PM Modi's reply to 'Niirav Modi' on 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign invites Twitter troll

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official Twitter handle fell prey to trolls. PM Modi on Saturday had launched Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign for upcoming Lok Sabha elections, urging everyone, who cares of the country, to come forward to fight corruption, dirt, social evils. In automated generated replies, PM Modi’s verified account pushed a series of tweets tagging accounts that tweeted to Narendra Modi using ‘MainBhiChowkidar’.

The automated messages also reached a host of parody accounts critical of the prime minister. PM Modi replied to a parody account of Nirav Modi, the business tycoon wanted in Punjab National Bank scam. His account also replied to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s parody ModiLeDubega.

Dear @narendramodi Ji,
I am feeling shattered today - i can understand that u tweeted out to @niiravmodi - because old friendships mean something to you.#Respect
But why on earth would you tweet to @dhruv_rathee?? He exposes you daily and we troll him hourly!
.#BhaktBanerjee pic.twitter.com/jGgE4uWg9o

— Akash Banerjee (@akashbanerjee) March 16, 2019

Did the PM really just tweet Nirav Modi’s twitter handle to ask him to promote his chowkidar slogan?

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 16, 2019

PM Modi has often described himself as a "chowkidar" who would neither allow corruption nor get corrupted himself. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly hurling the "chowkidar chor hai"(watchman is the thief) jibe at Modi to claim irregularities and favouritism in the Rafale fighter jet deal, a charge the BJP-led government has rejected.