In June 2019, just before the inaugural session of the 17th Lok Sabha, a social media buzz was created around Women’s Reservation Bill. Several activists and prominent personalities used their digital presence to influence the political stream for introduction of the bill in the inaugural session. The activists were trying to influence the political climate for opening the policy window. As John Kingdon notes, a policy action takes place when ‘a problem is recognised, solution is available, and the political climate is favourable’. This was one of the cases where members of gender movement groups have used the digital platforms to influence the political climate. The methods used by political movements also help to understand the role in the policy process. In the current times protests are simultaneously taking off in the digital world which are mostly amplifying the on-ground movements. Facebook walls, Twitter feeds and WhatsApp groups are the new streets for political movements. Many protests that have influenced the political discourse in the recent times have had their connections to social media platforms. Social media users participating in protests discuss and debate their opinions for advancing their agenda and mobilise support. These users can be either individuals or groups or organisations or anyone. The democratic nature of the social media makes every user a commentator who can comment on “anyone, anywhere, anytime, can have an opinion on anything”. The activists use the platform for different purposes in a social movement such as disseminating news, call for mobilisation, share the images and videos of repression, information related to state action and so on. However, the knowledge about the content used by protest actors to shape the public opinion on public policies is not explored much, which is the knowledge gap this resarch intends to fill.
