Prime Minister Narendra faced considerable flak after one of his supporters, who he follows on Twitter, tweeted rejoicing the gruesome assassination of journalist Gauri Lankesh. In his infamous tweet, Nikhil Dadhich, had referred to the deceased journalist as ‘bitch,’ who had died a ‘dog’s death.’
His tweet, posted in Hindi, had read, “A bitch has died a dog’s death and every puppy is crying in pain.”
Amidst huge condemnation for what was widely perceived as an utterly insensitive tweet, Union IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had expressed his disgust.
In an extraordinary step, Prasad had written, “Expressing happiness on the killing of anyone is shameful, regrettable and totally against Indian traditions. Social media is not for that. I strongly condemn & deplore the messages on social media expressing happiness on the dastardly murder of #Gaurilankesh.”
Since Prasad was indirectly condemning an act of someone, who PM Modi includes him in elite group of people on Twitter, many RSS supporters took objection to the former’s condemnation. The minister was badly trolled on the microblogging site.
A day later, the central government is facing another round of embarrassment after the photo of Dadhich with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani went viral. In the photo (see below), Dadhich is seen standing with the minister.
Irani, for her party had condemned the murder of Lankesh on Twitter. She had writte, “Condemn killing of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh. Hope speedy investigation is conducted & justice delivered. Condolences to the family.”
Condemn killing of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh. Hope speedy investigation is conducted & justice delivered. Condolences to the family.
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) September 6, 2017
Since being widely criticised, Dadhich has removed the reference to PM Modi from his Twitter bio. Contrary to his earlier bio, which said he was proud to be ‘followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi,’ it now merely read ‘Hindu Nationalist.’
Meanwhile, being true to himself, Prime Minister Modi continues to follow him on Twitter. It will be nothing less than a shock if Modi dissociates himself from the vile elements he’s chosen to follow on Twitter.