The White House has unfollowed Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Twitter, leaving Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi ‘dismayed’ at the American administration’s decision.
Indian media reported on Wednesday that The White House, which has 22 million followers on Twitter, followed the Indian premier till April 11, unfollowed him recently.
“The official Twitter account of White House, the residence and workplace of the president of the US, doesn’t follow Indian PM Narendra Modi anymore on the micro-blogging site,” reported Outlook India.
Modi was the only world leader followed by The White House on Twitter till April 11. Other Indian Twitter accounts unfollowed were those of the president of India, the Indian PM’s Office and the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C.
The move ‘dismayed’ Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, who urged India’s External Affairs Ministry to take note of the incident.
“I’m dismayed by the “unfollowing” of our President & PM by the White House. I urge the Ministry of External Affairs to take note,” tweeted Gandhi.
The development took place as a US commission recommended India be placed on a list of countries that violate religious freedom.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that India be re-designated as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ because of the Modi government’s policies and treatment towards the Muslim population.
“Perhaps the steepest, and most alarming deterioration in religious freedom conditions is in India,” the vice-chair of the USCIRF vice had said after the release of the Commission’s annual report.
The report also recommended 13 other countries to the State Department for designation as “countries of particular concern” because their governments engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom”.
These include nine that the State Department designated as CPCs in December last year, which were Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The five others include India, Nigeria, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
According to reports, the White House has explained that its Twitter handle typically follows the accounts of officials from host countries for a brief period during a presidential trip to retweet their messages in support of the visit.
“The White House Twitter account normally follows senior US government Twitter accounts, and others as appropriate. For example, during the time of a presidential visit, the account typically follows for a short time, the host country’s officials to retweet their messages in support of the visit,” a senior administration official told the Press Trust of India.
