Delhi Election 2020: BJP's Social Media "Beta" Tajinder Bagga Makes His Election Debut

Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, who debuts as a BJP candidate for the February Delhi election, is one of the ruling party's most prominent faces on social media. On the flip-side, he has been accused by his critics of aggression with rivals online.

Tajinder Bagga will face Aam Aadmi Party's Rajkumari Dhillon and Congress's Surender Sethi in Hari Nagar in west Delhi, which has a large number of Sikhs.

Last week, when the BJP announced its first list of candidates for the 70-seat Delhi assembly, Tajinder Bagga was missing. He was brutally trolled by hundreds with the hashtag #DontCryBagga. He was unusually restrained in his response to a user who offered to campaign for him and asked which seat he was contesting from. "I am BJP, contesting from 70 seats. You are most welcome," he wrote.

Soon after he learnt that the second list released past midnight on Monday did include him, Mr Bagga put out a poster with the message: "Neta nahi, Beta (I am a son, not a leader)".

Tajinder Bagga's apparent transformation into a calmer version of himself probably began in 2017, when he was appointed Delhi BJP spokesperson.

That marked a big jump for a person who came to the spotlight with an attack on senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan in 2011 over his views on Kashmir. He barged into Mr Bhushan's chambers and allegedly slapped him and tore his shirt.

What is worse, Mr Bagga later bragged about the attack and said: "He try to break my nation, I try to break his head. Hisab chukta. Congrats to all. Operation Prashant Bhushan successful (sic)."

Mr Bagga's political career began with his own outfit, "Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena", which he described as a task force against traitors, anti-nationals and the corrupt.

He claims his association with the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is far older. Mr Bagga was quoted by news agency ANI as saying he joined the RSS ''shakha'' at four and became part of the BJP's youth wing when he was 16.

He said that he also ran online campaigns for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 national election.

Voting for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 8 and the results will be declared three days later.

Mr Bagga has nearly 649,000 followers on Twitter.