The PM is ruining his language. The people of Uttar Pradesh will teach them a lesson just like the people of Bengal did, says Akhilesh Yadav
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Use of official Twitter handle of the Prime Minister’s Office for making political attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opponent has drawn flak. On Tuesday, Twitter handle of PMO posted a statement made by Modi in which he accused the Samajwadi Party of showing sympathy towards terrorists and releasing them from jail.
“Red skull-cap wearers (a reference to Samajwadi Party) want to form the government to show sympathy towards terrorists and release terrorists from the jail. Therefore, you must keep in mind red skull-cap wearers are red alert for Uttar Pradesh: PM Narendra Modi,” tweeted PMO India in Hindi.
In another tweet, the PMO said that the red skull-cap wearers are only interested in red signal, not in your problems and sufferings. They want power for scams, corruptions, illegal activities and allowing Mafias to do what they want.
Such political rhetoric from the official Twitter handle raised eyebrows. Political leaders, journalists and others slammed PMO for making such statements from the official handle of the government.
Reacting to the tweets, Shiv Sena MP Priyanaka Chaturvedi called it “unfortunate” that the PMO handle is being used for political campaigns.
It is unfortunate that PMO handle is now engaging in political campaign for a party. Always thought Prime Minister is for all, irrespective of vote, but this is clearly not the case here. Those lines blurred too. pic.twitter.com/d2jkIWPbjD
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) December 8, 2021
TMC MP Mahua Moitra also questioned the use of PMO handle for political campaigns saying that Prime Minister’s Office is being run by all kinds of taxpayers’ money. “Have everyone’s brains been fried in saffron sauce?,” she tweeted.
PM’s office paid for by tax payer’s money & staffed by IAS officers.
How on earth can @PMOIndia handle be used for political lal topi tweets?
Have everyone’s brains been fried in saffron sauce?
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) December 8, 2021
Prominent journalist Sreenisvan Jain said that PM Modi is not using just the Twitter handle but also other government’s platforms for political purposes.
The PMO official handle targeting the opposition is a direct consequence of something we have raised repeatedly – the Prime Minister’s mis/use of govt. platforms to make blatant political attacks on the BJP’s rivals. Just consider this from the past month: https://t.co/RqVk7e3Qv7
— Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) December 8, 2021
Political commentator Rajesh Mahapatra called it “new low” to use official handles to take potshots at rivals.
No PM in independent India’s history has caused as much harm to the institution of @PMOIndia as has @narendramodi.
👇a new low, official handle used to take campaign potshots at rivals.
Disheartened no agency/institution, especially the media n the judiciary, would call him out https://t.co/VjIrIlSxN9— Rajesh Mahapatra | ରାଜେଶ ମହାପାତ୍ର (@rajeshmahapatra) December 8, 2021
Author and journalist Saba Naqvi expressed her shock over the use of the PMO handle for political campaigns.
Can the PMO be part of an election campaign? Serious issues of propriety here as there is a difference between government and party (for the uninitiated on Twitter). Quite shocking how Govt events and official PMO handle being used for partisan political campaign https://t.co/zdwHca1fos
— Saba Naqvi (@_sabanaqvi) December 8, 2021
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav hit back at Modi for making ‘laal topi’ comments.
“The PM is ruining his language. The people of Uttar Pradesh will teach them a lesson just like the people of Bengal did. The PM is clearly panicking,” said Yadav.
AAP’s Sanjay Singh called the use of such language from the PMO handle “wrong”.
“The use of this kind of language from the Prime Minister’s official handle is wrong. PM Modi himself wears a kaali topi (black cap), and so does his party and his cabinet,” said AAP’s Sanjay Singh.
“These black cap wearing people use their black thinking and black laws. I wouldn’t be surprised if they renamed Lal Qila (Red Fort) as Kaala Qila. Will they hoist the flag on August 15 at Kaala Qila? I want to ask them,” he said.
