Like celebrities, jailed godmen and gangsters draw fans on social media
Jaipur: Godmen and gangsters today have as much of a fan following on social media as do film stars, cricketers and politicians. Whether it’s Asaram Bapu, currently lodged in Jodhpur central jail, on charges of raping a minor, or Anandpal Singh, head of an infamous gang, wanted in multiple cases of robbery and extortion in Nagaur district, Rajasthan, they have been able to influence and mobilise followers despite being away from the public eye and also overcome any perceived “bias” in the mainstream media.
A control room has been set up where nearly 20-odd IT professionals sit, uploading his daily routine and developments in court on his website, updating Asaram’s various social media accounts, and live upstream on the internet for those of his 70 lakh followers who are unable to come to Jodhpur. Their duties include sending information to the mainstream media. This control room is connected to nearly 2,000 others like it and the godman’s Ahmedabad-based ashram.
If it takes professionals to handle Asaram’s social media strategy, the elusive Anandpal Singh’s is being taken care of by an army of fans, comprising youths from his community. His name typed on Google search yields a dozen specious Facebook accounts: the police claim that none of the accounts is operated by him. He is evading arrest while the police face flak for having failed to nab him after his Bollywood-style escape from police custody nine months ago.
Besides, there is the Anandpal Fan Club, the Anandpal Youth Brigade and another organisation, Anandpal Singh Tiger of Rajputana, each bearing his photograph and eulogies to his ‘bravado’. There was a deluge of congratulatory messages on his escape on his birthday on June 1. There was a message from him more recently on the Anandpal Youth Brigade page – it was written in the first person – appealing to the young to stay away from the world of crime world, which was liked and shared by nearly 25,000 people.
Both Asaram and Anandpal’s social accounts are run by ‘others’ and from outside the jail. But regular, social media-obsessed inmates use their cell phone as a source of untold relief from boredom, even posting selfies on their Facebook accounts from two high-security jails of Ajmer and Jodhpur while a murder convict in Ajmer central jail, in 2012, even masterminded the murder of a witness, seeking a running commentary on the phone until the shots were fired.
(This story originally appeared in the Asian Age)
