After Narendra Modi’s surprise tweet to exit social media platforms, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi taking a swipe at the Prime Minister said he should “give up hatred instead of social media accounts”.

Give up hatred, not social media accounts. pic.twitter.com/HDymHw2VrB

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 2, 2020

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday surprised everyone after he tweeted that he was thinking of giving up use of social media accounts.

“This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted,” PM Modi tweeted.

Minutes after the tweet, the social media went abuzz as to why the Prime Minister was thinking about leaving social media platforms.

There is speculation that the tweet by PM Modi comes after the Delhi riots where several disturbing rumours were spread on social media as recently as Sunday. Delhi Police have issued several statements clarifying that the public should not believe the rumours.

Following the Twitter post by PM Modi, #NoSir became the number 1 trend on Twitter as Twitterati posted their disappointment.

Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Hardeep Puri and Anurag Thakur and BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya are among those who retweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise tweet.

Meanwhile, hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Babul Supriyo offered the former Congress chief advice on “international roaming packs” when “tweeting from his holidays abroad”.

This was in reference to Gandhi’s foreign trips, which have come under frequent attacks from the BJP.

“Bhai… when you tweet from your holidays abroad, your network provider charges at least 4 times more for data usage,” Babul Supriyo tweeted.

“10 day/15 day international roaming packs are available… try availing that in your next trip. For your short stays in India, you may use normal data packs,” he said.

Bhai.. when you tweet frm your holidays abroad, your network provider charges at least 4 times more for Data Usage.. But 10day/15 days International Roaming packs are available.. try availing that in your next trip.. For your short stays in India, you may use normal Data Packs 🙏 https://t.co/5Lt4cb80Kf

— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) March 3, 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reportedly the most followed leader on Facebook and the third most followed leader on Twitter.

Modi has over 53 million followers on Twitter, making him the third most popular on the social media site with only US President Donald J. Trump (73 mn) and former US President Barack Obama (113 mn) ahead of him.

On Facebook, however, Modi was the most followed leader globally with over 44 million followers, while his closest was Trump who had 27 million followers. Modi’s popularity on Facebook was such that even the US President that it was difficult to take on the Indian leader.

Apart from Twitter and Facebook, Modi has over 35 million followers on Instagram and 4.5 million subscribers on Youtube.

PM Modi’s tweet came as a shock to many, as the Indian Prime Minister has on various occasions seen using social media heavily. Be it famous “Main Bhi Chowkidar” campaign during the Lok Sabha elections last year, or be it roping in celebrities from different sections of society for vote campaign, Modi is seen using social media to his benefit.