NEW DELHI: Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi had a piece of advice for his party’s online campaigners and volunteers at a meeting held last week - “Don’t be abusive as it is not in line with the Congress party’s tradition” and to remember that “even hardcore rightwingers started thinking moderately towards the end of their lives.”A week after his online warriors fought many a social media battle defending their leader’s controversial “jawanon ki dalali” comment made on the surgical strikes , Gandhi held a confidential meeting held with the drivers of the party’s online activities interacted with heads of every State’s social media activities, where he is believed to have talked candidly.“He told us that even hard core right wingers turn liberals and congressis towards the end of their lives. He gave us the example of some senior BJP leaders such as Advani too who softened at the fag end of their careers. Hence he said we must focus on converting them the online right wingers into congressis much before that. He has clearly told us not to stoop to the levels of people with extreme ideologies while responding,” a party member who attended the meeting told ET. Some volunteers, said those present in the meeting also explained how difficult it was to defend him on some issues some time.He said the actual challenge was in trying to convert those with extreme views into thinking moderately, participant said, adding, “The focus of the meeting was on some new imaginative ways to respond to RSS-BJP online campaigns. It has been made clear to us that social media can help one election, not every election.”A participant said the congress vice president was also asked why he was given the moniker “Pappu.” “He told us it was about the Bhatta-Parsaul incident when he took on the corporate bigwigs. And that before that he was the darling of the media.”Bhatta-Parsaul, the twin villages in western Uttar Pradesh grabbed headlines after Rahul Gandhi lent his support to a farmers’ agitation in 2011, to launch its campaign against “dilution” of the land acquisition Act enacted by the UPA government. At the meeting Rahul Gandhi is also believed to have answered questions on when he will become the party president. “He told us it will happen very soon. This was when one of us asked us the question. It will be easier defending him as the president.”Gandhi, said some participants, has very confidently told the volunteers that the Modi sarkar will not come back in 2019 as “benefits were not reaching the poor.”“He believes the urban vote is dependent on how promises have been delivered and that with less focus on programmes such as MNREGA, the purchasing power of the poor was going down and their poverty on rise. This, he thinks will ensure the defeat of the present government,” a participant said.The Congress vice president also told the online volunteers about his meetings with groups of traders and others who according to him are disillusioned with the NDA government. He also said he found social media distracting and checked twitter only once in a while. The meeting had other senior leaders interacting with the online warriors of the party.