A month before the Legislative Assembly elections in Nagaland that took place on February 27, Vibei Kuotsu—seated at her Kohima office—found a pattern in the 30-odd memes that had arrived over the course of a few weeks in her inbox. The 'One Distracted Boyfriend' meme looked like the one up here while the Joseph Ducreux 'Call Me Maybe' meme with the 18th-century French noble looked like this:
Though eliciting laughter, the undertone of most of these memes carried anger, protest and a strong tone of disapproval with what’s been happening in the state during and after the elections for a while now.
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“As with everywhere else, tools such as memes on social media are a big influence on the youth," says 25-year-old Kuotsu, the social media coordinator and content writer for Indihut, a private agency that has been tasked with the social media engagements for the Chief Electoral Commission of Nagaland. "According to our research, 80% of the Naga youth spends a sizeable amount of time on various social media platforms. Many of them want to talk about the lack of development and false promises of the ministers and leaders. They want change. These memes were a reflection of that sentiment."The bunch of memes didn’t just randomly turn up in her inbox. In fact, it was a response to a call for memes as part of a ‘Clean Elections’ awareness drive before the Legislative Assembly elections hit in February.The story of elections in Nagaland is one fraught with controversies and murky under-the-table business. In the face of a history of candidates buying votes and wooing the Naga youth with gifts such as cars or bikes, food or alcohol, drives such as this are not just a look at how electoral processes are perceived among the youth, but also act as a vent for those who have had enough. The memes that Kuotsu saw a few days after the call for entries, then, became emblematic of this feverish dissidence that has been settling in for a while now, more pronounced this year and even putting the political leaders at unease on several occasions. The memes stood out, much like the ubiquitous white flags that were found outside most of the houses in Nagaland at the same time—with 'Clean Elections' printed in bold on them.
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How cultural representation comes together with electoral awareness is something Kuotsu and her team at Indihut have been researching on for about a year, and looking at the way the Naga youth spends their time on social media has been instrumental in gauging how they would respond to an awareness strategy. “If you open any Facebook page of Nagaland, you’ll see a lot of memes running. They voice concerns on not just clean elections, but other things too. We saw an instant opportunity to connect to people by asking them to reach directly to us,” says Kuotsu. It’s also common for many young voters to get their daily dose of news from social media, shaping their thoughts and opinions and urging them to act accordingly. “However, many older age groups are also using social media increasingly, instead of newspapers."
(From left) Yan Kikon, Rhokuosie Ngouri and Vibei Kuotsu are part of the social media for the Chief Electoral Commission of Nagaland.
A team of four aged between 25 and 35—Kuotsu along with Yan Kikon as social media specialist, Rhokuosie Ngouri as the graphic designer and Liyo Kikon who takes care of consultancy services—have been tasked with keeping a finger on the most active pulse of Nagaland’s voting landscape through all mediums possible: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Their meme quest reiterated that it’s the youth that is the way forward. “ We received more submissions than we expected, and everyone who sent them in was between the ages of 15 and 30. Most of them were students, and boys,” Kuotsu says. The memes that won the contest got their makers a bounty ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 1,000.What started as a social media awareness programme last year can now be seen as a fledgling statement of purpose in which the memes have acted both as a sensor and a documentation of an active voice. “Nagas are very interested in controversial subjects and are very creative when it comes to memes. This is definitely a good connection that we have been able to establish."
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Though eliciting laughter, the undertone of most of these memes carried anger, protest and a strong tone of disapproval with what’s been happening in the state during and after the elections for a while now.“As with everywhere else, tools such as memes on social media are a big influence on the youth," says 25-year-old Kuotsu, the social media coordinator and content writer for Indihut, a private agency that has been tasked with the social media engagements for the Chief Electoral Commission of Nagaland. "According to our research, 80% of the Naga youth spends a sizeable amount of time on various social media platforms. Many of them want to talk about the lack of development and false promises of the ministers and leaders. They want change. These memes were a reflection of that sentiment."The bunch of memes didn’t just randomly turn up in her inbox. In fact, it was a response to a call for memes as part of a ‘Clean Elections’ awareness drive before the Legislative Assembly elections hit in February.The story of elections in Nagaland is one fraught with controversies and murky under-the-table business. In the face of a history of candidates buying votes and wooing the Naga youth with gifts such as cars or bikes, food or alcohol, drives such as this are not just a look at how electoral processes are perceived among the youth, but also act as a vent for those who have had enough. The memes that Kuotsu saw a few days after the call for entries, then, became emblematic of this feverish dissidence that has been settling in for a while now, more pronounced this year and even putting the political leaders at unease on several occasions. The memes stood out, much like the ubiquitous white flags that were found outside most of the houses in Nagaland at the same time—with 'Clean Elections' printed in bold on them.
