Exclusive: While Arnab Goswami may not have an official social media presence, there are 158 Pages and Groups with millions of followers on Facebook that run a well-oiled campaign to promote him, stoke Islamophobia, praise the BJP and attack its rivals. https://www.article-14.com/post/in-pro-bjp-facebook-world-arnab-goswami-is-a-national-hero-hindu-saviour

The result?

A cult-like, zealous following for Goswami in the FB world where users want him to be a national leader, call him a Hindu God and liken his arrest to Mahatma Gandhi’s struggles against British rule.

Most pages don’t have a clear owner.

But some of the biggest pages, with as many as half a million followers, are run by those that also run pro-BJP pages for leaders like Modi, Shah and Yogi.

To understand just how big a role these pages play:

While Republic’s official pages on Facebook have about 4.5 million followers, these pages and groups have over 5.5 million followers.

Goswami refused to respond to our queries, but on these groups, admins pretend to be him and talk to followers.

Often, questions are like these: Do I deserve to be a Chief Minister?

Over the last few months, people around me who would not ordinarily watch Republic have become avid fans. I looked closer and realised much had to do with this online persona of his they were consuming: of being a Hindu Saviour who takes on the nation’s enemies.