India / PM Modi crosses 7 cr Twitter followers, becomes most followed world leader

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi achieved yet another milestone when his Twitter handle crossed 70 million followers on Wednesday making him one of the most followed active politicians on the microblogging social media platform.

The PM had started using Twitter in 2009 during his tenure as the chief minister of Gujarat. In 2010, he had one lakh followers.

After PM Modi, the Twitter page of Pope Francis is the most followed Twitter account with a combined following of over 53 million followers.

In July 2020, the PM’s Twitter followers had crossed the 60 million mark.

US President Joe Biden has 30.9 million followers

United States President Joe Biden has 30.9 million followers on Twitter, former US president Barack Obama has 129.8 million followers on Twitter while President of France Emmanuel Macron has 7.1 million Twitter followers.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has a following of 26.3 million on Twitter whereas Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has 19.4 million followers.

Earlier, Donald Trump was the most followed active politician on Twitter but his account was permanently suspended due to riots at the US Capitol. The former US President had 88.7 million followers before Twitter removed his account.

The Indian Prime Minister is very active on Twitter and regularly uses the microblogging social media platform for airing his views on the country’s development, highlighting new achievements and propagating welfare programmes carried out by his government.

Indian govt departments and ministers promoting home-grown Koo

According to a report by Reuters, Twitter Inc is fast losing its sheen as a favoured communications tool for many Indian government departments and ministers who are promoting home-grown rival, Koo.

“The most high-profile example has been India’s new IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Taking office this month, he opened a new Koo account and soon after announced a review of social media firms’ compliance with strict new rules - information not posted to his 258,000 Twitter followers,” said Reuters.

The PM has not yet joined Koo but many government ministers and departments continue to use both platforms.