The Narendra Modi government turned three on Friday, May 26, having taken oath on the same date in 2014 following a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections. Even before that and especially since then, Modi and his colleagues have taken to social media in a very big way to not only promote government initiatives — something Modi has stressed on in Cabinet meetings time and again — but also to help people.
IBTimes India conducted a poll on who the most Twitter-savvy minister was in the Cabinet. The choices were: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Finance Minister and subsequently also Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.
And the response turned out to be heavily in favour of Sushma Swaraj, who won a simple majority with 53 percent of the votes. Modi himself came in second, while Suresh Prabhu — despite several instances of he reaching out to people on trains after being tagged in a single tweet — came in third.
Here's how their achievements stack up:
Sushma Swaraj: The external affairs minister has time and again reached out to people — whether individuals or people in large numbers, like the 800 Indians stuck in Saudi Arabia without a job and basic amenities — and helped them out of various sticky situations.
From helping people who have lost passports to making embassy staff work through holidays just so a man can attend his father's funeral, Swaraj has managed to set a bar for herself that few other than her can best. As a result, when she was admitted to hospital for kidney ailments, some people took to Twitter to offer her their own organs for transplant! That may sound like sycophancy to some, but she has received global honours for her brand of functioning.
Narendra Modi: The prime minister may not have been as much of a helping hand on Twitter as Swaraj, but he has his own brand of reaching out to people. He shares his regular statements and images through his personal as well as official handle, and one regular feature of them are the infographics on progress of key schemes and initiatives. Modi clearly understands the importance of not just making promises but also telling people how far these promises have been fulfilled.
But that is not all that his online activity is limited to. There are times when Modi launches online campaigns as well, like the "selfie with daughter" to promote the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao initiative. And given that he is one of the most-followed people on Twitter, people sit up and take notice when he decides to follow someone, because it is usually for the best of reasons!
Modi also seems to understand the importance of levity on Twitter — the platform for brevity — and at times uses it to drive the point home. He has also been known to make small gestures that go a long way after being petitioned on the social networking site.
Suresh Prabhu: The Union railway minister has managed to turn Twitter into a helpline for people travelling by trains. All he asks is for train-travellers to tag the appropriate Twitter handles when they are looking to register a complaint. Here is the full list of those tags.
Interestingly, he had been ranked on the second spot when the Central government conducted its own survey on which of its ministers were best when it came to public outreach through Twitter.
Do you agree with the results? If so, tell us why. If not, leave a comment on who should be considered the most tech-savvy minister in the current Union Cabinet.
