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For online reach, Rahul Gandhi may soon start podcasts
“Right now, we are at the planning stage and are discussing the finer points with the experts and asking them how to go about it,” said a Congress office bearer who refused to be named.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi may soon try his hand at podcasting to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat, people familiar with the development said.
“Right now, we are at the planning stage and are discussing the finer points with the experts and asking them how to go about it,” said a Congress office bearer who refused to be named.
A podcast is an audio message or discussion that is transferred or relayed digitally.
“Once finalised, Gandhi’s podcast will be a counter to the Prime Minister Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast,” claimed the functionary quoted above.
The former Congress chief launched his YouTube channel some time ago but started promoting it only during the lockdown period. It has so far got 294,000 subscribers.
While Gandhi’s conversation with migrant workers saw a viewership of 752,000, his video interaction with health experts professor Ashish Jha and professor Johan Giesecke on coronavirus had over 90,000 views.
PM Modi’s YouTube channel has 6.45 million subscribers apart from 57.9 million followers on Twitter and 45 million on Facebook. Gandhi has 14.4 million followers on Twitter and 3.2 million on Facebook.
“We are also exploring other platforms such as LinkedIn,” the Congress functionary said.
He claimed that the party’s social media campaigns during the coronavirus-induced lockdown had attracted “huge response” from the public.
“Our ‘Speak Up India’ online campaign on May 28 was a huge hit. Over 5.7 million party leaders and workers uploaded their messages on different social media platforms throughout the day,” the functionary added.
The daylong campaign was launched to put pressure on the central government to accept demands for providing immediate financial aid to farmers, migrant workers, daily wage earners and small businesses hit by the pandemic.
“It is important for politicians to communicate with citizens in whatever ways they can. Podcasting can be a great way to interact, but only if the politician allows for a two-way communication. They have to find a way of talking with the people, not just to the people,” said Amit Verma, a Mumbai-based podcaster.
