Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he was thinking of giving up his social media accounts in a week.
“This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube,” the prime minister tweeted. “Will keep you all posted.”
Around 10.45 pm, the post had received nearly 28,000 retweets and was liked more than 84,500 times.
Modi is the world’s third-most-followed politician on Twitter after former United States President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump. He has 53.3 million followers on Twitter, 44 million on Facebook and 35.2 million on Instagram.
Reacting to this, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted saying: “Give up hatred, not social media accounts”.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala urged Modi to ask online trolls to do the same. “Earnestly wish you would give this advise to the concerted army of trolls, who abuse-intimidate-badger-threaten others every second in you name,” he tweeted.
Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, said the move was “appreciated”. “The toxicity of this medium is a bane,” he added.
Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani asked Modi why he is quitting social media after the much publicised “Digital India” programme of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He also urged the prime minister not to follow accounts of those who disrespect women instead of giving up social media.
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