Yogi Adityanath calls social media 'unbridled horse', asks party workers to rein it

Amid the spat between the microblogging site Twitter and the BJP government at the centre, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath termed the social media as an ''unbridled horse' and asked the saffron party workers and leaders to prepare themselves to 'rein' it.

''Social media has a huge impact on today's youth...any issue that crops on the social media become an issue in the mainstream media in two-three days...we can not ignore it,'' Adityanath said while speaking at a workshop organised by the IT Cell of the UP BJP here on Friday.

''There is no control over social media...if we are not prepared well then we may be affected by it,'' he remarked.

''Proper training is required to rein this unbridled horse....at times unnecessary issues are raised on social media.....we need to train our workers to take on our opponents on it,'' he added.

He said that there was an urgent need to counter those who were trying to paint a negative image of the Centre and the state government. ''We must immediately get active on social media,'' he said.

''We will have to proceed professionally to bring our opponents on the back foot...if someone raises the issue of the farmers then we must also inform the users about payments made to the cane farmers and also about our achievements,'' Adityanath said.

Adityanath's remarks triggered a sharp reaction from the opposition Samajwadi Party and others. SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav said that BJP, which had succeeded in the elections by spreading 'rumours' on social media, was now afraid of the same. ''BJP has always tried to mislead the people by spreading rumours on social media.....but now it is afraid of it,'' he said.