Assam Assembly Elections 2026: BJP's AI-led digital campaign labelled Congress as 'Miya party'

BJP insiders say the campaign aided in Himanta Biswa Sarma's constant polarisation tactics to corner Congress

Guwahati: The results of the 2026 Assembly elections in Assam, announced on Monday, was in the line with BJP's frequent claim that Hindus and the indigenous communities are with the saffron party while only the Muslims favoured the Opposition Congress.

The BJP's claim got a boost as 18 Muslim candidates from Congress were elected, out of the 19 that the grand old party managed to win in the 126-member Assembly. BJP bettered its tally from 60 in 2021 to 82 seats. The party insiders say that the Hindu voters shifted to BJP due to Congress' constant opposition to the actions taken by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma against the 'Miyas' or the Bengali-speaking Muslims.

While BJP leaders constantly tried to corner Congress by calling it a 'Miya party', a surrogate social media army of BJP pushed this narrative through a planned social media campaign using AI visuals and other online tools in the past two years. The campaign mainly targetted Congress state president Gaurav Gogoi and a few others as they tried to label the Opposition party as 'Miya Party'.

"Two targeted campaigns via smaller portals, influencers and shadow handles labelling Gaurav as 'Paaijan' or someone close to Pakistan proved very useful," a source in BJP's social media campaign team said.

The 'Paaijan Campaign' was conducted amid CM Sarma's allegations that Gaurav and his wife Elizabeth, a British national, had links with Pakistan. An SIT constituted by Sarma government and the Centre was moved for an investigation by a central agency. Gaurav rejected the allegation calling it just a "smear campaign" against his family and Congress.

BJP’s surrogate social media army also tried to label other Congress leaders and commentators as 'Miya Lovers' or 'Miya IT Cell' through targeting online posts or through AI visuals. The BJP leaders and influencers often posted images of just Muslim men attending Congress rallies or Muslim users appreciating Congress’ social media posts. "Such content would further reinforce Congress as a 'Miya Party'."

In September last year, the BJP's IT team uploaded a series of AI-generated videos, in which it tried to claim that Muslims would take over Assam if Congress was elected back to power again. In February, the social media handle of BJP's state unit, uploaded a video in which Sarma was seen pointing a gun to a scullcap-clad politician, resembling Gaurav Gogoi. The video, however, was deleted after it triggered an outrage and a petition was also filed.

Clips from Pakistan or purportedly from Pakistan which praised Gaurav Gogoi was further circulated to reinforce this campaign. Several viral posts began to circulate on Instagram and Facebook showing AI images of Bengali Muslim-looking men in the company of Gaurav Gogoi.

"The poll results seem to have shown that this campaign helped the party in strengthening the narrative against Congress and register the historic victory for the third straight term," said the BJP leader.