Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Monday appended the words “Modi Ka Parivar”, or Modi’s family, to their names on social media platform X.
The party leaders who added the words to their X account name include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath.
This came a day after Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav remarked at a public rally in Patna that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has no family”.
“This Narendra Modi is attacking parivaarvaad [dynastic politics] these days,” Yadav said, reported ANI. “First, [Modi] should tell why he does not have any children or family.”
Responding to Yadav’s comments, Modi said during a speech in Telangana on Monday that the “entire country is my family”, ANI reported. The prime minister said that he considers 140 crore Indians as his family.
“Everyone in the country is saying they are part of Modi’s family,” the prime minister said. “Even those who do not have anyone, Modi is there with them, and Modi is theirs.”
The social media campaign by the BJP comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Just before the general election in 2019, BJP leaders had launched a similar campaign by adding the prefix “chowkidar”, or a watchman, to their names on the social media platform, which was called Twitter at the time.
Their new titles had come a day after the BJP launched a “Main Bhi Chowkidar” campaign in an effort to burnish the party’s anti-corruption image.
Modi had repeatedly referred to himself as India’s chowkidar, a declaration that had prompted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to taunt Modi with “chowkidar chor hai”, or the watchman is the thief jibe, particularly while alleging corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal.
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