Memes, AI Images, Short Videos: Inside BJP's Digital Push In Assam Election

For nearly two years, BJP-backed digital campaigns steadily pushed content targeting Congress leaders, particularly focusing on opposition figures and linking them repeatedly with Bengali Muslim voters.

06 May 2026, 08:08 · www.ndtv.com

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BJP's coordinated social media campaign targeted Congress as a minority-focused party
Digital content linked Congress leaders to Bengali Muslim voters and minority appeasement
Campaign amplified identity politics, portraying BJP as protector of Assamese and Hindu interests

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The 2026 Assam Assembly election was contested not just on roads, at rallies, or through television debates, but across smartphones and digital platforms. Facebook pages, Instagram reels, WhatsApp groups, and anonymous online networks became key battlegrounds.

For the first time, the BJP's highly coordinated social media machinery in Assam played an aggressive role in shaping the narrative, repeatedly projecting the Congress as a party primarily representing minority interests.

For nearly two years, BJP-backed digital campaigns steadily pushed content targeting Congress leaders, particularly focusing on opposition figures and linking them repeatedly with Bengali Muslim voters. Through short videos, memes, edited visuals, AI-generated images, influencer content, and coordinated comment campaigns, the narrative slowly became mainstream across Assam's digital space.

The campaign strategically amplified identity politics and voter anxieties already present in Assam's social atmosphere. Social media handles sympathetic to the BJP continuously projected Congress as dependent on Muslim votes, especially Bengali-origin Muslims often politically labelled as "Miya" in Assam's political discourse.

Online narratives repeatedly highlighted Muslim crowds in Congress rallies while portraying BJP as the protector of Assamese identity, Hindu interests, and indigenous culture.

A major focus of the campaign centred on Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi. Across digital platforms, a sustained stream of content sought to question his political image and link him to foreign influences and minority-focused narratives. AI-generated visuals, selectively edited video clips, viral memes, and coordinated online branding campaigns circulated widely, associating Congress leadership with minority appeasement politics.

The BJP's digital ecosystem also benefited from aggressive political messaging surrounding border security, illegal immigration, and demographic concerns - issues that have historically carried strong emotional weight in Assam. Content creators, smaller regional portals, influencers, and anonymous pages repeatedly pushed narratives portraying Congress as soft on illegal immigration while presenting BJP as the only force capable of protecting Assamese identity and national security.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma further strengthened this perception through sharp public statements and repeated attacks on Congress's online support base. The digital campaign transformed political branding into a psychological battle where repeated online messaging slowly built a subconscious association between Congress and minority-centric politics among large sections of voters.

By election day, the effects of this strategy were evident on the ground. The Congress struggled significantly in Hindu-majority constituencies, while the BJP succeeded in consolidating large sections of Hindu voters through a combination of nationalist messaging, identity politics, welfare outreach, and sustained digital mobilisation.

The 2026 Assam election may ultimately be remembered as the moment when political contestation in the state shifted decisively into the the digital arena-where memes, algorithms, viral clips, and online narratives proved nearly as influential as traditional modes of campaigning itself.

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