Don't mind criticism on social media: CM Yogi Adityanath

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said that his government would want to give freedom to people to criticise or slam them on social media for their policies but would also use it as a weapon to reply to allegations of Opposition.

He made these remarks at the launch of social media hub which he described as true depiction of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', or "the world is one family".

He said that he was aware of the falsehood and propaganda against his government and warned that if required he could stop it with an iron-hand but would not. "We want to give full freedom to everyone. They can go to any extent of unbound freedom, or even ridiculousness, we would not mind. But people must ascribe to truth," Yogi said on the occasion. He said that social media outreach has become essential for the government to deliver the message on its schemes, while describing national broadcaster Doordarshan's dwindling network. "There was a time when Doordarshan had presence of more than 60%. But it doesn't have any more. Now other visual media have replaced it. Which is why we understand the relevance of social media and hence this initiative," said Yogi.

‘Social media double-edged sword’

He also emphasised on the use of Centre's portal mygov.in and Prime Minister’s mobile phone app NaMo. He though agreed that social media platforms are a double-edged sword for government, as it can create problems for it if something adverse happens or a out of context remark is quoted.

“The social media can bring both advantages and disadvantages. We want to use it as a tool to tell the masses about our schemes and programmes. But we also want to use it as a weapon to reply to allegations of Opposition,”he said.

The media hub, launched at Lok Bhawan, will be used to for two-way communication between government's online team that will handle Facebook and Twitter pages and the common people.

Cabinet ministers Suresh Khanna, Siddarth Nath Singh and Shrikant Sharma were also present on the occasion.