NARENDRA MODI, India’s prime minister, takes social media seriously, and wants members of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to do the same. A recent report by the BJP’s digital unit ranked all of its ministers and MPs by the number of their followers and diligence in propagating his government’s message. The implication was clear: those who want to be promoted should do more promoting. So were the results: anodyne obsequiousness. A certain C.T. Ravi, a BJP official from the state of Karnataka, recently tweeted: “Tremendous efforts by Shri @narendramodi & Team has resulted in Positivity trumping Negativity.”
Subramanian Swamy, a 76-year-old BJP activist who in April was handed one of the party’s upper-house seats, has bucked the trend. He spent weeks tweeting aspersions on the integrity, competence and patriotism of India’s respected central-bank chief, Raghuram Rajan. The barrage, which went unanswered by party bigwigs, subsided when Mr Rajan declared earlier this month that he would not seek another term of office.
Mr Swamy then turned his digital guns on Arun Jaitley, the finance minister, who is one of Mr Modi’s...Continue reading
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