Is Arvind Kejriwal the new social media sensation?

Demonetisation has struck the country and left us all cashless, but Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal thought it fit to cash in on the situation. Speaking at the special assembly session convened before the winter session commenced, little did the Delhi CM know that he would become the next social media rage. On November 15, he spoke on demonetisation, its aftermath; alleged PM Modi of accepting bribes and spoke of how the government is cherry-picking black money hoarders while people like Vijay Mallya and Janardan Reddy go free. 

To Kejriwal and the Aam Admi Party’s (AAP) surprise, the video of the speech has received about 50 lakh views in just a week, according to an Indian Express report. Confirming the news, the AAP social media team also added “The AAP Facebook Page saw organic growth of about 640 percent in the week of demonetisation and Arvind Kejriwal’s response to it.” Well, this reminds us of Times Now’s formula for calculating TRP ratings. The video has also garnered 1,72,128 shares on the party’s Facebook page making it the most popular post on the timeline of the party’s Facebook page. 

That’s much better than the comedy group All India Bakchod’s (AIB) most viral sketch “Alia Bhatt genius of the year” which had 5 million hits in 10 days. Perhaps AIB could learn a thing or two with Kejriwal and even throw in their hat in the ring, because that’s what is needed to run a state government-popularity.

As happy as everyone is about the CM’s new found popularity, it might do to question if video gained attention for the right reasons. Many have pointed out the hypocrisy of Kejriwal in criticising demonetisation which his government’s Odd-Even scheme, while not as crippling, also inconvenienced many while seemingly affecting little change.