Rahul Gandhi ramps up social media presence, adds 1 million Twitter followers in two months

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has long been social media’s favourite whipping boy, frequently finding himself to be the target of vicious abuse and lampooning. However, his social media stock appears to have improved of late, possibly a result of his widely-publicised visit to the United States. Rahul Gandhi has added about one million new followers on Twitter in the past two months, according to an article in The Times of India. The article has quoted sources as saying that more focussed engagements on social media are the reason behind this increase. The Congress vice-president now has 3.42 million followers. The Congress scion has been very active on the micro-blogging site recently, weighing in on demonetisation and the agrarian crisis. He has also shared snippets from his interactions with non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the United States. Rahul Gandhi’s interactions with NRIs have been welcomed in some quarters with some saying that they would like to ‘see more of him’, according to a report in  Hindustan Times. These interactions have signalled a more assertive stand against the BJP, and an attempt to set the agenda rather than merely respond to the ruling party.

30,000 youngsters enter the job market everyday and only 450 jobs are provided pic.twitter.com/4IiH1cTyTV

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 20, 2017

Demonetisation के बाद 99% पैसा वापस आ गया, नोटबन्दी की सफलता यही है कि हिंदुस्तान के हर चोर का काला धन मोदीजी ने सफेद पैसे में बदल दिया है

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 8, 2017

Met Farmers' Delegation at Parbhani and assured them that Congress will continue to fight for their rights pic.twitter.com/sPCYXuhWFA

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 8, 2017

However, Rahul Gandhi’s social media presence is a pale shadow when compared to other prominent politicians. Donald Trump, for example, has 39 million followers and an abrasive social media presence. His predecessor, Barack Obama, much more measured in his Twitter utterances, has 95.1 million followers. Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister of India to interact directly with people on a large scale through social media. Modi, with 34.5 million followers, is extremely popular on Twitter. While Rahul Gandhi has a long way to go to match the social media following of Modi, it seems  he is now actively ramping up his Twitter presence in an attempt to counter the BJP.