Why Rahul Gandhi needs to join Facebook and Twitter. But unlike Modi, manage it on his own

Ever since Rahul Gandhi has returned from his sabbatical, his aggressive avatar is being widely hailed. The question many seem to be asking, particularly after Congress vice president's recent intervention in Parliament on the issue of net neutrality, is whether he would officially join social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter? There are several compelling arguments in favour of why he should.

Senior leader and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who is known to be a close aide of Rahul Gandhi and was deputed to organise the mega Kisan rally at Ramlila Maidan that saw a huge turnout of farmers, believes that Rahul should be active on Facebook and Twitter to counter BJP's propaganda and remain connected with the youth. In the past, many of Digvijay's predictions about Rahul have come true. Will this one too?

Digvijay Singh, with his huge following on Twitter and Facebook, has been one of the strongest voices of the party on social media notwithstanding the Congress' below par performance in the digital media and communication departments. The senior leader joined Twitter and Facebook, and invested in creating his own personal website, even as several younger faces showed initial reluctance to bridge the digital gap with potential supporters. With 24.31 crore internet users, of which 17.3 crore use mobile internet, Indians are one of the most net-savvy bunch of people. India has 11 crore Facebook users, seven crore on WhatsApp and 2.20 crore on Twitter - an audience that no politician can afford to ignore. By 2020, the number of smartphone users accessing the internet is expected to rise to a staggering 65 crore in India.

In the last general election, Narendra Modi had an extremely well planned social media strategy. A large number of first time voters and floating voters, particularly in the urban areas, were influenced by the social media campaign he ran. He was able to mobilise an army of strong voices on social media that defended his controversial track record as chief minister and even influenced the mainstream media to change their views on thorny issues. The agendas he set on social media, particularly through Twitter, also found space in the mainstream media. It is believed that Modi doesn't tweet himself. He does, however, take a lot of interest in gauging the sentiment of the netizen community, and managed to get a professional bunch of people to organise an aggressive social media campaign to tap into this.

Today, a large chunk of the vote share difference between the BJP and the Congress comrpises the young, urban, middle class and liberal voters, who are increasingly getting disenchanted with Modi's performance as prime minister - be it on issues relating to economy or social cohesion. Censorship, beef bans, church attacks, the slow pace of reforms despite a huge mandate and attempts to control the internet are issues that are just as emotive to the young and urban voter as "zameen wapsi" is to the rural farmer. This constituency needs to be tapped into by the Congress. The AAP managed to do this in Delhi and reaped huge political dividends.

In 2009, UPA 2 had managed to bag a majority of the urban constituencies and returned to power. The key to regaining many of these urban seats, lost to the BJP in 2014, will mean greater engagement with the urban and young voters. One of the ways to do this, involves Rahul Gandhi's entry into the social media space. Rahul's left-of-the-centre orientation to bridge the gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots' must also extend to bridging the digital divide between India and Bharat. He can pioneer an aspirational rural connectivity agenda with his online presence. Recently, Rahul has shown great promise - be it with his body language in the Parliament, the 16km trek to Kedarnath or taking a train to Punjab to meet farmers. He has also been more open in his interactions with the media. Taking this a step further, he must now connect with netizens directly and engage them on a range of issues. It is necessary that Rahul talks the aspirational lingo of Youngistan. The greatest takers for the Congress' secular, liberal and progressive ideology can also be galvanised through social media.

Unlike Modi, Rahul should manage his social media accounts on his own. He should be himself. Tweet and post in English, Hindi and regional languages. He should use it for serious dialogue with a large audience, eager to engage with him.

What would be a good Twitter handle and bio for Rahul? Well, your guess is as good as mine. I hope it reflects something he believes in. Let's wait to find out?