Modi saving his best for last

WITH about 10 to 15 posts a day in April, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi is definitely one of the most prolific Twitter users in the country, but his attacks on the opposition, especially the Congress, appear to have blunted a bit compared with his tweets five years ago.

Modi, who is hoping for a second term as prime minister when the results of the general election are declared onMay 23, continued to urge people not to vote for the Congress through his tweets in April, but the sharp, sarcasm-filled messages that were the hallmark of his campaign during the same month in 2014 were missing.

A lot of Modi’s tweets in April this year appeared to be routine, compulsive updates rather than an attempt to engage his followers, the number of which has swelled to 47.1million. This does not mean his tweets are now less liked or retweeted than five years ago when the number of his followers was much smaller.

In fact, if the “likes” and retweets were in the hundreds in 2014, they were in thousands this year. But the sentiments that the tweets evoked have changed considerably. The prime minister is no longer mocking Rahul Gandhi. It is certain that one of the two leaders must have become more mature, but it is difficult to guess who.

By April, four phases of the election that covered about 70% of the 543 parliamentary seats were already over.

But the next three phases are crucial for the BJP. And a cursory reading of his tweets this month suggests that the attack on Congress may now get severe.