This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Rinchen Norbu are joined by author, cultural commentator and podcaster Anurag Minus Verma and Biyon Sony Joseph, a lecturer in political science and former Network for Advanced Study of China (NASC) Fellow at the Takshashila Institution.

The panel first discussed how the BJP has been trying to expand its digital presence beyond its traditional social-media ecosystem, particularly on Instagram. 

According to Anurag, right-wing Instagram content has often relied on a limited set of formats – targeting individuals, threatening opponents, punching down through humour and exposing alleged hypocrisy. But he argued that this has a limited shelf life on Instagram.

“These things have a shelf life because these things are not cool. These things can appeal to you for a short period of time… But Instagram especially operates on a post-irony aesthetic, so you have to have a certain kind of ideological looseness as well. You can’t be very stiff, which is also a criteria for humour,” he added. 

Manisha contrasted the BJP’s “dimaagi Naxal” messaging with the issues raised by young protesters, pointing to a schoolchild highlighting poor infrastructure. 

“On one side you have school kids somewhere in Rajasthan showing the pitiful state of their schools… And on the other side you have the BJP saying, ‘dimaagi Naxal hain’. It’s bound to not win… because what is ‘dimaagi Naxal’ in response to? Basically young people who want a better education.”

Anurag said the BJP’s understanding of X (formerly Twitter) does not necessarily translate to Instagram because the two platforms operate differently.

He added, “These people don’t understand irony and meta, and meta as in the meta irony… which makes it very difficult for them to do something on this medium.”

Rinchen noted that what made the Gen Z protests particularly effective online was three qualities: authenticity, originality and irreverence.

Next, the panel examined Maoism, its evolution in China and its influence on the Maoist movement in India. Biyon explained how Mao’s strategy of protracted people’s war became an important ideological model for sections of the Indian radical left.

“What Mao did in China was, in theoretical terms, called a protracted people’s war. They start from the countryside, then they go on the offensive. Basically, guerrilla warfare. They try to engulf the rural sides in the beginning, and then they go to the urban sides, and then they capture power,” said Biyon.

He also discussed how the CPI(M)’s ideological position evolved as it confronted the realities of operating within India. “The CPI(M) was also diluted from its initial stance… trying to go forward with a socialist government within a very capitalist, neoliberal environment that India is in right now, it’s very difficult for the party to go forward without making policy shifts,” he added. 

All this and more.