PM Modi's plan to 'give up' social media accounts: How internet reacted?

The post garnered thousands of likes and retweets within just a few minutes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of the forces behind the mainstreaming of social media use for political communication, on Monday took the internet by a storm when he hinted he might give up his social media accounts on Sunday.

In a Twitter post at around 9 pm, Modi said: “This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted.”

The post garnered thousands of likes and retweets within minutes. Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Hardeep Puri and Anurag Thakur and BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya were among those who retweeted Modi's surprise tweet to exit social media platforms.

Following the post, #NoSir became the number 1 trending hashtag on Twitter.

The internet was filled with speculations. From the conjecture that the PM might be planning to switch to an Indian platform to the possibility that he might be hurt over social media's role in stoking Delhi riots — the guessing game continued until late night.

Amruta Fadnavis, wife of former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, declared she would follow in PM Modi's footsteps and quit social media. "Sometimes it's the smallest decision that can change our life forever! I will follow the path of my leader!!," tweeted Amruta Fadnavis.

Fadnavis was not alone. The list of people pledging to follow the prime minister and leave social media grew gradually and hashtags like #iwillalsoleavetwitter and #NoModiNoTwitter also trended highly on Twitter in India.

However, the PM's post also drew strong reactions from the Congress party and several Opposition leaders. Rahul Gandhi replied to Modi’s post, tweeting: “Give up hatred, not social media accounts.”