As #BlockNarendraModi Trends, BJP IT Cell Says PM Following Someone Is Not A Character Certificate

For the past two days since the murder of senior journalist and critic of Hindutva politics Gauri Lankesh, there was much outrage online, especially on Twitter. This was because a lot of Right-wingers were tweeting to 'celebrate' the gruesome crime and some even wanted other 'anti-Modi' journalists to face the same fate.

One thing which was common about the twitter handles defending the murder were right wing trolls followed by Prime Minister Modi's account.

BCCL/ File

Many on twitter felt it was wrong for the Prime Minister of the country to follow an army of rabid abusive trolls making death threats and rape threat to women. That is how #BlockNarendraModi began. People started blocking the Indian Prime Minister's personal account and urged others to do the same.

After coming under heavy criticism the BJP has defended the Prime Minister. In a statement Amit Malviya, the head of the party's IT cell said the controversy is mischievous and contorted.

"PM Modi is the only leader who freely engages with people on social media platforms. He follows normal people and frequently interacts with them on various issues," the statement said.

It also added that PM following someone on twitter is not a character certi?cate of a person and is not in anyway a guarantee of how a person would conduct himself.?

He also went on to accuse opposition politicians like Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal of following twitter trolls.

This is not the first PM Modi's association with the troll army has courted controversy. The PM's personal handle has 33.8 million followers and the account follows 1,779 people.?

In February this year, TMC MP Derek O'Brien had told the Rajya Sabha that "twenty-six Twitter handles that give out rape threats, communal threats are followed by the Prime Minister of India".

He also went on to name @Bhak_sala, a right-wing twitter account used by Rahul Raj, and Mahiviram.

O'Brien claimed that some of them were invited to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's house for a social digital party, adding that these were paid handles.

In July last year, Modi had hosted a group of 150 social media influencers at his official residence, most of them, known abusive right-wing trolls.