Events in Bihar, where a chief minister’s resignation was converted within minutes into a political opportunity where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got back into government with Nitish Kumar, shows how the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combination is changing how politics is done in India.

While they are clearly 24x7 politicians, and their brand of politics flows from a take-no-prisoners approach to power, the one thing that really stands out about how they do their politics is speed. The key difference between the Modi-Shah approach and that of the rest of the political spectrum (barring the Aam Aadmi Party) is that they are products of the digital age and social media. One thing that separates digital from analogue thinking is speed. On the social media, you react instantly. Elsewhere, you take your time.

The Indian media tends to conflate the huge social media support for the BJP as being the result of feeding a mercenary troll army that is paid to harass political and other opponents of the party. But even some of this is true, it is a very small part of the story, given that AAP and Congress have their own troll armies, and giving back as good as they get. Most BJP/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh supporters one sees on social media are there because of their passionate beliefs, not what they get paid. This is what makes this voice more effective than others on social media.

The real reason why Modi and Shah are different is that they are used to responding to opportunities and threats in real-time on digital media, which is what the social media conditions you to.

Consider the sheer number of political opportunities the BJP is able to pull out of thin air when conditions change.

When the BJP slipped in Goa after the recent assembly elections, within 24 hours the party had not only cobbled together the numbers but also told its Defence Minister to drop everything and go back to Goa as Chief Minister.

Over the last few days, even as changes were underway in Bihar, the party probably had a hand in encouraging Shankersinh Vaghela to leave the Congress in Gujarat. But when one thought this was about dividing the Congress vote in the next assembly elections, the real purpose became apparent even as eyes were focused on Nitish being sworn in again as Chief Minister of Bihar with BJP support: Vaghela’s exit was the cue to some Congress MLAs to quit in order to deny an easy victory to Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha polls. There is talk that more Congress MLAs may defect. The Congress does not know what hits them.

And that’s not all. Amit Shah himself got himself nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, sending three messages: he will be the power behind the BJP’s future thrust to get legislation passed in the Rajya Sabha as the National Democratic Alliance numbers change; that he will continue to play a big role in Gujarat even though he won’t be fighting the assembly elections this time; and, most important, that he will hold elective office in addition to his role as party chief. It is now clear that the BJP’s power trio – Modi, Shah and Jaitley, is effectively the power duo (just Modi and Shah).

In theory, parties run by dynasties and single all-powerful leaders should also be able to take quick political decisions, but Modi and Shah have a head start on them precisely because they think social media all the time, even while living in the real world of real politics.

The other parties have websites and social media handles, but the BJP is one of the few parties to internalise digital response times into their political thinking. This is why within minutes of Nitish Kumar’s announcement of his resignation as Chief Minister of Bihar the Prime Minister was already sending him a congratulatory tweet.

It is more than likely that the Bihar changes were not spur-of-the-moment decisions take by Nitish Kumar or Modi. But the latter has an advantage when he can respond faster than anybody else to opportunities that flit by. Nitish Kumar’s response tweet came hours after Modi’s congratulatory message.

There is little doubt that Amit Shah manages to juggle many political balls simultaneously. He is thinking five steps ahead when the opposition is still deciding how to react to his last cut and thrust and preparing its TV soundbyte. A digital brain, which is tuned to quick responses, is clearly at an advantage compared to those still living in the analogue era.