The All Assam Students’ Union on Thursday exhorted the public to “unfollow” BJP ministers and leaders on social media platforms as part of protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, “The present government, with its dedicated social media cell, has been campaigning online in support of the citizenship law to divert, defuse and dilute the ongoing protests against the anti-Assam, anti-Northeast Act.”

He said social media was a powerful tool for disseminating information and the ruling party and the government used it to publicise their activities, to stay connected and “also to brainwash people”.

“Therefore, we make a clarion call to the people of Assam, who have been following the chief minister, finance minister and other BJP leaders on various social media platforms and respond to their posts, to unfollow their pages and unlike them to register their protest and thereby come out from the purview of their vicious circles. The masses should also launch a ‘social media war’ to make the BJP realise the power of the people, who have been let down by their elected representatives,” Gogoi said.

The appeal seems to have been triggered by a meeting of BJP’s social media workers at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati on December 24, which was attended by around 1,300 workers from the 126 Assembly constituencies, besides chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, North East Democratic Alliance convener Himanta Biswa Sarma and state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass.

After the meeting, Sonowal had tweeted, “Through Vijay Sankalp 2021, we reiterate our commitment to take the state towards greater heights of prosperity and development under the visionary leadership of PM Shri@narendramodiji… Interacted with dedicated social media karyakartas of @BJP4Assam in Guwahati. Urged them to disseminate information on various initiatives and schemes of the Govt to counter misinformation propagated by antisocial elements.”

Dispur has said the ongoing protests are being fuelled by vested interests through misinformation, something the anti-CAA brigade has denied by pointing to the massive turnout at the rallies.

Gogoi said, “We firmly believe that whatever might be the pace of such social media campaign by the BJP, its social media team cannot divert the people and their spirit of revolution. People are well aware of the catastrophic impact the Act would have on Assam and to what extent it can affect the socio-economic and linguistic rights of the indigenous people. They have rejected it tooth and nail. Therefore, everybody must counter social media posts of the BJP and refrain from liking posts of its leaders, be it MPs, ministers or party workers.”