Hashtag war: #GoBackModi, #TNWelcomesModi trends on TW

Sunday witnessed a hashtag war on Twitter, the microblogging site which has emerged as a new fighting ground for politics. Two hashtags -- #GoBackModi and #TNWelcomesModi were competing with each other to trend India-wide and worldwide as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will land in Tamil Nadu later today.

#TNWelcomesModi was being trended by BJP office-bearers and other supporters of Modi since Saturday evening, but the hashtag lost steam on Sunday morning when the baiters of the Prime Minister went active in trending #GoBackModi and #GoBackSadistModi.

This is the third time that #GoBackModi is trending in the past 9 months and second time that #TNWelcomesModi and #GoBackSadistModi is trending in the past month. It has become a trend for Tamils to trend #GoBackModi on Twitter whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Tamil Nadu.

And the difference, this time is that not just Tamils, but handles from the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh are also trending the hashtag opposing Modi’s visit to Guntur later Sunday. While Tamils trended #GoBackModi – which was used by more half a million Twitter handles in April 2018 and January 2019 – Telugus used #ModiNotWelcome to register their protest.

Modi will be in Tiruppur later today to inaugurate a slew of projects – 400-bedded ESI Hospital in Chennai, the last stretch of the Chennai Metro and lay foundation stone for a ESI Hospital in the knit wear hub. He will also address a BJP rally in the evening.

At 12 pm on Sunday, #GoBackModi was trending with nearly 3 lakh tweets using the hashtag to tweet. Though #TNWelcomesModi trended on Saturday evening, it lost traction on Sunday morning as hashtags opposing Modi’s visit were trending.

While the tweets from Tamil Nadu reflected people’s anger towards the BJP’s “step-motherly” attitude, those from Andhra Pradesh accused Modi of not granting Special Status to the residual state after Telangana was bifurcated.

The tweets from users in Tamil Nadu listed introduction of NEET, Modi not visiting Tamil Nadu when Cyclone Gaja hit the state’s Cauvery Delta region, imposition of Sanskrit and Hindi and not protecting Tamil Nadu’s interests in water wars with neighbouring states as reasons for protesting the Prime Minister’s visit.

#GoBackModi first trended on April 12, 2018 when Modi was in Chennai to inaugurate the Defence Expo and participate in a few other programmes as the way of Tamils’ opposing his visit for his government’s alleged silence and inaction on issues related to the state.