Twitter users on Wednesday condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi for following accounts that expressed happiness over journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder in her Bengaluru home on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had criticised those who were celebrating the killing.
On Thursday, #BlockNarendraModi was one of the top trends on Twitter in India. While some users made jokes using the hash tag, others expressed their anger at Modi. Some users also disagreed with the idea of blocking the prime minister on Twitter.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress held each other responsible for the murder. “Expressing happiness on the killing of anyone is shameful, regrettable and totally against Indian traditions,” Prasad had tweeted. “Social media is not for that.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party described the Twitter trend as “mischievous and contorted”. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows normal people,” the statement issued by the party’s information and technology chief Amit Malaviya said. “The PM following some is not a character certificate of a person. The PM also follows [Congress Vice President] Rahul Gandhi who is accused in loot and fraud.”
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