New Delhi: Deepak Mhaskey, Bharatiya Janata Party’s new social media in-charge replacing Amit Malviya, has lived multiple lives— that of a chemistry professor, an active member of the BJP’s IT and social media cell who set up an “aggressive campaign war” in Chhattisgarh, and a party functionary who has been vocal in targeting the opposition in the State as well as the Gandhi family on social media.
Back in July 2024, in a post on X, Mhaskey shared a video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi talking about Hindus and Hindutva, with the caption: “The person whose family’s religion is not known till date talks about Hindus”.
In another post shared the same day, Mhaskey wrote, “Congress and the Gandhi family insult Sanatan at every opportunity to please the fundamentalists. Because their DNA is adulterated, their DNA itself is anti-India and anti-Sanatan.” In a third post the same day, he shared a picture of Gandhi with the caption, “The one person abusing the entire Hindu community.”
His old posts often targeted the then Bhupesh Baghel government in the State, with animations and video skits shared on the Chhattisgarh BJP X page.
According to a profile of Mhaskey in an annual report of Engineers India Ltd, he is also a “passionate worker in the field of data accumulation and analysis”. Specifically, the profile credits him for data analysis of nationwide electoral data and government beneficiary schemes.
“His many reports have been submitted and used by certain private and government agencies,” it adds.
While the details of these analyses aren’t known, his X posts give a clue into his work.
For instance, in July 2024, he shared a post saying that he got the opportunity to make a digital presentation of election analysis in the State working committee of the BJP.
In another post from March last year, he wrote about giving a presentation at the BJP State Office in Raipur on the election results in the meeting of all winning public representatives of the urban body elections and three-tier Panchayat elections.
‘Aggressive campaign war’
In a 2013 interview with the Pioneer, a screenshot of which Mhaskey shared on his Facebook profile, Mhaskey, quoted as BJP’s Head of the IT Cell in Chhattisgarh, said, “The content team involved with campaign activity had been offered the task of consistently gathering and customising party related content for posting them on party’s district-wise Facebook accounts already operational now for more than two-and-a-half years”.
The article spoke about the “aggressive campaign war” set to be unleashed on social media, with the BJP Chhattisgarh unit setting up a dedicated content team for wooing youth voters during the Assembly polls.
Mhaskey had explained the strategy. He said that 90 Assembly segment Facebook accounts will be opened for the Chhattisgarh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) for the campaign. This social media campaign was to be managed by 25 to 26 dedicated IT cells from across Chhattisgarh.
It was back then, during the early days of such social media campaign wars, that Mhaskey had already devised a strategy for district-level Facebook accounts in the State.
Many hats
According to an annual report of Engineers India Ltd, Mhaskey started his career as a College Chemistry Professor for a few years.
The profile says that he is also an avid agriculturist with an experience of almost four decades in horticulture crops and organic farming.
He was also actively involved in various innovative practices relating to horticulture crops and organic farming.
The profile also talks about his involvement with various social welfare programs across the State of Chhattisgarh, including “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao”, organisation of health camps, library development in rural areas, and awareness drives in digital transactions for the rural sector. He also worked in road construction briefly.
(Edited by Jeyasri AT)
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