Congress song urges Modi to unfollow trolls

Prime minister follows some abusive trolls on Twitter, and many say he is encouraging them by doing so

Women members of the Indian National Congress (INC) had a message for the country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on World Social Media Day: Stop following trolls on Twitter.

Yesterday, in a Twitter video, they sang a song to Modi.

Choosing the tune of 1970 Beatles single Let It Be, they called out Modi for following trolls who use abusive language and hateful speech.

@INCIndia tweeted: “Tired of online trolls, the women (and a few men) of the Congress social media team have put together a video making a collective plea to the Prime Minister @narendramodi this Social Media Day. #PrimeMinisterUnfollowTrolls”

Modi is one of the most followed prime ministers on Twitter. He has 43.2 million followers and follows 1,942 tweeps. Many of these are heads of states. However, many followed by Modi are known to be social media trolls.

But in the last few years many critics have wondered why Modi follows such fanatics.

In a 2017 article, BBC quoted Pratik Sinha of Alt News, a website set up to fight fake news in India, as saying: “A huge majority of... people that Mr Modi follows are politicians, bureaucrats and journalists, but a significant number of them are people who denigrate critics and political opponents in most horrendous language.”

Tweep @SwatiRajak3 wrote: “Today on the occasion of #WorldSocialMediaDay we would like to request #PrimeMinisterUnfollowTrolls.” She added: “...interestingly, many of these trolls in India are ‘BLESSED to be followed’ by the Prime Minister.”

@lakshmiaakula tweeted: “Some of the online handles Modi follows send out rape threats, death threats and indulge in communal incitement. Modi is the only leader in the world to follow such handles.”

Twitter user @msgpahujaa added: “It is indeed baffling why the PM Modi follows abusive trolls, who spew venom against women and others on Twitter. The video put up by @INCIndia women is a manifestation of the anger people and women in particular feel about PM following such people #PrimeMinisterUnfollowTrolls”