Congress has launched a massive recruitment campaign to take on the BJP’s social media cell. According to various reports, Congress is eyeing to recruit five lakh youth for its IT Cell to tackle the BJP’s might. Launching an online drive urging youth to join the Congress IT cell, party leader Rahul Gandhi yesterday released a video message which also included a number on which miss-call can be given, a WhatsApp number, and email ID and a website in the end of the video for those who wish to join the Congress Social Media Cell.

“As a young person, you can see what’s going on. Nothing is invisible. In your school, universities, colleges, you can see the oppression, you can see the attack on the ideology. Look outside Delhi, you can see what’s happened with the farmers. The backbone of this war on the nation is a troll army. Thousands of people who spread hatred, anger and are paid to do so. We also need warriors to defend liberal values, to defend the ideas of compassion, peace, harmony and affection. Come, join this army. This is not an army of hatred, this is not an army of violence. This is an army of truth, this is an army that is going to defend the ideas of truth. We are building this platform for you to give you the tool to fight this battle and win,” said Rahul Gandhi in a campaign video releasing from his Twitter handle.

Congress also urged the youth to join its social media team. “On Safer Internet Day, join the Congress Social Media team and elevate your voice against hate speech, misinformation and propaganda. Speak up for a safe, secure & equitable digital India through our platform,” tweeted Congress.

Following the launch of the campaign, various Congress leaders are also releasing their videos with this hashtag #SaveIndiaJoinCongressSM urging people to join the party’s social media cell. Some prominent party leaders who have released videos requesting the youth to join Congress Social Media cell included Dinesh Gundu Rao, Digvijaya Singh, Oommen Chandy, Rajiv Shukla, Shashi Tharoor and Ashok Gehlot.