If she applies for the Guinness Book of World Records, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has a fair chance of bagging one. It may even be a cakewalk for her.
Unlike many other world-record holders, she does not have to pull gigantic trucks with her hair, smash xyz number of tube lights in a minute, walk for days without stopping for once, sit inside a room full of snakes and spiders, climb all major mountains in xyz manner, read a pile of books in a day, give a marathon speech running for hours, lift/pull/drag/throw something or any of the other weird and not-so-weird tasks to get her name in the book.
All Sushma Swaraj needs to do is simply continue what she is doing and apply to Guinness. Once her application is accepted, she may not even have to give a demonstration of her unique achievement. All that the jury requires to verify her claim is a mobile phone/computer connected to the Internet.
So, what is this unparalleled record of Sushma Swaraj that places her even ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former US President Barack Obama, football legend Cristiano Ronaldo, Rihanna and every other celebrity you can think of?
We know that Sushma Swaraj is India’s foreign minister and a long-time parliamentarian of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Besides this, she is known for her powerful oratory skills; she has served as Delhi’s chief minister; was Leader of Opposition during Manmohan Singh-led UPA 2; a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government etc etc etc...
But none of these qualify for a world record. Sushma Swaraj is a politician and her political career, though illustrious in its own right, isn’t even a distant contender for a world record. The world is full of similar and more illustrious political profiles.
But there is something else about Sushma Swaraj that makes her a contender. It is possible that even she doesn’t know about it. And if she knows it and is quiet about it, it just adds to her swag.
Okay, so enough of beating around the bush. You have read till here and there's nothing on Sushma Swaraj’s unique record, right? I get it.
But hey! Read the headline again. There is a hint. A rather big one. I dropped another hint in the second paragraph. Did you pick it? Mobile phone/computer and internet? Yeah.
So, based on these two hints, we know that the unique record has got something to do with Sushma Swaraj and Twitter.
But what exactly on Twitter?
In the past five years, we have seen that as India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj has won many hearts on Twitter with her humanitarian approach to common people’s problems.
Be it an Indian stranded in a distant land, a girl from Pakistan requesting medical visa, bringing back Indians from the Middle East or the day-to-day grievances on passports and visa applications.
Devatha Ravi Teja - You have lost your Passport at a very wrong time. However, we will help you reach for your wedding in time.
Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2018
Navtej - Let us help him on humanitarian grounds. @IndianEmbassyUS https://t.co/wxaydeqCOX
She has also charmed Twitterati with her sense of humour while responding to queries on problems with refrigerators and whether her ministry can help someone in Mars.
That is great. Adorable, cute and heart-warming even. But not good enough for a world record, is it?
Uhmmlet’s examine numbers. The answer lies there. You see it every time you land on Sushma Swaraj’s Twitter profile. But have you seen it carefully enough?
Sushma Swaraj joined Twitter in November 2010. At the time of writing this (12:50pm February 22, 2019) she had 12.1 million (1,21,00,000) followers. She has tweeted 6,100 times and liked 11 tweets as on date.
But this too is nothing in comparison to Rihanna, Cristiano Ronaldo, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others.
What actually distinguishes Sushma Swaraj from every other celebrity is not the number of followers she has on Twitter. What makes her unique is the number of people she is following on Twitter.
The answer is: Zero.
Yes. Sushma Swaraj does not follow anyone on Twitter. And yet, she has 1,21,00,000 followers, heads an important ministry, meets foreign dignitaries, takes part in world summits, converses with common people and often wins hearts with her replies.
A broader perspective on Sushma Swaraj’s Twitter presence can be understood from Twiplomacy Study 2018, a global study of world leaders on Twitter. The study ranks Sushma Swaraj among the 10 most followed leaders in the world.
For 2018, Twiplomacy Study said, Sushma Swaraj was also the most followed woman leader in the world.
However, at present, other politicians have taken over her in terms of number of followers. In India, she is currently the fifth most followed politician. Prime Minister Narednra Modi leads the tally with 45.8 million followers, followed by Arvind Kejriwal (14.5 million), Arun Jaitley (14 million), Amit Shah (12.6 million) and Rajnath Singh (12.2 million).
But the differentiating factor is that all of them are following at least 150 people.
When it comes to celebrities like Rihanna, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, or world leaders like Barrack Obama, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau and Hilary Clinton, they too have massive following on Twitter (far greater than Sushma Swaraj).
But they too follow someone or the other.
So, Sushma Swaraj’s Twitter uniqueness lies in having 12.1 million followers without following any one.
Only she can tell if she consciously chooses not to follow anyone on Twitter or has the thought of following someone never crossed her mind since 2010 when she joined the site.
Irrespective of this, her Twitter statistics of 'zero following' and 12.1 million followers makes her an interesting contender for a world record. Whether Guinness Book of World Records can have a category for First person to achieve 12 million Twitter followers without following anyone’, is something the records body will have to think about. That is, if and when Sushma Swaraj decides to apply for the record.
Till then, happy tweeting.
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