BJP in social media: A multiple time analysis of ideology in terms of populism and nationalism

The BJP (Bharatiaya Janata Party) of India has achieved unprecedented electoral success in its last two terms, resulting in two consecutive wins with a large majority. This success, both in national and local elections, is often credited to their successful use of social media in mobilizing people on their behalf. For this reason, the national election in 2014 and subsequent local election at the federal level was termed the first "social media election" in India. There is an effort to see and connect the BJP's use of social media and its success with the global rise of populism and their inclination to use alternative media. On the other hand, most of the literature previously produced regarding the BJP considered the BJP as a nationalist or right-wing nationalist political party. This study attempts to analyze the BJP's social media articulation and decide if they are nationalist or populist. To do this, different timeframes are observed, as well as if it creates any variation or stability in the BJP's articulation in terms of its ideological position. The research shows that most of the fluctuation is related with shorter layer of time, while there is a stability in their imagination of longer time. Keywords: populism, nationalism, BJP, social media, multiple time