'Beware of their divisive agenda, an old habit of 70 years...': PM on excuses of 'ecosystem' on BJP's Assembly poll wins

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a jab at his detractors, saying that while they could be content with their arrogance, lies, pessimism, and ignorance, people should be wary of their divisive agenda since a 70-year-old habit is difficult to break.

Taking to X, in an unusual post, PM Modi wrote, “May they be happy with their arrogance, lies, pessimism and ignorance. But… Beware of their divisive agenda. An old habit of 70 years can’t go away so easily. Also, such is the wisdom of the people that they have to be prepared for many more meltdowns ahead,” He was responding to an X post with the caption “Meltdown-e-Azam” (great meltdown) that included a news clip citing “excuses” and purported attempts by a “ecosystem” to incite regional division and offend voters in Hindi heartland. This came after the BJP easily won elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, ignoring the Congress’s challenge. The Congress drew some consolation by winning the Assembly poll in Telangana. PM Modi’s reply and the expression of unusual social media aggression in reaction to a post was also punctuated by several emojis, also not very common with his remarks on X. BJP leaders said the prime minister’s post reflects the party turning up the heat in its social media outreach in the recent months. “This post of the prime minister is not out of character. It is aggressive and taking the opposition ecosystem head on,” a leader told PTI. He added this has been the case with the BJP’s content on social media in general too for the last few months now. “Its campaign and reels have seen aggressive in tone and tenor.” “Many Instagram reels have generated 1.5 million views and more,” he added. Commenting on Modi’s post, a leader likened it to “a technically sound batsman resorting to a slog sweep to hit the ball for a six”. With inputs from agencies