Modi’s Sunday sabbatical from social media may be aimed at Women’s Day

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to give up social media accounts on Sunday is timed with the International Women's Day and will probably see women post on behalf of the leader, sources in the know of the matter said.

Late on Monday, Modi triggered a storm on microblogging website Twitter after he said, “This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted.”

Within hours, the post on Twitter had garnered thousands of likes and was retweeted a similar number of times.

Modi had joined Twitter in 2009, three years after its launch and has over 53 million followers. On Twitter, Obama and Trump are ahead of Modi with 113 million and 73 million followers respectively.

The Indian prime minister is arguably among the most active users of social media platforms, particularly Twitter, using the micro blogging site to connect with citizens, foreign dignitaries and celebrities. He tweets from two different handles.

He has nearly 44 million followers on Facebook, 35 million on Instagram and 4.5 million on YouTube.

On Facebook, former US President Barack Obama is the only politician with more followers--over 53 million--than Modi, while current President Donald Trump lag with nearly 28 million followers.