Kavitha sees Twitter as empowering tool
TRS leader 1st woman politico in south to hit 1M on Twitter
Kalvakuntla Kavitha, former MP and daughter of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has become the first woman politician in south India to clock a million — 10 lakh — followers on Twitter.
Kavitha has run various campaigns on social media which include #SistersForChange and #GiftAHelmet that saw massive engagement online. Scores of common people and celebrities joined the #GiftAHelmet initiative that leads to a national Twitter trend every year during Raksha Bandhan.
Kavitha’s latest campaign, #ThankYouWarriors, to thank
Covid-19 frontline warriors has been well received.
Kavitha had joined the statehood campaign in
2008 after returning from the US, and launched the NGO Telangana Jagruthi to connect the spirit of Telangana with the movement. She joined Twitter in 2010 and used the platform to represent the interests of the statehood movement.
She has since tapped
into the power of social media to connect with Telangana natives across the world through Telangana Jagruthi. Her efforts at highlighting the Bathukamma festival earned national attention for the festival.
Delighted at hitting a million, Kavitha, told Deccan Chronicle: “All I can say is that the followers on Twitter have been very kind.”
She said her efforts to reach a large number of people was to not just spread ideology but to help those distress. “My intention and endeavour is to serve society and it has always been reflected on my social media handles.”
“I can say that it is due to the social media that we have been able to offer free meals to the needy in my constituency (Nizamabad) for the last three years. It gave me an opportunity to serve a number of people during the Covid-19 crisis and extend a helping hand to students, migrants and people in distress stuck abroad and within national borders and bring them back to their home state,” Kavitha said.
Of her team, Kavitha said they had been together since the Telangana movement. “A few people have been assigned certain jobs. At the end of the day, it is the TRS karyakartas and Jagruthi workers at the ground level who coordinate and deliver a lot of the work,” she said adding, “Whoever comes up with any request, my office and I try very sincerely to address their concerns.”
Explaining the deeper dimension of her engagement on Twitter, as she sees it, Kavitha said, “The more space we give on social media and the more interaction takes place with public representatives and authorities, I believe the requirement to reach out to the people will be fulfilled. This is the ultimate goal for any system and we will be a true democracy.”
On resolving the grievances of people with government departments, Kavitha said it is all about coordinating and making sure the work is done, with a great deal of follow-up.
She explained: “Suppose somebody has an issue with their land patta. They would simply give an application to a public representative and have no clue what else to do. The rest of the procedure is taken care of by my office.”
Kavitha said, What has happened is that people have understood that in this state leaders react on social media, like my brother K.T. Rama Rao who is very active on social media and responds to requests quite often. I have seen many women creating social media handles and sending me special requests and we address the same.”
“What is seen on social media is like a public request,” she explained. “There are many requests which directly come to us, which are hidden requests. We follow them up too. They are actually tenfold to what you see. So that’s much richer. So, I believe that in a way it is an empowering tool for the women too.”