Satyendra set up an online group with others which would spread educational schemes in other states.
"That will not be possible," said the man at the headquarters of Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. "But sir, what about the person running your Twitter account?" we persist. "We don't have a Twitter handle." "But sir, it is verified?" The conversation ends.
As in the past, and unlike other parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP runs its campaign with layers of mystery. Just as party boss Mayawati gives no interviews, there is no clear answer for who runs her party's social media strategy -or indeed, what the strategy involves. As NDTV contacted various Twitter accounts, it became clear that the online campaign is being run by volunteers who have come together as followers of the ideology of Dalit icon Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Like 25-year-old Satyendra who is from Western UP and graduated from one of the country's best engineering institutes. He says that if it weren't for Mayawati's scholarship scheme when he was in college, he wouldn't have been able to afford the education he got. "It was unbelievable for my family as a middle class one to pay Rs 95,000 a year,'' he told NDTV, 'so, we wanted to give back to society.'
Two years ago, along with his friend Pranvir and other graduates- mostly Dalit but also others who benefited from scholarships- Satyendra set up an online group which would spread the word in various states about educational schemes. Then, when elections came around, they decided that they would pay the ultimate tribute to the woman who helped them get an education- Mayawati, called "
Behenji" or sister.
"I can tell you that as soon as the government changed, the students who got scholarships had to stand outside the government office for hours to get their scholarship money. This never happened during
Behenji's time," said Pranvir. And so the activist group became a political group, not for money, but for supporting the values of Dr Ambedkar and Mayawati's mentor, Kanshi Ram: education and empowerment.
"We realize that Behenji sends out press releases, but usually, no one has the time (to read them)" said Pavnesh, "so what we do is that we take the three points from it and make it into a voice note or a message. Even if you send it to a single person, they have a reach of at least 250 people, so you are looking at a tremendous scope just through WhatsApp."
The crew of about 15 working from varied places like Bulandshahr, Lucknow and Hapur show us the numerous posters and messages they have made for WhatsApp "forwards" and the 12 Facebook pages they run. One of them is a song which has got more than a lakh shares on facebook and many more on whatsapp- "
Behenji ko aane doh" (help bring in Mayawati). The song features two young Dalit singers promising the Comeback of Mayawati, with shots of her rallies and posters.
"We shot that song in six hours and edited it in six hours and put it online," said Satyender, who is incredibly sad that some other volunteer beat him to making the hit "Dangal" song "Dhakar hai" into a campaign video. "We are not all working together. But we know across the country, from Maharashtra and Punjab, those who are connected on social media for
Behenji."
None of the 15-odd group members we met hope to meet
Behenji. They are just happy to be using their education to empower someone who may fulfill the Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram dream- for a Dalit to become Prime Minister.