To be fair, a popular leader like Modi attracts attention because of his profile and aggressive social media presence. But, the reason why his trip became a political issue has once again exposed the hypocrisy of people who spend a fair chunk of their time on social media sharing thoughts, pictures, videos and everything else they can.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kedarnath to take a short break after a long and hectic election campaign. Like all his visits, this also became the biggest talking point on social media and hundreds of memes went viral in no time. On Twitter, as always, people were divided and soon a personal vacation became a political issue.
To be fair, a popular leader like Modi attracts attention because of his profile and aggressive social media presence. But, the reason why his trip became a political issue has once again exposed the hypocrisy of people who spend a fair chunk of their time on social media sharing thoughts, pictures, videos and everything else they can.
When ANI shared pictures of Modi sitting in a cave and relaxing in his own way, the huge army of social media trolls started asking questions like "Why is he vacationing with cameramen?" "Why is he posting pictures?" "Why has he dressed so differently?" "Why he loves cameras and attention so much?"
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There are two counter-questions that need to be asked from people who had problems with Modi's love for cameras and social media.
In the last five years or so, almost every person we know, who has an account on any of the social media platforms, has shared pictures and videos from their vacations. People make special efforts to click good pictures so that they can share them on social media. Clicking pictures for social media, whether some people like it or not, has become an important part of our travel diaries.
But, when Modi shared pictures and got himself clicked from the best photography angles, there was, suddenly, a protest and the troll brigade of the internet got into action. Soon, tabloids and mainstream picked this story and it became national news that the prime minister of India travels with photographers. They started calling it a "stunt", "drama" and other fancy words to make it more sensational.
Interestingly, the pro-BJP army also got in action and dug out old pictures of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who once traveled to caves of Jammu and Kashmir with photographers. And, to be honest, there was nothing wrong about it. But, that's how social media works. To every allegation, no matter how silly or irrelevant it is, there are more silly and useless counters. And this has become an inevitable part of social media, which is, arguably, more powerful than the mainstream media.
It's baffling that see these reactions because just like Indira, Modi has all the rights to pose whichever way he wants, whichever way he wants to dress, and whichever colour he wants to wear. If he likes creating a perfect background for his photographs, there is nothing wrong about it.
If he asks his security personnel to move away from the frame, there is nothing wrong about it. But, if we target him selectively for keeping a good social media profile, it exposes our hypocrisy and also highlights the desperation of the anti-Modi brigade.
While some leaders in India disappear and leave people and media wondering and guessing about their whereabouts, India's prime minister doesn't mind the media's attention on his personal vacations as well. It is praiseworthy and shows that the man has nothing to hide.
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In the end, it also needs to be added that it's not just about Modi because he is not going to be the prime minister forever. But, the dangerous precedent that we are setting each day on social media will stay, and eventually, every public figure will become a victim of this hatred and illogical training, which is well supported, for a few hits, by tabloids and digital media houses.
Making hilarious memes and jokes are fine and no one should ever have any problem with it. But, we also need to careful and intelligent enough to understand to not fall for an agenda that is politically motivated.
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