Tamil Nadu’s politicians and citizens have made #GoBackSadistModi and #GoBackModi trend not just India but also worldwide. The criticism for him, BJP and how the country is being run, were many on the popular social media site.
Image Courtesy: chennaimemes
Things are not going the way PM Modi would’ve wanted in Tamil Nadu. The state’s politicians and citizens have made #GoBackSadistModi and #GoBackModi trend not just India but also worldwide. There were many tweets and images shared on the microblogging site critical of Modi, BJP and how the country is being run by the government.
Twitter was briefly seen as the fiefdom of BJP IT Cell’s troll army. The IT Cell has been consistently exposed by fact-checking websites on how they made and broke trends and how they attacked people who ridiculed or questioned the party and its work. They now seem to be confused as to how to tackle or curb this backlash that has come in the form of #GoBackModi and #GoBackSadistic Modi.
Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu triggered social media users in the state who could not forget how they were left to their own devices in the time of need.
It is a reflection of the state’s anger over PM Modi not visiting the districts in Tamil Nadu that were ravaged by cyclone Gaja that left more than 3 lakh homeless and uprooted around 11 lakh trees, crippling the livelihood of a huge population. Many were furious that he did not even address the loss or show empathy.
DMK President MK Stalin also attacked Prime Minister Modi’s rule by saying how he thinks of himself as an ‘emperor’ and not an elected Prime Minister. He even emphasized the need to save the country’s democracy.
He said, “We oppose Narendra Modi government who has destroyed social justice. Modi does not consider him as an elected Prime Minister but thinks himself as an emperor who has been in this post for a long time. We have come here together to save the democracy of India.”
The DMK leader cited how the country has regressed and gone 15 years behind and slammed Modi for his silence on the cyclone in Tamil Nadu. He said, “Modi thinks he is the SC, he is the RBI, he is the IT department. We have gathered here to develop a new India. under Modi’s regime, India has gone 15 years back. He is functioning as a sadist Prime Minister. Cyclone Gaja battered Tamil Nadu. Had cyclone happened in Maharashtra he would have gone but because it’s Tamil Nadu he didn’t come. But he didn’t even offer a word of solace to the people.”
Many students in the state were angry at how S. Anitha’s suicide was treated by the govt and trended her image with the #GoBackSadistModi hashtag.
Anitha secured good marks in the higher secondary examination but could not secure an MBBS seat due to the introduction of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
She even went to the Supreme Court seeking exemption from NEET and to consider her academic marks for medical admission. However, as the court turned down her plea, she committed suicide on September 1, 2017, due to disappointment and depression.
This reverse trend on Twitter has not gone down well with Modi supporters. Many tried to counter it by saying the trend originated in Pakistan.
But as this tweet map shows, it was driven by tweets from Tamil Nadu and the rest of the world.
These are India and worldwide trends as of March 6, 2019:
Students at IIT Kharagpur where Modi addressed students via teleconferencing two days ago were also dissatisfied, not only because of his distasteful joke about dyslexia but also because his PR team did ‘rehearsals’ and choreographed the entire interaction.
It is not the first time Modi has been accused of faking live TV Broadcasts. After broadcasting a recent show “2019 Ke Joshile (enthusiasts of 2019)”, shot at the IIT- Bombay campus, ABP News channel was accused of having invited young men from outside campus to speak in favour of the Modi government. The show was broadcast live on March 2 between 4 and 5 pm and then at 10 am the next day with the slug “IIT Bombay supports Modi”.
The students at IIT Bombay said that they found many new faces in the audience who were not even a part of the college.
The issue of misrepresentation and creating fake opinions was first raised by the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) of IIT-Bombay. The students have now identified at least 11 of the total participants (over 50 participated in the show) to be “outsiders”. Of them, at least one person has been identified as a member of the Hindu fringe group Hindu Yuva Vahini, The Wire reported.
Ever since it was out in the open that BJP manages and manipulates its image through its IT Cell, there have been periodic reverse trends critical of the government. When they get the taste of their own medicine, PM Modi gives statements like these.
Many were critical about this statement on the microblogging sites.
It’s becoming apparent that for every ultra-nationalist Twitter trend, there will be an equal and opposite accountability trend. As long as ground realities and facts are used as a countermeasure against rabid social media hatred, these trends must continue to keep the spirit of democracy alive.
Tamil Nadu’s politicians and citizens have made #GoBackSadistModi and #GoBackModi trend not just in India but also worldwide.