We mapped COVID response by Indian politicians
Trends:
Top leaders define party response
CMs have more substantive tweets than national leaders
Hashtag use reflects party polarization
COVID spawned extreme speech vs Chinese, Muslims

http://joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu/political-partisanship-and-covid-response-in-india/

@DibyenduMishra

The main leader needs to engage significantly & consistently for party momentum in response to crisis.

@RahulGandhi and @NarendraModi were critical in getting their party members to talk about COVID.

Traction among politicians gained after @NarendraModi Janata Curfew message

Now MP CM @ChouhanShivraj not @RahulGandhi was the first high ranking politician to post significantly on COVID

@ShashiTharoor was the first major INC leader to tweet on COVID. No major Indian politician paid attention to COVID till mid-Feb despite many @MoHFW_INDIA tweets

Chief Ministers have played an important role on COVID communication.

@ashokgehlot51 @ChouhanShivraj @vijayanpinarayi are regular tweeters and their tweets tend to be more substantive than the tweets of national figures that tend to be more polemical.

Parties are polarized on what hashtags they use to talk about COVID.

BJP’s style of COVID hashtags is comparable to their previous strategies around #SwacchBharat using brand creation strategies such as #5baje5minute, #StayAtHomeStaySafe etc

BJP politicians more likely to talk about #Nizamuddin and more likely to use divisive hashtags such as #CoronaJihad #BioJihad or anti-Chinese hashtags such as #ChineseVirus

INC politicians more use hashtags about migrants and economic consequences of lockdown

Lower level politicians more likely to indulge in misinformation. One major leader to promote an unverified story is @Swamy39

Most extreme/hate speech tends to be couched as innuendo than direct attacks. These tend to come from lower-level politicians or party strategists than key leaders.