Over the past few years, several YouTube channels focussing on Tamil Nadu with a subtle or explicit right-wing slant have cropped up — although the party has little electoral foothold in the state.
The BJP’s latest election campaign against the DMK-Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu is the decades-old Katchatheevu issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has targeted the Congress for “callously” giving away the tiny 285-acre uninhabited island in the Palk Strait to Sri Lanka. The geopolitical issue is making headlines with experts weighing in on whether the BJP’s strategy to corner both the Congress and DMK would work out for them in the Lok Sabha elections.
Interestingly, just four days before the BJP picked up this dormant issue, YouTuber Keerthika Govindaraj, raked up the same issue on her channel Keerthi History in the episode ‘Why BJP Couldn’t Make A Mark In Tamilnadu?’.
Keerthi’s channel, which boasts of 2.07 million subscribers as of March 2024, grew exponentially in a span of two years. In her videos, the 26-year-old History graduate claims to educate people about “real history that the education system has forgotten”. In the first edition of the National Creators Award, where social media influencers were presented with awards for their work by the Union government — Keerthi was awarded ‘Best Storyteller’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for educating people on “real history with unique perspectives.” This was 18 days before the BJP picked up Katchatheevu as a poll platform.
One of the many reasons behind the success of Keerthi History is the overt right-wing slant mixed with rhetoric in her videos, whether it is ‘exposing’ the ‘bloody tale’ behind the newly built Ram temple in Ayodhya or justifying the bursting of crackers during Diwali. Like Keerthi History, several YouTube channels with a subtle or explicit right-wing slant have cropped up in Tamil Nadu, and are platforming BJP’s talking points in the state.
This story was originally published in thenewsminute.com. Read the full story here.