Prime Minister Narendra Modi came on a short visit to Chennai on 8 April 2023 to inaugurate the new integrated terminal of Chennai Airport and also inaugurated a slew of development projects.
He also flagged off the new Vande Bharat Express between Chennai and Coimbatore before heading to the Ramakrishna Mutt in Chennai to participate in the Mutt’s 125th anniversary.
In light of his visit to Chennai, the hashtag #Vanakkam_Modi was trending on social media. The hashtag crossed more than 1 million tweets. This is the first time that so many tweets have trended in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in Tamil Nadu.
In this situation, Tamil Nadu mainstream media outlets like Thanthi TV, Puthiyathalaimurai, and news websites like The News Minute, The Wire, and others that had widely covered about #GoBackModi in the past have looked the other way, despite the fact that #Vanakkam_Modi is trending in Tamil Nadu with over 1 million tweets.
In the past, mainstream media outlets like Thanthi TV, Puthiyathalaimurai, News18 Tamil, and News7Tamil amplified the trending hashtag #GoBackModi in the name of reporting it. If the intention is to report the trending hashtag, then the hashtag #Vanakkam_Modi, which has crossed one million tweets for the first time, should have been reported.
The DMK and its IT cell along with its social media influencers trend the hashtag #GoBackModi whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Tamil Nadu. And each time the hashtag is trended, mainstream Tamil news channels give it ample coverage.
There was a deafening silence from media organizations masquerading as ‘neutral’ media which had jumped in to put a news item whenever #GoBackModi trended. The News Minute which had covered more than 10 articles having reference to #GoBackModi had at least 4 exclusive articles on the hashtag trending on Twitter.
While in opposition, the DMK and its leaders flew black balloons and trended the hashtag #GoBackModi with abusive content, the DMK IT Wing head TRB Rajaa indirectly instigated DMK cadres to attack PM Modi “unofficially”. The sitting MLA also retweeted many tweets that had abused PM Modi.
Rule No. 01:
Ethuva irunthalum unofficial ah pannanum.
Rule No. 02:
Rule No 01na eppa venumnaalum change pannuvom 😉 pic.twitter.com/qfYyL8XzC8
— Dr. T R B Rajaa (@TRBRajaa) April 8, 2023
On the other hand, the DMK government has arrested Tamil Nadu Congress SC Wing leader Ranjan Kumar after he flew black balloons with the words #GoBackModi.
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