Saina Nehwal, others post identical tweets praising Narendra Modi during his Ramlila Maidan rally; badminton player mocked on social media

While Prime Minister  Narendra Modi  was addressing a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, badminton player  Saina Nehwal was among the many Twitter users posting identical tweets lauding his speech. Nehwal, and several others tweeted: “I m hearing a thought provoking speech from @narendramodi sir 🙏#RamlilaMaidan.” Interestingly, all the tweets were a missing the apostrophe after “I” and missing the hyphen in “thought provoking.” Nehwal was soon mocked by the eagle-eyed Twitterati, with many posting screenshots of her post along with other identical tweets. Economist  Rupa Subramanya replied to her tweet asking, “Have you joined the BJP IT cell?” Asia Times Online South Asia editor Saikat Datta tweeted:

Coordinated, copy book tweets trying to build support for the PM's speech, I can understand. But Saina Nehwal? pic.twitter.com/qh42LDCX1z

— Saikat Datta (@saikatd) December 22, 2019

 Another user tweeted —

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But Nehwal also had her supporters. For instance, one user Vinayak Jain, said, “We applaud your openness about your views! Do stand your ground no matter what the criticism! We support you.” This is not the first time that Nehwal has posted a tweet that appeared to be a part of a coordinated campaign. On the eve of Diwali in October, Nehwal was among many other sportswomen who put up identical tweets thanking Modi for his “initiative to empower women.” All the sportswomen posted the exact same text, “I thank @narendramodi for his initiative to honour and empower women this Diwali. Acknowledgement motivates us to work harder and make India proud. #bharatkilaxmi.” In fact, according to Alt News, some of them had forgotten to delete the word “Text:” before the message, which presumably had been sent to them as part of the campaign. Modi, at the rally in Delhi, lashed out at parties opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and said that the legislation aims at the betterment of minorities without a bias on the basis of religion.