Social Modi: All ministers to use Facebook, Twitter to reach out

Alongside indication that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has issued a list of do’s and don’ts for his new council of ministers, especially advising them to be careful while making appointments with strangers,  reports said the new Modi-government is likely to take to social media in a big way. PM Modi has urged all his ministers to create Facebook pages, and sign up to Twitter, in a bid to make all government operations transparent and easily accessible to people. [caption id=“attachment_1548169” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Screengrab of Modi’s Facebook page.[/caption] According to an Indian Express report, “They have been asked to put all policy initiatives in the public domain through these platforms, initiate discussions, seek feedback and incorporate valuable suggestions, besides maintaining a constant dialogue with people.” It has been established that Modi’s poll campaign was a thumping success; and that social media had a big role to play in this success. The PM is applying the same success mantra to his governance. Already, a number of top BJP leaders, including Modi, have their own Twitter handles and Facebook pages. Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and many other top politicians use Twitter to reach out to the public. They will now use these accounts to communicate with the people on a larger scale. Modi also uses his personal website to interact with people and has reportedly launched a big campaign to get the youth to sign up and connect with the prime minister. His message – “I want to be an agent of change for Ek Bharat, Shresht Bharat.”

Taking it a step further, Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said she will soon launch a Facebook page purely to address public grievances.

An Indian Express report noted: “the complaints page would be for grievances on issues like adoption, sexual offenses and atrocities against women. The ministry will interact directly with the aggrieved through the page. It could also be used to bring pending issues to the minister’s attention.” Maneka Gandhi attended a meeting with her senior officials on Wednesday and the page is expected to be up and running soon. Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan also promised to bring in e-governance into his administration. In a previous report , Harsh Vardhan had promised to make his ministry “100 percent corruption free” and focus his attention on e-governance. With major battles and tussles happening on Twitter, and making national headlines, it is clear that the social media platform cannot be ignored. Modi’s move to inculcate these platforms into his governing is an extremely clever move by the prime minister. It will keep the youth of the country happy; and it will increase dialogue between the government and the people. The move, mainly to keep government functioning transparent and accessible, could just prove to be Modi’s trump card.