Modi: Indian social media abuzz after PM's cryptic tweet

Tech-savvy premier leaves supporters upset as rivals respond with indifference

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known to be digitally savy AFP

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his supporters into a tizz with a cryptic tweet on Monday night.

"This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Will keep you all posted," Mr Modi tweeted.

This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 2, 2020

Mr Modi, who gained a reputation for being tech-savvy when he came to power in 2014, left everyone guessing if this was a tweet hinting at a weekly break, a longer detox, or anything more sinister.

But critics and rivals who say he practises politics hate were quick to post replies and even memes.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi made a quick and short retort.

Give up hatred, not social media accounts. pic.twitter.com/HDymHw2VrB

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 2, 2020

Mr Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party have recently been taking flak over decisions such as the abrogation of the special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

PM, it's your fans and partymen that encourage genocide by spreading lies on their social media accounts.

Please ask all of them also to give up.

At-least then, we won't go to stage 9 and India can once again hope to become a peaceful progressive country. pic.twitter.com/nmeYRJSJlx

— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) March 2, 2020

Supporters, meanwhile, started the trend #nosir as their emotional reaction.

PM @narendramodi is the most attention seeking person. Loving the reactions of Bhakts right now. This one sums it up. Via WhatsApp. 🤣🤣 #NoSir pic.twitter.com/fQRPyD7Di4

— Ruchira Chaturvedi (@RuchiraC) March 2, 2020

Amit Malviya, the head of BJP's IT department, chose to only retweet the prime minister's message. So did Sambit Patra, the most vocal among the BJP spokespeople and also an active Twitter user.

Mr Modi's post went up about 8pm UAE time. But a quick look at the timeline of some of his ministers, such as Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman and Prakash Javadekar, showed no reaction.

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Ms Irani, the central minister for textiles, made a few tweets about her political meetings for the day well after that, but there was no reference to her boss's latest salvo.

Last year, a day before Mr Modi was re-elected to a second term, he chose to retreat to Kedarnath to meditate for 15 hours at the famous Hindu pilgrimage site in north of India.

Some of the memes on Monday night focused on images from that moment.  But failing a clarification from Mr Modi, supporters will just have to wait until Sunday.