From selfies to slogan: how Instagram is becoming India’s newest political battleground
The Hindu
Explore how Instagram is transforming into India's political arena, fueling campaigns and shaping voter engagement ahead of elections.
Ankit Pandey* was rushing to catch a train from Mumbai’s Malad station last month, when a sight halted him in his tracks. From the railway bridge, he could see a group of men offering namaaz (prayers) just outside the railway platform.
Pandey, 22, a worker in the Hindutva outfit Bajrang Dal, was incensed. He shot a 33-second video of the men praying, with his voiceover — “Will a Hindu be allowed to do this?” He added a song, a menacing chorus with pulsating beats, and uploaded it to Instagram through the local account of a leaderless Hindutva outfit called the Sakal Hindu Samaj (SHS).
He tagged four other similar accounts with a combined following of over 3.7 lakh followers. It took him less than 10 minutes to shoot and upload. But overnight, the post blew up.
Tens of thousands shared it and agreed with his outrage. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders latched on, and in 24 hours, Railways authorities had booked three people for ‘trespassing railway property’. Pandey’s post still remains on Instagram — with over 54,000 likes and more than a million views.
Women taking selfies after casting their votes during the Bihar Assembly Elections in November 2025. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Once a hub for vacation photos and aspirational lifestyle content, Instagram in India is now evolving into a space filled with political messaging, ranging from cheeky memes to hate-driven propaganda. Accelerating this shift is parent company Meta’s decision last year to push more political and news content towards users, including content from those they don’t follow. “We may recommend political content from accounts people don’t already follow based on personalised signals. If you want to see more or less political content, you can change your Political Content Control setting at any time,” says a Meta spokesperson.
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