Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to tag the leaders of opposition parties in his tweets calling for more voter participation resulted in a war of words on micro-blogging site Twitter.

Senior leaders, including chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati too joined exchange of words.

It all started with Prime Minister Narendra Modi posting a series of tweets from his twitter handle @narendramodi beginning by tagging his “high voter turnout” appeal to opposition leaders like Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, BSP president Mayawati, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and DMK’s MK Stalin.

The tweets, also tagging personalities from film, sports and media, were posted at 9.59 am and went viral with 9,661 retweets and over 34,200 likes.

At 11.16 am, Akhilesh posted a tongue-in-cheek response in Hindi saying ‘Dil khush hua’.

“I am delighted to note that the Prime Minister is appealing to ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) to usher in ‘mahaparivartan’ (big change). I appeal to all citizens to vote in large numbers to elect a new PM,” read the tweet which also went viral with over 2,207 retweets and 9,467 likes.

Hitting back at Akhilesh, CM Yogi Adityanath said: “SP president Akhilesh Yadav will get to know the reality only if he steps out of his house. If I show you the reality you won’t be able to show your face.”

Adityanath followed it up with a series of tweets targeting Yadav and the SP-BSP alliance.

“People of Uttar Pradesh will cock-a-snook at ‘Bua and Babua’ (aunt Mayawati and nephew Akhilesh) alliance. Time for casteism, nepotism and corruption is over now and politically vigilant people of UP will make sure that 5 multiplied by zero results in zero this time,” tweeted Adityanath.

Akhilesh quickly responded in Hindi. “Mr Chief Minister, we couldn’t understand so please tell the meaning of ‘cock-a-snook’ in Hindi or it would be better if you could enact the meaning so that people know what to do.”

Cock-a-snook refers to doing something intentionally to show that one doesn’t have respect for someone or something.

BSP chief Mayawati too joined the twitter exchange of words accusing the BJP of making political appointments to various government boards and corporations just before the model code of conduct.

“Throwing all decency to the winds, the UP BJP government made appointments to various political bodies. Enjoy, ‘acche din’ (good days) are here. But remember that people know everything and would settle the score during elections,” she tweeted.

She posted another tweet questioning why security forces were killed more in the line of duty under BJP governments. “Is the country actually in safe hands?” she asked, countering the BJP’s claim of a ‘mazboot sarkar’ (powerful government).

First Published: Mar 14, 2019 10:42 IST