasankaran lodged a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation
alleging that he was pressurized to sell his stakes to Maxis.
September 2011: The arbitral tribunal rejected Mr. Sivasankaran’s allegation

regarding breach of obligations on the part of buyers in undertaking an IPO of
Aircel. The tribunal directed him to pay Maxis’s legal costs of $7.9 million, of
which at least $1.4 million was paid. The award was not challenged.
October 2011: The CBI filed a case alleging that Mr. Sivasankaran, who had
applied for spectrum licence, was coerced into selling his company to Maxis. It is
later alleged that the Maxis Group, which bought 74% stakes in Aircel in March
2006, invested Rs. 742 crore in Sun Direct between 2007 and 2009.
May 2014: The CBI told the Supreme Court that there was difference of opinion
between the CBI Director and the prosecution regarding filing of the charge sheet.
On reference, the Attorney General opined that there was enough prosecutable
evidence.
July 2014: Maxis Communications Berhad on July 25 urged Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley that it be treated in a fair manner, citing a contrary opinion by two retired
Chief Justices of India.
August 2014: The CBI on August 29 filed charge sheet against former Telecom
Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanidhi Maran; T. Ananda Krishnan,
owner of Malaysian company Maxis; Ralph Marshall, a senior executive of the
Maxis Group, and four companies, including the Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd.
5 February 2015: Marans moved the Supreme Court challenging the 2G Special
Court’s decision to summon them in the Aircel-Maxis case.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
122 Appendix E: Aircel-Maxis Deal
6 February 2015: The Supreme Court recalled its order refusing to entertain
petitions of the former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother,
Kalanithi Maran, to quash summons in the Aircel-Maxis case issued by a special
court trying the 2G spectrum scam.
9 February 2015: The Supreme Court refused to intervene with a summons

order issued by the 2G Special Court to former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran
and his brother Kalanithi Maran in connection with the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
16 March 2015: Marans challenged the jurisdiction of the Special CBI Court over
the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
1 April 2015: The Enforcement Directorate attached assets estimated at Rs. 742.58
crore held by Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi Maran and wife Kavery
Kalanithi.
3 August 2015: The CBI told a special court that Malaysian authorities were not
‘cooperating’ in the service of summons against four accused in the Aircel-Maxis
deal case after which the judge issued fresh summons.
21 August 2015: Supreme Court stays ED move to attach Sun TV assets.
25 August 2015: The Enforcement Directorate summons two directors of private

firm Advantage Strategic Consulting.
9 September 2015: CBI files status report.
8 January 2016: ED names the Maran brothers, Mr. Kalanithi Maran’s wife
Kavery Maran, and three others, including two companies as accused in its charge
sheet.
23 January 2016: ED summons Ralph Marshall, former Non-Executive Director

of Maxis Communications Bhd in Malaysia.
1 February 2016: Dayanidhi Maran illegally generated Rs. 742.58 cr, says ED;
Kavery Kalanithi participated in money laundering, says ED.
27 February 2016: Delhi court summons Maran brothers, Kavery Kalanithi as

accused (http://www.thehindu.com/business/aircelmaxis-case-a-timeline/article
6401708.ece).
Appendix F
The National Herald case is pending on Delhi High Court by Subramanian Swamy
against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, their companies, and associated persons [1].
As per the complaint filed in the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate, Indian
National Congress granted an interest-free loan of Rs. 90.25 crore (US$13 million) to
Associated Journals Limited (AJL), owner of the National Herald newspaper which
was established by Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters in 1938. It was
alleged that the loan was either not repaid or repaid in cash, which is in violation of
Section 269T of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [2]. A closely held company, Young
Indian, was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of Rs. 50 lakh (US
$74,000), and it acquired almost all the shareholding of AJL and all its properties
[alleged to be worth Rs. 5000 crore (US$740 million)] [3]. Swamy alleged criminal
misappropriation by both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The courts have
determined that a prima facie case has been established in the matter.
Associated Journals Limited
Associated Journals Limited (AJL) is an unlisted public company limited by shares,
incorporated on 20 November 1937, with its registered office at Herald House, 5-A,
Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi. It was the brainchild of Jawaharlal Nehru,
but it was never his personal property as it was started with the support of about
5000 freedom fighters who became shareholders of AJL. The company’s capital
was Rs. 5 lakh (US$7400) divided into 2000 preferential shares worth Rs. 100 (US
$1.50) each and 30,000 ordinary (equity) shares worth Rs. 10 (15¢ US) each. Apart
from Nehru, AJL’s Memorandum of Association was signed by stalwarts such as
Purushottam Das Tandon, Acharya Narendra Dev, Kailash Nath Katju, Rafi Ahmad
Kidwai, Krishna Dutt Paliwal, and Govind Ballabh Pant. The company did not
belong to any particular person, nor did it want to be associated with any business
except news. AJL had 1057 shareholders as of 29 September 2010 as per the annual
return filed by the company with the Registrar of Companies.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
124 Appendix F
Motilal Vora has been Chairman and Managing Director of AJL since 22 March
2002. The company had incurred losses [4] before its holdings were transferred to
Young India in 2011.
AJL published the National Herald newspaper in English, Qaumi Awaz in Urdu,
and Navjeevan in Hindi until 2008. AJL also owns real estate property in various
cities including New Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Mumbai, Indore, Patna, and
Panchkula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Herald_scam-cite_note-The_
Hindu-3 The value of the real estate owned by AJL is estimated to be at Rs.
50 billion (US$740 million). The properties of AJL include Herald House, a
six-storey building with around 10,000 m2 office space.
Young Indian
Young Indian is a private company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 23
November 2010 with a capital of Rs. 5 lakh (US$7400) [3] and its registered office
at 5A, Herald House, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi. On 13 December 2010,
Rahul Gandhi was appointed Director of Young Indian while Sonia Gandhi joined
the board of directors on 22 January 2011. The company’s 76% shares are held by
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi equally, and the rest are held by Congress leaders
Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes (12% each). It is described by Rahul Gandhi’s
office as a ‘not-for-profit company’ which does have commercial operations.
Case
On 1 November 2012, Subramanian Swamy filed a private complaint in a court in
Delhi alleging that both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have committed fraud and
land grabbing worth Rs. 16 billion (US$240 million) by acquiring a publicly limited
company called Associated Journals Limited (AJL) through their owned private
company, Young Indian. He also claimed that, through this fraud, they had got the
publication rights of the National Herald and Quami Awaz newspapers, with real
estate properties in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. He alleged that the acquired place was
given by the Government only for newspaper purposes, but was used for running a
passport office with rental income amounting to millions of rupees.
His complaint in the court further alleges that, on 26 February 2011, AJL
approved the transfer of an unsecured loan of Rs. 90 crore (US$13 million) from the
All India Congress Committee at zero interest [citation needed] with company’s all
ninety million (9 crore) shares of Rs. 10 (15¢ US) each to Young Indian. Swamy
argued that it is illegal for a political party to lend money for commercial purposes
as per Section 29A to C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and
Section 13A of Income Tax Act, 1961, and demanded investigation by the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the de-recognition of the Indian National
Congress party for using public money. On 2 November 2012, the party responded
that the loan was given only for reviving the National Herald newspaper with no
commercial interest.
The hearing of the criminal proceedings case was taken up by the magistrate on
various dates, while the defendants opposed the petition and asked the magistrate to
dismiss it. The court finally observed that prima facie evidence against all the
Appendix F 125
accused was found. The court issued summons to the defendants to appear in the
court to defend themselves against all the allegations made in Swamy’s complaint.
On 26 June 2014, Metropolitan Magistrate Ms. Gomati Manocha summoned
Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, and
Satyan Pitroda to appear in the court on 7 August 2014. She said that according to
the evidence so far, ‘it appears that YIL was in fact created as a sham or a cloak to
convert public money to personal use’ to acquire control over Rs. 20 billion (US
$300 million) worth of AJL assets. The court noted that all accused persons had
allegedly acted ‘in consortium with each other to achieve the said nefarious
purpose/design’.
Appeal in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court
The defendants appealed in the Delhi High Court against the summons issued by
the magistrate. The court issued a temporary injunction against the summons for a
week. On 1 August 2014, Swamy was served notice to file reply in the High Court.
On 28 August 2014, the metropolitan court fixed 9 December 2014 for the next
hearing of the case. On 12 January 2015, the judge of the Delhi High Court recused
himself from hearing the case stating that schedule of cases has been changed and
directed that the petitions be directed before an appropriate bench.
Swamy appealed to the Supreme Court of India for a speedy trial of the case in
the trial court. On 27 January 2015, the Supreme Court asked Swamy to make out a
case for the speedy trial in the Delhi High Court which was hearing the appeal of
Sonia Gandhi and others against the summons issued to them by the trial court. The
case was assigned to Justice Sunil Gaur. In October 2015, the roster changed and
the case was assigned to another judge. Sonia Gandhi and others requested the
Chief Justice to assign the case to Justice Sunil Gaur again. Justice Gaur then again
started hearing the case.
On 1 August 2014, the Enforcement Directorate initiated a probe to discover if
there was any money laundering in the case. On 18 September 2015, it was reported
that the Enforcement Directorate had reopened the investigation.
On 7 December 2015, the Delhi High Court dismissed the appeals of Sonia
Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and five others which included Motilal Vora, Oscar
Fernandes, Suman Dubey, and Satyan Pitroda, and ordered them to appear in
person before the trial court on 9 December. The Delhi High Court said in its 7
December 2015 judgment ‘After having considered the entire case in its proper
perspective, this Court finds no hesitation to put it on record that the modus
operandi adopted by petitioners in taking control of AJL via Special Purpose
Vehicle, i.e., Y.I., particularly, when the main persons in Congress Party, AJL and
Y.I. are the same, evidences a criminal intent. Whether it is cheating, criminal
misappropriation or criminal breach of trust is not required to be spelt out at this
nascent stage. In any case, by no stretch of imagination, it can be said that no case
for summoning petitioners as accused in the complaint in question is made out.
Questionable conduct of petitioners needs to be properly examined at the charge
stage to find out the truth and so, these criminal proceedings cannot be thwarted at
this initial stage’.
126 Appendix F
On 12 February 2016, the Supreme Court granted exemption to all the five
accused in the case from personal appearances while refusing to quash proceedings
against them.
Trial in the Magistrate’s Court
On 7 December 2015, the Delhi High Court ordered Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi,
and five others to appear in person before the trial court on 9 December. They did
not appear in the court, and, on their lawyers’ request, the trial court ordered them
to appear before him in person on 19 December. He disallowed their request for
exemption from personal appearance. On 19 December 2015, the Patiala House
court granted bail to all but one and ordered them to appear in the court on the date
of next hearing 20 February 2016.
Other Shareholders Allege their Shares Usurped
After the Delhi High Court dismissed the appeal of Sonia Gandhi and others against
the summons issued by the trial court, many shareholders of AJL have alleged that
no notice was served on them by AJL for any meeting of the shareholders and that
the shares held by their fathers have been transferred by AJL to Young Indian
fraudulently without their consent. These include people such as the former Law
Minister Shanti Bhushan, whose father had purchased shares of AJL in 1937, and
Markandey Katju, former chief justice of Allahabad and Madras High Courts and
former judge of Supreme Court, whose grandfather Kailash Nath Katju was one of
the original seven subscribers to the Memorandum of Association of AJL in 1937.
Some other shareholders have also alleged criminal conspiracy by AJL and its
directors. A number of shareholders of AJL have claimed that the company’s
Chairman, Motilal Vora, and its directors did not inform them or obtain their
approval while deciding to transfer its entire equity to Young Indian in December
2010. At least 10 shareholders that the Indian Express newspaper spoke to said that
their approval had not been sought by the management. Vora is also the treasurer of
the Congress party. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Herald_scam-cite_note-
shareholders-46.
Shanti Bhushan said, ‘Jawaharlal Nehru had three preferential shares worth Rs.
300, my father had five preferential shares worth Rs. 500 and Kailash Nath Katju
had seven preferential shares and 131 ordinary shares worth Rs. 2000. But we
(shareholders) have to get the heirs substituted before we can start legal proceedings
which will take a couple of months… we will go to the company law’ (https://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Herald_scam, last accessed March 25, 2016).
Appendix G
India’s Muslim leadership (political, social, religious) seems caught in a bind—

even a time warp—making it akin to a species bound towards extinction. Fascinated
by self-created narratives of victimhood and marginalization, the community
leadership is rarely able to empathize with other similarly marginalised groups—
dalits, tribals, women, the poor of all castes, and faith communities that make up a
distinct category in themselves. One remembers the great Urdu poet Ghalib’s
couplet: Rakhio Ghalib mujhe is talkh nawai me ma’af/aaj kuchh dard mere dil
mein sawa hota hai (Pardon me for this unpleasant talk, Ghalib/today I have severe
pain in my heart). The ‘severe pain in my heart’ is caused by the cold indifference
of the faith community’s leaders over the death of Rohith Vemula, a bright dalit
scholar at the University of Hyderabad. His avoidable death was planned in a
Machiavellian fashion by some ghoulish minds. Only technically was it a suicide.
By talking about the lukewarm response of the Muslim leadership one is not
denying that a very small segment of it has shown solidarity with people protesting
Rohith’s death. But the general perception among common Muslims is that they are
the most discriminated against marginalised and oppressed group in the country.
Sociologist Imtiaz Ahmed recently said—during a talk in Jamia Nagar, Delhi—that
this was not the whole truth and several other groups share these difficulties with
Muslims.
The silence of Muslim leaders from mainstream political parties on this issue is
understandable as they generally are bound to follow the party line. But what is
stopping Muslim organizations, community/ religious leaders, activists, intellectu-
als from taking a position on issues of national importance? Why don’t they get
involved in the struggle for larger causes? Former Foreign Minister Salman
Khurshid writes, in his book At Home in India: The Muslim Saga, ‘I have always
strongly believed that political leaders from the minority communities need to speak
on issues that concern the majority community or on those at least that can be
described to be of relevance beyond their own communities. It is important for our
democracy that in theory and in practical terms Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
128 Appendix G
or others be seen as leaders of the country and not of their communities alone’. This
is not to deny that the Muslim community suffers from illiteracy, unemployment,
poverty, systemic discrimination, and institutionalized prejudice. But there are other
groups also which face similar, if not the same problems. Muslims expect and get
support from other social groups, including upper class, privileged Hindus. Other
groups too expect, rightly, that the Muslim community speak on matters affecting
them. Despite periodic pogroms against Muslims, they still remain one of the
biggest beneficiaries of democracy in India. Nowhere in the world has such a large
population of Muslims enjoyed 68 years of uninterrupted democracy. It reflects the
vision of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who was asked, after Partition, how he saw
the future of Muslims in a divided India. Azad said they would thrive if democracy
thrived.
However, Muslims do not seem to be participating in the process of strength-
ening democracy. They need to internalize the processes and norms of democracy.
They must participate in major discourses in the country and stand up for the
marginalised, whether they are LGBT, dalits, Sikhs, Christians, tribals, women, or
working classes. Outrage over intolerance has been a major political development
in the country. But seldom has a prominent Muslim organization or community
leader participated in programmes organized against it. Muslims of India should
keep in mind that the country is enveloped by a single political and moral ecology.
We cannot survive outside this complex web of social concerns, struggles, and
relationships. Our national life is, and has got to be, run according to the lofty
standards set by the constitution.
We must take care to protect democracy and human rights. It’s only then that the
Indian political ecology will be protected. That we have failed Rohith should
always remind us not to fail other Indians.4
4
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/rohith-vemulas-death-was-an-opportunity-
for-indian-muslims-to-express-solidarity-with-other-underprivileged-groups/.
Appendix H
At the time of Independence should the country have become the United States of
India, administered by a President? Should we have adopted the American model of
Government instead of the Westminster model which we borrowed from the
British? Every now and then, it has been suggested that we need to jettison the
current system of Government—plagued as it is with corruption, instability,
dynastic rule, and an inbuilt inability or unwillingness to tackle entrenched poverty
and social and economic backwardness—and replace it with a presidential structure
based on the lines of the American constitution. But seldom, if ever, has the case for
such a systemic change been more cogently and persuasively made as it has by
Bhanu Dhamija in his recently published book Why India Needs the Presidential
System.5
Indeed, as the author points out in his exhaustively researched narrative, the
country almost did adopt a presidential form of Government—as was advocated by
Sardar Patel, among others—except for the adamancy of Jawaharlal Nehru who
wanted the Westminster model. Dhamija suggests that Nehru’s choice was osten-
sibly dictated by the fact that, through interaction, India’s political class was
familiar with the British system and felt it could be successfully replicated here,
despite the serious doubts raised by British political observers. The author implies
that Nehru’s choice might have been influenced by the perception that behind the
guise of a democracy the British system was in fact an oligarchy in which all power
was centralized and vested in the prime minister’s cabinet, an arrangement in
keeping with Nehru’s patrician nature. While such a system can work in a ho-
mogenous society as Britain’s was at the time, it is bound to fail in a country as
diverse as India in terms of culture and creed.
Moreover, with the proliferation of political parties since Independence, the
winner-takes-all polling system routinely results in the formation of Governments
5
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/a-president-for-the-united-states-of-india/#
(last accessed March 23, 2016).
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
130 Appendix H
which have as little as 20% or 30% of the total votes, and as such are not all
representative of the people’s will. This in turn creates political instability with
Governments coming and going as on a carnival merry-go-round. The result is too
much Government—or too many Governments—and no governance. The US
presidential system, based on a complex process of direct election of senators and
congressmen who act as checks and balances to presidential power, is both stable
and representative of the people’s will. Dhamija attributes America’s global
pre-eminence to its form of Government which empowers citizens and enables
them to realize their full potential, unlike in India where enterprise and initiative are
all too often thwarted by a system that thrives on vote bank politics, nepotism and
corruption. Dhamija cites Narendra Modi’s successful prime ministerial campaign
which was run along lines similar to those of American presidential candidates as
an indication that such a system could well work in India. However, as the author
himself says, one man cannot make a system, and the expectations raised by Modi’s
victory have been belied by lack of progress on the ground which remains a
political quagmire. Dhamija exhorts us, the people, to effect the change and rebuild
our political edifice from the foundations upwards.
But as he himself admits, this is much simpler said than done. In order to affect
such a fundamental constitutional change, Parliament would in effect have to vote
itself out of existence to pave the way for a new entity. Which power-hungry
politician would be willing to do that? Don’t hold your breath waiting for the first
volunteer.6
6
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/a-president-for-the-united-states-of-india/#
(last accessed March 23, 2016).
Appendix I
On Tuesday, the Rajya Sabha decided not to pass the controversial Enemy Property
Bill, which the BJP had pushed through the Lok Sabha over my objections, pre-
ferring to bring it to a select committee for closer scrutiny. The principled stub-
bornness of the opposition has once again saved the nation from a bad law. The
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965—and its thousands of casualties—left both sides
with unhealable wounds. Three years after the War, the Indian and Pakistani
Governments each instituted legal provisions to account for ‘enemy’ property—that
is, land, firms, and other assets abandoned by nationals who had left one country for
the other. The Enemy Property Act, passed by our parliament in 1968, created a
legal framework for the Indian Government to seize the assets of Indian nationals
who fled to Pakistan in the wake of the 1965 War.
In 2005, forty years (and two more Indo-Pakistani wars) later, the Supreme
Court affirmed the rights of legal heirs who are Indian citizens to re-acquire the
property that belonged to their ancestors and their families. Yet, last week, the Lok
Sabha passed an amendment which denies these legal heirs—legal residents and
citizens of India—the right to the seized property that belonged to their ancestors.7
Hence, with reference Pakistan, ST tweets more in comparison with other
politicians. ‘Our Govt needs to take the nation into confidence on its currently
incoherent Pakistan policy. Asserting that the grand old party had absolutely no
objections with regard to the proposed meeting with Pakistani leadership, Congress
leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday called for a coherent policy while stating that
it was crucial for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government to take the nation into
confidence and reveal their vision and policy towards the Asian neighbour’. “We
have seen a lot of confusion on the Pakistan policy and the Government has not
taken the nation into confidence as to what is their vision into which they are
pursuing this policy. Why are they meeting Pakistan? What is the objective? Have
7
http://www.thequint.com/opinion/2016/03/16/rajya-sabha-was-right-to-defer-the-enemy-property-
bill, (Last accessed March 24, 2016).
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
132 Appendix I
they given up the conditions that Pakistan must not meet Hurriyat, that Pakistan
must take concrete action on punishing the perpetrators of 26/11? Which we know
they have not done as Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is out of prison enjoying his life,”
Tharoor told ANI here. Further questioning the Government for agreeing to have
talks with Pakistan, the former minister of state of external affairs asked if India was
satisfied with the recent information provided by Islamabad on Pathankot and asked
whether this development was a reward for the same. ‘It is important that the nation
be taken into confidence. The public must be told what New Delhi’s policy on
Pakistan is,’ Tharoor added.8
8
http://www.deepclass.org/shashi-tharoor-asks-confused-govt-to-share-pakistan-policy-with-
nation/, (Last accessed March 24, 2016).
Appendix J
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is capturing social media traction, evident

from the high volume of retweets that the Twitter latecomer is getting for his punchy
posts of late. According to a Hindustan Times analysis of nearly three years’ of
tweets by three powerful rivals, people retweeted Gandhi in recent weeks more than
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the first
and second most-followed Indian politicians on the micro-blogging site. The
47-year-old Gandhi’s upswing points to a shift in his online communication strategy.
‘We became more timely in terms of reactions, speaking on issues that were hot
topics at the moment, and getting more of our members online’, said Divya
Spandana, the Congress’s social media head since this July.
Reports say Gandhi gained more than one million followers between July and
September. Recent tweets underscore the renewed social media vigour of a leader
once ridiculed and reviled with negative tweets, jokes, memes, and videos.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
134 Appendix J
‘Modi ji quick; looks like President Trump needs another hug’, posted his
Twitter handle, @OfficeOfRG, on October 15. It was retweeted more than 19,700
times.
The tweet carried a screenshot of US President Donald Trump’s post about
mending relations with Pakistan, a country he criticized after Modi met and hugged
him this summer in Washington.
An analysis of tweets since 2015 till the first fortnight of this October shows how
the Twitter battlefield has transformed over the past three years.
The first quarter of 2015 belonged to Kejriwal, riding on his Aam Aadmi Party’s
victory in the Delhi assembly elections. He got 1665 retweets on an average for
every tweet he posted, compared to 1342 for Modi. In May 2015, Gandhi posted his
first tweet and in the next 12 months, Modi raced ahead of Kejriwal. By next
summer, the Congress leader upped his game but the Prime Minister was still way
ahead. Gandhi surpassed his rivals this September, averaging 2784 retweets as
against 2506 for Modi and 1722 for Kejriwal.
His average retweets spiked to 3812 till mid-October, approaching Modi’s two
best months since 2015. The Prime Minister averaged 4074 retweets last
November, the month he announced scrapping the 500- and 1000-rupee notes in a
shock demonetization drive, and 4055 this July when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar rejoined the BJP-led NDA. Congress social media head Spandana attributed
the success to Gandhi’s tweeting style and efforts of the party’s grassroots workers,
who got trained at workshops in the past months.
According to Joyojeet Pal, Professor at the University of Michigan’s School of
Information, the Congress leader’s clever and witty phrases, combined with an
increased use of Hindi, have made his tweets more retweetable. A higher retweet
rate is often associated with the followers’ desire to consciously spread a politi-
cian’s message, he said.
The BJP played down Gandhi’s Twitter rise. The party’s IT cell head, Amit
Malviya, said the Congress leader’s performance should be compared with that of
Union Minister Smriti Irani and not the Prime Minister, whose ‘account has a
dignified presence’ The Aam Aadmi Party doubted if the retweets were real.
Ankit Lal, who leads the AAP’s social media team, alleged tweets of Modi and
Gandhi were retweeted through fake profiles and automated bots. The Congress
dismissed the allegation.9
9
See for details, https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/one-chart-that-shows-how-rahul-
gandhi-is-challenging-narendra-modi-on-twitter/story-0ybIrE0J9ZrD7CnDdwfEFO.html. Last
accessed January 15, 2019.
Appendix K
Narendra Modi joined Twitter on January 10, 2009 and since then has successfully
used the medium to connect with his followers and also helped in increasing the
party’s base over the last eight years. Rahul Gandhi joined Twitter only in April
2015, but it is only in 2017 when he has used the medium to interact with his
followers directly and target the BJP. While Modi continues to be a very prolific
Tweeter with an average of 11.6 tweets per day as compared to Rahul Gandhi’s 3.6
tweets per day, the Congress Vice-President has vastly improved his engagement
with his audience through retweets, replies, and usage of hashtags.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter handle has been in the news in
recent times after resurgence in engagement with his followers. Wires news agency
ANI reported on Saturday that several followers who retweeted one of Gandhi’s
tweets were found to be suspect as their origin was traced to countries such as
Kazakhstan and Russia. Many of those handles are now suspended.
Sunday also seems to be the most favourite day of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s week with 615 tweets(19%) of his last 3200 tweets (vs. 260 for Gandhi)
coming on that day and the least on Thursdays (12%).
In contrast, Saturday has been the busiest day for Rahul Gandhi with 555 (17%)
of his last 3200 tweets (vs. 399 for Modi) coming on that day and the least on
Sundays (8%). Also, Modi has kept a low presence on Twitter in the first half of the
day with a large number of his tweets coming in between 7 and 9 pm. Rahul Gandhi
has kept a more consistent schedule on Twitter between 12 and 5 pm with a peak at
1 pm. In the absence of data from Twitter itself, it is difficult to correctly pinpoint
the addition of bots to a particular account. This is further complicated as and when
bot handles that are exposed are deleted by their creators or suspended by Twitter.
However, it appears that the Congress has woken up to many of the grey social
media strategies that the BJP has long been accused of deploying.10
10
For details see, https://www.newslaundry.com/2017/10/28/narendra-modi-rahul-gandhi-twitter.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix L
Tweets (5 January 2016)

S.No. Name of Tweets Retweets
politicians
1 Narendra Make in India (shale Gas, –
Modi coal-bed methane), Meeting with
oil and gas experts
2 Arvind – AAP in news
Kejriwal
3 Shashi – –
Tharoor
4 Subramanian Ethics Committee Rahul Gandhi British
Swamy Citizenship, Asaram Bapu
Jee, Pathankot Attack
5 Sushma – –
Swaraj
Source After Twitter Account

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
138 Appendix L
Tweets (28 January 2016)

S.No. Name of Tweets Retweet
politicians
1 Narendra Statue Cleaning, My Clean India, –
Modi NCC Rally, Smart City Challenge,
Birth Anniversary of Swami
Vivekanada, National Youth
Festival, Dr. Ali Tayyebnia (Iran)
2 Arvind MCD Dissolved BJP-AAP Political
Kejriwal allegation, Adarsh Gram
Yojna
3 Shashi Silence of Muslims on Rohit Make in India Week
Tharoor Vehmula’s Death, Community
Policing, International Youth
Summit
4 Subramnium Being Finance Minister Aircel-Maxis case,
Swami Seeking Prosecution
against Kejriwal-Sisodia
5 Sushma – –
Swaraj
Tweets (11 February 2016)

S.No. Name of Tweets Retweet
politicians
1 Narendra NDMA, Swami Dayananda, Basant –
Modi Panchami, Advance Gravitational
Wave Detector, Rural
Electrification, 5279 Villages
Electrified, HH Mohammad bin
Zayed Al Nahayan (India–UAE)
2 Arvind – Tribute to
Kejriwal Hanumanthappa, One
Year of AAP govt., odd–
even issue
3 Shashi Haji Ali dargah, Tribute to Lance –
Tharoor Naik Hanumanthappa
4 Subramanian National Herald Case, Ishrat Jahan JNU aka Jehadi Naxal
Swamy Encounter University
5 Sushma – –
Swaraj
Appendix L 139
Tweets (27 February 2016)

S.No. Name of Tweet Retweet
politicians
1 Narendra Mann Ki Baat Mann ki Baat
Modi
2 Arvind Mann Ki Baat Mann Ki Baat, Changing Schools-Changing
Kejriwal Lives
3 Shashi Mk Gandhi credo, Smriti-Irani issue
Tharoor Constituency
Politics
4 Subramanian Unruly Behaviour UP Karyakartas (Ram Mandi officials)-
Swamy of Congi Goons Lucknow, Contempt Petition Against P
Chadambram,, Budget 2016, Tomato-Egg
5 Sushma – Poland Embassy, Oman Embassy
Swaraj
Tweets (5 March 2016)

politicians
1 Narendra AMU-VC meeting, –
Modi Infrastructure issue, Rural
Housing scheme, Rural
Mobile connectivity, Rural
Electrification.
2 Arvind Against English Media Fee hiked in IP University
Kejriwal issue, AMU Issue, Smriti-Aethi
Issue, National Anthem
(Madras HC), Sarafah
association, Amir
Khan-intolerance issue, JNU
issue-Kanahya, Smriti Irani
accident case, Anupam Kher
speech
3 Shashi – Donald Trump (USA-Election),
Tharoor President for USA (Bhanu
Dhamajia)
4 Subramnium Indore meeting (Uniform Civil UCC (Chintan Yogya), JNU
Swami Code) issue, Lucknow meeting with
BJP
5 Sushma Camp office of djibuti, –
Swaraj Operation RAHAT end in
Yemen
140 Appendix L
Tweets (18 March 2016)

politicians
1 Narendra Going Pokhran (Iron Fist, –
Modi 2016), Copy of Gita received
from ISKON chief, John
Chambers of Cisco, Dr. K P
Yohannan, World Sufi Forum
2 Arvind AAP Water Revolution, CBI JNU-PDP Issue, Politics on
Kejriwal Interference, Criticized PM Nationalism, Excise duty for
CBI Jewellers, Refund excess fee,
Hate Speech
3 Shashi Enemy Property Bill, Muslim League in Kerala
Tharoor Incoherent Pakistan policy,
Uninterruptable Talks with
Pakistan, Sec 377, RSS on
Homo-sexuality
4 Subramanian Fisherman demands, SIT-Black Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale,
Swamy Money, Congress new Swamy as Donald Trump,
nightmare Church seek clarification,
Sonia-Rahul feeling uneasy
with Swamy
5 Sushma Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Ms. Dunya –
Swaraj Maumoon
Appendix M
Facets of Twitter
S.No. Facets of Twitter Yes (%) No (%)

1 Twitter for political purposes 96 4
2 Like and followers do matter 53 47
3 Politicians on Twitter 83 17
Source During survey, 2016

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix N
Facets of Social Media
S.No. Facets of social media Yes (%) No (%)

1 Familiarity of social media 98 2
2 Social media for political actions. 66 34
3 Social media for shaping politics 98 2
5 Like and follower as attributes 74 26
6 Political affiliations/ideology 59 41

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix O
Politicians used Social Media
Politicians used social media

To share views 27%
Political reason 17%
Use social media as platform 31%
Others (personal) purposes 25%

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix P
Popular Social Media Sites
Popular social media sites

Facebook 59%
Twitter 2%
Whatsapp 35%
Others (WeChat, 4%
Instagram…)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix Q
Contents on Social Media
Contents on social media?

Political 69%
Cultural 9%
Religious 0%
Others (personal) 22%

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix R
Purpose of Social Media
Purposes of social media

Political purpose 17%
Knowledge 39%
Peer groups 37%
Others (personal) 5%

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix S
Political Patterns of Social Media
Political patterns of social media

Party stand 23%
Personal views 17%
Political reason 54%
Others 6%

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
Appendix T
Questionnaire
Time………….
Dated…………
Mapping Political Tweets: The Digital Political Revolution in India
Survey is a part of funded research project by Kalindi College, University of

Delhi. The name of the respondents interviewed in this survey will be kept
strictly confidential. Findings of this research will publish as project report,
book, article in journal and newspapers. Interviewer must brief about the
research to respondent that why this research is conducting. Mark 9 for ‘yes’
and 7 for ‘no’.
1. Name…………………………………………
2. Age…………………………………………
3. Gender…………………………………………
4. Qualification…………………………………………
5. Address…………………………………………
6. Mobile No……………………E-mail……………………
7. Do you use social media
Yes……. No…….
8. Which social media frequently you are using?

I. Facebook…….

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
156 Appendix T: Questionnaire
II. Twitter…….
III. Whatsapp…….
IV. Others…….
9. Do you think that now day’s role of social media increased?

10. What kinds of subject mostly available on social media?

I. Political…….
II. Cultural…….
III. Religious…….
IV. Others…….
11. What is inspiring you to remain on social media?

I. For political information…….
II. For knowledge…….
III. For friends and cultural information…….
IV. Others…….
12. You ever found that every politician has an account on social media.
13. Why politicians joining social media?

I. To share views…….
II. Political reason…….
III. Use social media platform…….
IV. Others…….
14. At what they (Politicians) doing on social media

I. Party stand…….
II. Personal views…….
III. Political reason…….
IV. Others…….
15. Social media runs on the formula of likes and followers. Do you know?
16. Are these like and followers somehow shaping the stature of politics and
politicians as well.
17. Do these likes and followers shaping the voting pattern during election as
well?
Yes…….. No…….
Appendix T: Questionnaire 157
18. Can u believe that likes and followers are only restricted to the issue
discussed on the social media or it is considered as political affiliation of
that person therefore he/she likes or becomes followers?
Yes…….. No……..
19. Do you believe that the future course of action of politicians and political
parties is somehow deciding by social media or role of social media
increased in totality in order to shape politics and politicians?
Yes…….. No……..
20. You believed that most of politicians are on Twitter

Yes…….. No……..
21. Twitter becomes a platform to share views and shaping politics as well.
Yes…….. No……..
Interviewer’s Signature
Appendix U
According to Cisco report, India, the second largest smart phone market globally, is
expected to witness a many-fold growth in the number of smart phone to over 650
million in the next four years. India emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing
Internet market is expected to see the number of tablets hit more than 18 million by
2019, according to the US-based firm’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) global
mobile data traffic forecast for 2014 to 2019. According to the report: ‘In India, the
number of smart phones grew 54% during 2014, reaching 140 million in number
and the number of smart phones will grow 4.7-fold between 2014 and 2019,
reaching 651 million in number’. The number of tablets grew 1.7-fold during 2014,
reaching 2 million in number and is expected to grow 9.2-fold between 2014 and
2019, reaching 18.7 million, it added.
Further, speaking about the VNI report, Cisco Managing Director Service
Provider Sales (India and SAARC) Sanjay Kaul told PTI; ‘Apart from smart con-
nections driven by the IoE (Internet of Everything), the trend of low-cost smart
phones will also bring critical mass to the sector and further drive user growth and
data traffic in India’. Cisco’s latest VNI report gives us an insight into the exponential
growth of mobile data in India as a result of increasing adoption of smart mobile
devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections as the IoE takes shape in the
country, he added. According to estimation, the business of smart phones will
increase across the worlds and India as well. The use of online features increased
among peoples. ‘We will see a tremendous increase in mobile video in India, which
along with increasing speeds and faster wireless networks will fuel the creation of the
data business over the next few years’, Globally, the report forecasts that by 2019
there will be 5.2 billion mobile users (up from 4.3 billion in 2014). In 2014, nearly
59% of the world’s population (7.2 billion people) was comprised of mobile users.
By 2019, more than 69% of the world’s population (7.6 billion people) will be mobile
users. Further, the report put forward the estimation of high forecast growth in India.
‘In India, there were 590.3 million (47% of India’s population) mobile users in 2014,
up 18% from 500 million (40% of India’s population) in 2013’, the VNI report said.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
160 Appendix U
There will be 895.6 million (67% of India’s population) mobile users by 2019, up
from 590.3 million in 2014, a CAGR of 8.7%, Cisco forecasted. By 2019, there will
be around 11.5 billion mobile-ready devices/connections, including 8.3 billion per-
sonal mobile devices and 3.2 billion M2M (machine 2 machine) connections (up
from 7.4 billion total mobile-ready devices and M2M connections in 2014), it said.
‘The ongoing adoption of more powerful mobile devices and wider deployments of
emerging M2M applications, combined with broader access to faster wireless net-
works, will be key contributors to significant mobile traffic growth in the coming
years’, Cisco VP Products and Solutions Marketing Doug Webster said. According
to Ericsson Mobility Report, 2015 was as; India continues to lead in adding new
mobile subscriptions globally. It added 13 million new connections in the third
quarter of 2015. This was followed by China, which added seven million mobile
subscribers, the US (6 million), Myanmar (5 million) and Nigeria (4 million).
Overall, there were 87 million new mobile subscriptions in the third quarter of 2015.
Of the 7.4-billion mobile phone subscriptions globally during the period under
review, 3.4 billion were mobile broadband subscribers. There will be 9.1 billion
mobile subscribers in 2021. Globally, smart phone subscriptions are set to increase
from 3.4 billion in 2015 to 6.4 billion by 2021. Against the global average of 99%,
mobile phone penetration in India is pegged at 77%, leaving room for further uptake
in numbers in the coming years. However, the study put emphasis on the global
increase of mobile data traffic and every year new customers supposed to add.
Globally, mobile data traffic growth is expected to increase at a compounded annual
growth rate of 45% between 2015 and 2021, the report said. There has been a 65%
growth in data traffic between the third quarter of 2014 and the same period in 2015,
driven by an increase in smart phone usage. Around 90% of mobile data traffic will be
from smart phones by the end of 2021, the report said. The Asia-Pacific region will
account for 40% of total smart phone traffic by the end of 2021.
In 2015, around 15% of mobile data traffic came from social networking. Videos
accounted for around 50% of the traffic. The report forecast that by 2021, nearly
70% of all mobile data traffic will be driven by video. According to Peter Jonsson,
Project Manager for the Ericsson Mobility Report, the continued rise in mobile data
traffic around the world—including India—is due to attractive data plans, and the
Appendix U 161
increased availability of affordable smart phones and tablets. ‘Another key driver to
rising mobile data usage among consumers is the growth of video consumption on
mobile devices, at home and on-the-go’, Jonsson said.
Citing Ericsson ConsumerLab studies carried out in 2014, Jonsson said on an
average, Indian smart phone users spend three hours a day on their smart phones,
and 25% of them check their phones around 100 times a day. One-third of the time
spent on smart phones is used for apps—primarily chat, social media, and gaming,
he added. Studies by Ericsson ConsumerLab showed that between 2012 and 2014,
there has been an increase of 20% in the overall time spent on smart phones, and a
65% rise in app usage. The emerging trend of viewing videos on mobile devices has
led to consumers spending more time on their smart phones than watching TV.
‘Indian smart phone users now spend 191 minutes a day on smart phones compared
with 128 minutes in front of TVs’, Jonsson said. Around 65% of mobile broadband
smart phone users in India prefer video streaming to downloading videos on
handsets. Monthly mobile data consumption in India is expected to increase 18-fold
by 2020 over the current levels, Jonsson said.11
The report published by m-Powering India—India Telecom, 201112 has found
some feature that India supposed to achieve by the year 2015. The vitality of the
telecom sector to the country is implicit from its ever-increasing contribution to
India’s GDP (increased to 3% in 2010 from 1.6% in 2006). The last decade can be
rightly called the decade of the voice revolution. The total telecom subscriber base,
including wireless and wireline subscribers, reached 899.8 million in August 2011
from 41 million in 2000. The total teledensity in India reached 74.9% in August
2011—a growth of 15.3 percentage points over the preceding year. Even after this
strong rise in teledensity, the Indian telecom market is far from saturated. A large
part of the country’s population base, primarily in the rural areas, still does not have
access to quality telecommunications services, and therefore present significant
opportunities for growth. The Indian mobile market is still largely a voice market.
Data revenue accounted for about 15% of the total mobile revenue in March 2011,
as against close to 30% in China and the UK. However, data is undeniably going to
be the key driver of the Indian mobile market in the years to come. The year 2010
was a landmark year in the history of the Indian telecom sector with the auction and
allocation of 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum blocks. With the
advent of better networks, India now stands at the cusp of another revolution—the
information revolution. Mobile value-added services (MVAS) is becoming an
integral and indispensible part of the telecom industry value chain. The MVAS
market is expected to increase from INR 122 billion in 2010 to INR 482 billion by
2015, driven by the uptake of 3G services in urban as well as in rural areas. It is
expected to change the dynamics of the Indian telecom sector by empowering users
on the one hand and providing significant commercial opportunities for all service
11
See, http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-adds-13-mn-mobile-phone-
users-in-july-sep-115111701224_1.html. [Last access, January 25, 2016].
12
For full report, http://ficci.in/publication-page.asp?spid=20341. [Last access, January 26, 2016].
162 Appendix U
providers across the value chain, on the other. Some of the services expected to
make an impact on the Indian telecom.
However, as per Tele, 2013 Indian telecom industry has summarized the high
growth rate. Indian telecom has experienced unprecedented growth over the past
decade, driven largely by the wireless segment. As of September 2013, 97% of all
subscribers are wireless compared to 14% in 2002. The sector today is poised for
the next round of growth, spurred on by increasing network coverage, favourable
telecom policy and competition-induced decline in tariffs. In order for the sector to
transition to the next stage of evolution, we need to capture the future drivers of
growth: The rural teledensity stands at approximately 41%. The National Telecom
Policy (NTP) 2012 has set a rural teledensity target of 70% by 2017 and 100% by
2020. However, broadband connectivity is also expected to grow rapidly, in
alignment with global trends. Next-generation broadband connectivity in India is
expected to clock 450 million in 2017 putting India among the top two data markets
globally. The ubiquitous connectivity would result in the proliferation of applica-
tions and services embedded not just in personal and social interactions, but also in
conducting business, running enterprises, and buying and selling of product
offerings. From the Internet of People to the Internet of Things: The Future of
Communications Internet of People to Internet of Things/M2M implies a funda-
mental shift in communication services. M2M enables seamless.
Appendix V
Broadband Highways
This covers three subcomponents, namely Broadband for All-Rural, Broadband for
All-Urban, and National Information Infrastructure (NII). 2,50,000 village
Panchayats would be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)
by December 2016. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is the nodal
department for this project. Virtual network operators would be leveraged for
service delivery and communication infrastructure in new urban developments and
buildings would be mandated. NII would integrate the network and cloud infras-
tructure in the country to provide high speed connectivity and cloud platform to
various Government departments up to the Panchayat level. These infrastructure
components include networks such as State Wide Area Network (SWAN), National
Knowledge Network (NKN), National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN),
Government User Network (GUN), and the MeghRaj Cloud. NII aims at integrating
all ICT infrastructure components such as SWANs, NKN, NOFN, GUN, and GI
Cloud. It will have provision for horizontal connectivity to 100, 50, 20, and 5
Government offices/ service outlets at state, district, block, and Panchayat levels,
respectively. DeitY will be the nodal Department for this project.13
Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity

This initiative focuses on network penetration and filling the gaps in connectivity in
the country. There are around 55,619 villages in the country that do not have mobile
coverage. As part of the comprehensive development plan for North East, providing
mobile coverage to uncovered villages has been initiated. Mobile coverage to
remaining uncovered villages would be provided in a phased manner. The
13
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/broadband-highways, accessed May 20, 2016].

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
164 Appendix V
Department of Telecommunications will be the nodal department, and project cost

will be around ‘16,000 Cr during 2014–18’.14
Public Internet Access Programme
The two subcomponents of Public Internet Access Programme are Common
Services Centres (CSCs) and post offices as multi-service centres. CSCs would be
strengthened and its number would be increased to 250,000 i.e. one CSC in each
Gram Panchayat. CSCs would be made viable and multi-functional end-points for
delivery of Government and business services. DeitY would be the nodal depart-
ment to implement the scheme.15
E-Governance—Reforming Government through Technology
Government Process Re-engineering using IT to simplify and make the
Government processes more efficient is critical for transformation to make the
delivery of Government services more effective across various Government
domains and therefore needs to be implemented by all ministries/departments. Form
simplification and field reduction—Forms should be made simple and user-friendly
and only minimum and necessary information should be collected.16
The guiding principles for reforming Government through technology are17:

• Online applications and tracking—Online applications and tracking of their
status should be provided.
• Online repositories—Use of online repositories, e.g. for certificates, educational
degrees, identity documents, etc., should be mandated so that citizens are not
required to submit these documents in physical form.
• Integration of services and platforms—Integration of services and platforms,
e.g. Aadhaar platform of Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), payment
gateway, Mobile Seva platform, sharing of data through open Application
Programming Interfaces (API) and middleware such as National and State
Service Delivery Gateways (NSDG/SSDG), should be mandated to facilitate
integrated and interoperable service delivery to citizens and businesses.
E-Kranti—Electronic Delivery of Services

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) takes a holistic view of e-Governance
initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared
14
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/universal-access-mobile-connectivity, accessed
May 20, 2016].
15
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/public-internet-access-programme, accessed May
19, 2016].
16
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/e-governance-%E2%80%93-reforming-government-
through-technology, accessed may 20, 2016].
17
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/e-governance-%E2%80%93-reforming-government-
through-technology, accessed may 20, 2016].
Appendix V 165
cause. Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the
remotest of villages is evolving, and large-scale digitization of records is taking
place to enable easy, reliable access over the Internet. The ultimate objective is to
bring public services closer home to citizens, as articulated in the Vision Statement
of NeGP.18
Information for All
Government shall proactively engage through social media and Web-based plat-
forms to inform and interact with citizens. MyGov.in, a platform for citizen
engagement in governance, has been launched by the Honourable Prime Minister
on 26th July, 2014, as a medium to exchange ideas/ suggestions with Government.
It will facilitate 2-way communication between citizens and Government to bring in
good governance.19
Electronics Manufacturing
This pillar focuses on promoting electronics manufacturing in the country with the
target of NET ZERO Imports by 2020 as a striking demonstration of intent. This
ambitious goal requires coordinated action on many fronts, such as20:
1. Taxation, incentives
2. Economies of scale, eliminating cost disadvantages
3. Focus areas—Big Ticket Items
FABS, fabless design, set-top boxes, VSATs, mobiles, consumer and medical
electronics, smart energy meters, smart cards, micro-ATMs
4. Incubators, clusters
5. Skill development, enhancing PhDs
6. Government procurement
7. Safety standards—compulsory registration, support for laboratories and
MSMEs
8. National Award, marketing, brand building
9. National centres—flexible electronics, security forces
10. R&D in electronics.
IT for Jobs
This pillar focuses on providing training to the youth in the skills required for
availing employment opportunities in the IT/ITES sector. There are eight compo-
nents with specific scope of activities under this pillar.21
18
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/ekranti-electronic-delivery-services, accessed May
21, 2016].
19
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/information-all, accessed May 20, 2016].
20
See,[ http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/electronics-manufacturing, accessed May 19, 2016].
21
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/it-jobs, accessed May 20, 2016].
166 Appendix V
1. IT Trainings to people in smaller towns and villages

2. The target of this component is to train one crore students from smaller towns
and villages for IT sector jobs over 5 years. DeitY is the nodal department for
this scheme.
3. IT/ITES in north-eastern states
4. This component focuses on setting up BPOs in every north-eastern state to
facilitate ICT enabled growth in these states. DeitY is the nodal department for
this scheme.
5. Training service delivery agents
6. The focus is on training three lakh service delivery agents as part of skill
development to run viable businesses delivering IT services. DeitY is the nodal
department for this scheme.
7. Training rural workforce on telecom and telecom-related services
8. This component focuses on training of five lakh rural workforce the telecom
service providers (TSPs) to cater to their own needs. Department of
Telecommunications (DoT) is the nodal department for this scheme.
Early Harvest Programmes

Early Harvest Programme basically consists of those projects which are to be
implemented within short timeline. The projects under the Early Harvest
Programme are as follows22:
1. IT platform for messages
2. Government greetings to be e-Greetings
3. Biometric attendance
4. Wi-fi in All universities
5. Secure e-mail within Government
6. Standardize Government e-mail design
7. Public Wi-fi hot spots
8. School books to be e-books
9. SMS-based weather information, disaster alerts
10. National Portal for Lost & Found children.
22
See, [http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/early-harvest-programmes, accessed may 20, 2016].
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Index
A Command, Control, and Communication (C3),

Active, 6, 22, 28, 61, 69, 74, 79, 82, 86, 106, 31
111 Communal clashes, 37, 38
Adarsh Gram Yojana, 67 Communalisation of politics, 37
Aesthetic, 23 Communal politics, 36, 37, 77
Aircel maxis, 76 Communication, 1–3, 5–7, 10, 12, 18, 20–22,
Alliance, 36–39, 41, 42, 44, 46, 48 24, 27, 31, 50, 52, 61, 64, 65, 81–83, 89,
America, 32, 33, 36 93, 101, 109
Anna Hazare, 62, 93 Communication system, 5, 7, 50, 52, 82
Anti-Romeo Dals, 43 Community policing, 71
Apps, 3, 4, 27, 82, 85, 96, 109 Conceived, 2, 18, 64, 107
Area, 19, 63, 64, 73, 97, 101 Consumeristic, 17
The Art of Living (AOL), 54 Content, 2, 3, 14, 23, 25, 31, 50, 52, 57, 62, 68,
Arvind Kejriwal, 7, 13, 57, 62, 67, 70, 104, 109 80, 85, 86, 88, 112
Asaram bapuji, 75 Content analysis, 40
Asia Human Rights, 106 Contour, 23
Atmosphere, 1, 2, 91 Conversation, 1, 2, 6, 49, 55, 109
Criminal, 42, 43, 107
B Crooked Hillary, 33, 34
Babri Masjid–Ram Mandir issue, 36, 38 Cultural, 2, 4, 19, 22, 29, 53, 56, 69, 86, 91, 93,
Bahujan Samaj Party, 36 94, 96
Black lives matter, 32 Cultural contexts, 93, 95
Blogosphere, 93 Cultural geographers, 20
Blogs, 11, 93 Cultural studies, 4
Culture, 2–4, 10, 17, 18, 22, 28, 30, 52, 53, 89,
C 91–94, 96, 98, 100, 108, 111
Cartography, 5
Caste politics, 36 D
Cell phone, 21, 103 Dalit ideology, 36
Census of India, 36, 100 Dalit politics, 36, 37
Central Monitoring System, 103 Dalit revolution, 36
Clean the statue, 35, 64 Decalcomania, 5
Cognitive dissonance, 7 Deconstructed, 95
Colonial, 35, 40, 74 Dehumanizing, 20

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11602-6
174 Index
Democratic reforms, 43 Flood, 11, 103

Democratization, 41 Flow, 5, 9, 20, 53, 93, 111
Demographics, 11 Form, 4, 10, 19, 41
Developed, 102 Freebies, 43
Developing countries, 21, 23, 29, 102
Digital, 2, 4, 6, 12, 14, 28, 34, 86, 91, 93–95, G
97, 111 Gadget, 2–4, 14, 18, 24, 27, 29, 56, 86, 92–95,
Digital activism, 93 98, 102, 109, 111, 112
Digital age, 107 Gaps, 49, 51, 107
Digital culture, 4, 31, 56, 89, 91, 93, 94, 96, 98, Gender, 2, 6, 27, 53, 92, 107
111, 112 Geographical, 2, 14, 18, 19, 29, 100, 109
Digital dimension, 4 Geographical attributes, 29
Digital divide, 81, 107, 112 Geographical indication, 101
Digital gadgets, 13, 89, 94, 96, 111, 112 Geographical location, 29, 100
Digital identity, 94–96 Globalization, 93, 95
Digital India, 66, 96–98 Google+, 12, 92
Digitalization, 13, 56 Governmentality, 30
Digital mapping, 86 Guattari, 4, 95
Digital media, 28, 93, 95
Digital movement, 3 H
Digital political, 13, 14, 80, 89, 98, 108 Haji ali, 71, 73
Digital political revolution, 5, 6, 13, 14, 108 Hashtag, 8, 11, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30–35, 68
Digital revolution, 81, 109 Hashtag politics, 31, 32, 34, 50, 111
Digital space, 23 Heartland, 35, 36, 38–40, 49, 77
Digital stage, 23 Heterogeneity, 3, 5
Digitextuality, 28 Heterotopology, 19
Digitized political, 89 Hierarchical structure, 4
Diplomacy live, 54 Hike, 10, 68
Disaster Management, 100 Hindu, 35, 38, 41, 47, 76, 78, 94, 101
Disembodied, 95 Hinglish, 91
Diwali, 47, 49 Hinterland, 35
Homogenous, 129
E Horizontal network, 4
Earthquake, 11, 54, 100 Hydrosphere, 2
Economical, 2, 18
Election Commission of India, 42, 57 I
Election period, 30 Idealistic sense, 2, 18
Electoral advantage, 6, 82 Ideology, 2, 4, 23, 64, 70, 76, 84, 85, 88, 106,
Electoral alliance, 41 111
Electoral forecasting, 4 Ideoscapes, 53
Electoral politics, 36, 49 Image, 18, 21, 23, 27–30, 35, 40, 46, 48, 49,
E-mail, 21, 51 61, 88, 111
Embodied identity, 95 Image politics, 27, 28, 30, 35, 36, 39, 40, 49
Empiricism, 106, 107, 112 Imagination, 18, 21–23, 28, 92, 98, 100
Encoding-decoding, 22 Inclusive approach, 6
Entertainment, 4, 5, 12, 14, 18, 27, 52, 53 Indigenous live style, 106
Ethics committee, 75 Information, 2–5, 7, 9–13, 17, 23–25, 29, 35,
50, 53, 55, 81, 83, 88, 92, 105, 109, 110
F Information technology, 29, 81, 109
Facebook, 3, 7–10, 12, 54, 55, 57, 86 Inhabitants, 22
Feel the bern, 33 International youth summit, 71
Fields of care, 19 Internet in India, 3, 50
First space, 18 Interpretation, 1, 14, 17, 20, 35, 37, 40, 48, 67
Index 175
Intertextuality, 27, 28, 31 Mobile phone, 2, 11, 17, 18, 22, 43, 56, 83, 85,
Iron fist, 66 89, 92, 95, 96, 103, 109
Moinuddin, 39, 47, 77, 91
J Multiplicity, 5, 8
Jawaharlal Nehru University, 76 Mushar, 42
Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union, Muslim, 9, 35, 37, 38, 41, 42, 46, 47, 66, 70,
54 76, 94
K N
Kabristan (graveyard), 47, 49 Narendra Modi, 7, 13, 35, 44, 45, 62–64, 76,
Karma bhoomi, 48 77, 97, 102, 109, 110
Kashyap, 42 National Disaster Management Authority
Kisan bazaar, 47 (NDMA), 65, 100
Kisan yatra, 44, 49 National Intelligence Grid, 103
Nationalist, 35
L Natural space, 24
Landscape, 6, 19, 29, 40, 49, 53 Network flow, 4, 111
Latitude, 19, 21 Networking sites, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 21, 23, 27, 30,
Liberalization, 95 51, 53, 54, 56, 57, 82, 84, 109–112
Like, 1, 2, 10, 13, 110 Network society, 19, 20, 29, 50, 92, 93, 96, 98
LinkedIn, 11, 12 New media, 10, 12, 22, 86
LinkedIn network, 12 Nirbhaya episode, 93
Lived, 2, 19, 21–23, 84 Nishad, 42
Lived space, 2, 18, 107 NITI Aayog, 63
Lock her up, 34 Non places, 20
Longitude, 19 Nonymous, 96
M O
Mahagathbandhan, 41 Occupy wall street, 8
Mahatma Gandhi, 64 Offline, 3, 92, 95, 96, 111
Make in India, 34, 63, 64, 71 Offline protestors, 3
Mann ki baat, 48, 49, 65, 68 Offshore, 35
Manufacturing consent, 22 Old media, 86
Marginal spaces, 93 Online, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11, 18, 54, 82, 92, 94–96,
Marxist, 19, 22 103
Marxist geographers, 19 Online identities, 95
Mass communication, 6 Operation RAHAT, 79
Materialism, 18, 19 Optical fibre, 97
Media industry, 29 Osama Bin Laden, 61
Media scape, 19 Outlying, 35
Mediated, 1, 4, 6, 12, 13, 21, 24, 29, 43, 52, 55,
56, 84, 86, 93, 98, 109–111 P
Mediated manifesto, 38, 43, 44, 104 Parliament, 7, 38, 39, 49, 63, 75, 82, 111
Mediated society, 4, 21 Passive, 86, 111
Mediated spaces, 25 Passive audience, 6
Medium, 6, 10, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23, 29, 30, 44, Perceived space, 2, 18
49, 53, 61, 63, 82–85, 111 Pictorial, 2, 21, 23, 24, 35, 50, 54, 55, 63, 84,
Mental life, 95 93
Metaphor, 4, 36, 37, 49, 53 Pictotextuality, 25, 27, 28, 30
Micro-blogging, 8, 12 Place, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 25, 41, 84, 104
Micro-blogging sites, 5, 8, 14, 31, 133 Place as locale, 20
Million cities in India, 100 Placelessness, 20
Mind, 2, 20, 48, 69, 93, 95 Political approach, 7
Mitron, 45 Political campaign, 6, 7, 28, 82
176 Index
Political discourse, 6, 35, 36, 39, 40, 49, 61, 63, Security, 43, 98–108
70, 81, 85, 89, 93, 112 Self, 3, 95, 96
Political economy, 89, 102, 103 Semiotic, 28
Political industry, 7 Semiotic analysis, 14, 40
Political mapping of twitter, 83 Sense of domination, 19
Political rhetoric, 7, 108 Sense of place, 19, 20
Politics, 1, 14, 42, 47, 53 Sentiment analysis, 10, 13
Politics of alliance, 41 Shabab-al-Facebook (Facebook youth), 8
Politics of communalism, 46 Shamshaan (cremation ground), 47
Politics of development, 47 Shashi Tharoor, 13, 57, 62, 70, 72, 74, 75, 110,
Politics of heartland, 40 111
Politics of money, 42 Shopping malls, 20, 101
Politics of sarcasm, 44 Signs, 22–24
Polyphony, 28 Simulacra and simulation, 22
Postmodern bloodlines, 21 Smart cities, 99–102, 104, 106, 107, 112
Private, 2, 12, 22, 29, 56, 74, 91, 92, 96, 99, Smart city project, 67
103, 104 Social capital, 84
Privatization, 95 Social engineering, 36, 37
Production of space, 21 Social media, 3–12, 14, 17, 24, 30, 31, 34, 37,
Progressive sense, 20 53, 55–57, 62, 67, 70, 76, 81–86, 88, 89,
Public opinion, 4, 9 93, 95, 109, 110
Public private, 22, 97 Social micro blogging, 112
Public sphere, 2, 4, 18, 22, 40, 93 Social network, 3, 6, 10, 11, 23, 27, 31, 57, 82,
Pure forms, 95 96, 109, 110
Social network sites, 3, 56, 57, 61, 67, 83, 84,
Q 89
Quantitative, 13, 82, 100, 107 Social space, 21, 23–25
Questionnaire, 13 Society, 8, 12–14, 17, 21, 23, 28, 30, 50, 91,
93, 94, 107
R Space, 1–3, 18–24, 29, 50, 52, 57, 85, 93, 99,
Race, 2, 105 106
Rahul Gandhi, 7, 41, 45, 46, 49, 70, 75–77, Space of flows, 20, 50
110, 111 Spaces of Twitter, 2, 18
Ram Mandir, 36, 38, 76, 77 Spatial, 2, 19, 21, 23, 30, 36, 40, 49, 93, 95, 99,
Real, 10, 11, 21, 22, 28, 30, 53, 93, 103 102, 105, 107
Region, 9, 19, 29, 30, 42, 94, 101, 105, 106 Spatiality, 1, 2, 14, 18, 28, 29, 40, 49, 111
Representation, 1, 14, 17, 18, 27, 39, 48, 67, Spatial science, 19
96, 112 Spatial turn, 3, 30
Representational symbols, 23 Spatio-temporal, 23, 35, 36, 81, 95
Representation of space, 106 Supermarkets, 10
Resistance, 19 Surveillance, 98–107, 111
Retweet, 1, 2, 8, 12, 13, 19, 25, 36, 57, 66–68, Surveillance technology, 102, 105, 107
74, 75, 79, 83, 108 Sushma Swaraj, 13, 62, 79, 109, 110
Rhizome, 4, 5 Symbolic, 8, 22, 23, 37
Rohih Vehmula, 68, 70
Root systems, 4 T
Taj Mahal, 20
S Talk privately, 2
Samajwadi Party, 41, 44, 46, 47 Technoburb, 101
Scale, 10, 19, 20, 35, 107 Techno-city, 101
Scapes, 52 Technology, 2, 4, 6, 11, 12, 17, 25, 28, 35, 82,
School teachers, 10 86, 93, 96, 100, 101, 105–107, 109
Screen, 7, 53 Television, 6, 17, 81–83, 91
Second space, 18 Temple Run, 92
Index 177
Territoriality, 100 Users, 1–4, 11, 12, 14, 23, 27, 33, 51, 55, 56,
Territory, 21 76, 84, 85, 110
Text interpretations, 40 Uttar Pradesh, 20, 35, 36, 38, 40, 76, 94
Textual, 2, 21, 24, 54, 63
Third space, 2, 18, 99 V
Time-space, 20 Verbal, 23, 45
Topophilia, 19 Video games, 91, 92
Topophobia, 20 Virtual space, 2, 21, 23, 24, 50, 52
Triple talaq, 38, 43 Virtual stage, 14
Tsunami, 11 Visual medium, 81–83
Tweet, 1–3, 5, 11, 13, 31, 34, 52, 62, 64–69,
71, 73, 79, 108, 112 W
Twitter, 1–12, 18, 23, 24, 27, 31, 34, 40, 57, Walled Garden, 12
61, 63, 70, 75, 80, 82–84, 109–112 Wechat, 86, 92
Twitter account, 5, 40, 84, 111, 112 Whatsapp, 53–56, 86
Twitter data, 4, 9, 11 World, 2, 9, 11, 18, 28, 29, 32, 36, 53, 54, 63,
Twitter pashas, 8 81, 96, 102, 111, 112
Twittersphere, 1, 2, 4, 13, 14, 17, 23–25, 35, World Sufi Forum, 66
50, 57, 80, 108 World Trade Centre, 102
U Y
Unimagined identities, 19 Yamuna expressway, 69, 73
Unique identification, 103 Youtube, 3, 10, 54
United States of America, 32, 34
Urbanization process, 29

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Springer Geography

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10180

The Political Twittersphere

ISSN 2194-315X ISSN 2194-3168 (electronic)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018967436

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

New Delhi, India Shekh Moinuddin

I am thankful to the members of research committee and administration of Kalindi

1 Twittersphere: A Digital Spatiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

AAP Aam Aadmi Party

SAHRDC South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre

Table 4.1 Politicians’ proﬁles on Twitter (March 20, 2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Graph 3.1 Internet in India. Source After IAMAI, 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 50

Image 4.1 National conference. Source From Twitter A/C of Shashi

Abstract The Twittersphere is a digital spatiality wherein different layers of digital

Keywords Twitter · Twittersphere · Political · Spatial–temporal · Digital

1.1 Understanding Twittersphere

changing the content in his/her twitter handle.

Twitter works as virtual space wherein infinite discourses appear in different

element is giving a sense of privacy or secrecy between two individuals to disclose

5 For details, see report; http://www.iamai.in.

1.2 Dimensions of Twittersphere

Deleuze and Guattari (1988) in ‘A Thousand Plateaus’ articulated six principles

1.3 Re/Tweet as Spatio-Temporal Phenomena

‘Phir Ek Baar, Cameron Sarkar’ (Once again Cameron Government), tweeted by

6 Gainous and Wagner (2014, p. 4).

1.4 Readings in Twittersphere

1.5 Framing Research in Twittersphere

1.6 Analysis Methods in Twittersphere

9 For detail, see http://www.thepoliticalindian.com/top-indian-Twitter-politicians/ (last accessed

of politicians. The collected data were simply represented by statistical representa-

1.7 Future of Twittersphere

Keywords Geography · Social · Twittersphere · Representational spaces

2.1 Mapping Twittersphere

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 17

2.2 What Is Twitter Geography?

4 Matrix of geographical horizontal and vertical lines.

2.3 Twittersphere as Representational Spaces

2.4 Twittersphere as Social Space

Similar to Lefebvre, the Twittersphere is a social space and functions by following

The Twittersphere is an extension of social media and digital expansion which is

Abstract The Twittersphere shows both global and national perspectives in

Keywords Pictotextuality · Hashtag politics · Mediated · Network · Heartland

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 27

1 Everett and Caldwell (2003).

3.2 The Hashtag Politics

3 Fordetails, see https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hashtag.

merkel-tries-to-get-in-with-germanys-kids-idINKCN1BH208. Last accessed, November 23, 2017.

recognising that might seem jarringly uncomfortable—but it does demonstrate that

3.2.1 Mapping Twittersphere of USA

6 For details, see http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/bruce-daisley/why-hashtag-politics-is-a-

Last accessed November 29, 2017.

for granting me permission to reprint the contents.

3. ‘Feel The Bern’ (7,349,980 posts)

4. ‘I’m with Her’ (6,245,205 posts)

5. ‘Never Trump’ (5,330,169 posts)

6. ‘Crooked Hillary’ (3,560,321 posts)

7. ‘Basket of Deplorables’ (994,501 posts)

8. ‘Delete Your Account’ (749,483 posts)

9. ‘Lock Her Up’ (476,395 posts)

3.2.2 Make in India on Twittersphere

3.2.3 Heartland of India on Twittersphere

3.2.3.1 Remapping Uttar Pradesh—The Heartland

11 For details, see Census of India, 2011. [https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app#