Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the 2019 Indian elections to examine the affective role of digital private spaces, like WhatsApp, to understand how political communication is shaped by emotions, the impact this has on everyday family and community relationships, ideas of citizenship and the nation in India.

Paper long abstract:

India has over 400 million WhatsApp users and serves as one of the main 'private' platforms for communication between individuals and groups with family, friends, colleagues and civic organizations amongst others. This digital 'living room' space is thus valued and trusted because it replicates and extends 'real-world' intimacies. It has also become a powerful digital tool for political parties and was central to campaign strategies in the 2019 Indian national election, particularly for the victorious Bharatiya Janata Party. The high intensity circulation of messages, videos, memes and images from formal party IT Cells as well as proxies often elicited political support by appealing to would be voters' emotions and sentiment. In recent years commentators have observed a shift in world-wide political practice from a focus on facts to emotions. This paper examines the relationship between digital technology, politics and emotions through the engagement of Indian citizens on WhatsApp in the lead up to the Indian elections. It documents the digitised production and lived experience of a range of sentiment from rage and aggression towards the 'other', of sympathy and devotion towards the patriarch of the nation, of insecurity in the face of fear and of humour and delight in ridiculing public figures. As such, it questions the impact of these affective digital private spaces on how we communicate with sentiment in everyday political life, and the impact on everyday family and community relationships as well as ideas of citizenship and the nation.