New Delhi: On Monday, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said in the intense battle for digital space, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an edge over his rivals, including Rahul Gandhi, as his campaign has struck a chord with youths and people from different walks of life. Prime Minister Modi's digital communication approach has been engaging, exhaustive and exemplary, he said.

The Union Minister said "PM Modi has addressed a vast diversity of people, from youths to senior citizens and from professionals to housewives. He has also reached out to the fence-sitters while energising his own cadre,". He said as the Prime Minister also partnered with celebrities from all fields, hence further amplifying the message. The 2019 general election is being fought as much on the ground as in the digital space with all major parties, including the BJP and the Congress, stepping up their social media campaigns to reach out to people from all sections.

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However, during the period March 10-22, PM Modi made 125 tweets that garnered 11.24 lakh retweets, a BJP leader said. His tweets also garnered 57 lakh Twitter engagements and 1,94,640 crore impressions. Compared with this, Rahul Gandhi made 19 tweets that garnered 1.72 lakh retweets, the BJP leader claimed. The Congress chief's tweets had a Twitter engagement of 9.8 lakh and impressions of 25,220 crore, the BJP leader, who did not wish to be named, said. The BJP leader said "It's been two weeks since we've seen Narendra Modi address any kind of public meeting. Except for the audio bridge with Chowkidars, he's hardly spoken anything in public. Yet, he's managed to dominate the narrative since the last two weeks, day after day,".

To be noted that for the young voters, the Prime Minister has weaved in films and popular culture in his tweets. So, there were references to 'Apna time aayega' (from the film Gully Boy), 'How's the josh' (from Uri: The Surgical Strike) and 'Toilet Ek Prem Katha', the BJP leader said, referring to Bollywood songs and dialogues. The leader said "For the politically inclined janta, his blogs on institutions, Mahatma Gandhi and Congress and Lohia were a master class. His aggressive tweets against the statements of Sam Pitroda got huge traction,". Prime Minister's 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign is perhaps the most engaging and successful campaign in political history, the BJP leader said.

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