Narendra Modi is an avid Social Media user. He has been tweeting for a long time, sharing selfies on instagram and giving his comments on many issues of public interest. However, as far as using Social Media for the good of the society is concerned, some of his own colleagues have left Modi far behind.
Take the case of Sushma Swaraj. She doesnt get much primtime TV coverage, but that doesnt mean she isnt doing her job. Sample the following tweets, in which Sushma Swaraj used her twitter account to help a woman and her child stuck in Yemen:
@SabahShawesh We understand your concern.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 31, 2015
@SabahShawesh Please give me your phone number. — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 31, 2015
@SushmaSwaraj Finally safe in India. All thanks to @SushmaSwaraj and her incredible team. Jai Hind.
— Sabah Shawesh (@SabahShawesh) April 6, 2015
It is no mean feat for the External Affairs Minister, to take time out from her work schedule, check her twitter notifications, which could run into thousands (she has 2.5 million followers), and extend the required help to a person desperately needing it. Not only this, she has been addressing concerns of other people stuck in Yemen too:
@NajmiTarique The ship should reach Hodeidah midnight 5/6th april.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 4, 2015
@mkloka Awaiting clearance to fly in Yemen airspace. — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 1, 2015
@mkloka Two Air India planes waiting in Djibouti for last two days. Can reach Sanaa in 30 mnts. Earlier waited in Muscat for two days.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 1, 2015
@anilpusapati The embassy will resolve this with your Company. Otherwise we will give you travel documents. — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 31, 2015
It is truly a inspiring feat to see such accessibiltiy and help provided by a senior minister. Last week, Smriti Irani too emulated her senior, and asked a blogger on Twitter, to come and meet her with regards to his suggestions on the Right to Education Act. @realitycheckind has been writing blogs critizing the RTE Act for a long time. He often tweeted these issues, and once tagged Smriti Irani in one such tweet:
@realitycheckind namaste,have read many of ur tweets re education.like 2 invite u for a 1 on 1 talk to hear ur perspective. Let me knw when.
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) April 16, 2015
As you can see, Mrs Irani the HRD Minister responded and set up a meeting with him, taking engagement with citizens or ideas, to a whole new level.
And possibly the most powerful minister in Modi’s cabinet Arun Jaitley too has taken heed to sentiments on Social Media. Recently the IT department had added some new rules which made filing tax returns very burdensome. We wrote an open letter to Jaitley criticizing the rules, and supported the general sentiment on Social media that these rules amounted to “Tax Terrorism”
Eventually, in the aftermath of the backlash on Social media, Arun Jaitley paid heed to public sentiments and chose to put the new rules on hold. Although it wasn’t as graceful a move as the earlier two instances of other ministers, Jaitley showed an hitherto unknown feature among ministers to accept a mistake and promise a relook, purely based on public sentiment.
We hope more Politicians use social media to engage with the common man and use this tool to do things in a better manner.
