Modi vs Kejriwal on Twitter

 

The prime minister comes across as a one man press information bureau. The Delhi chief minister as a disseminator-in-chief.  Both are champion tweeters,  though one retweets much more than he tweets. How they use the medium says a lot about what makes Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal very different as politicians and communicators. It also reveals their attitude to journalists.

The Hoot surveyed their tweets over two months.

 

Fact file: Nov 1-Dec 31, 2015

 

For leading politicians, Twitter is usually more about publicizing than engaging, and that is true of both these leaders too. ‘Look-what-I-did-today’ (Modi) versus ‘Look-what- they-are-saying-about-me-and-my-party’ (Kejriwal).

The difference is that Modi  wouldn’t be caught dead re-tweeting a journalist while Kejriwal does little else, assiduously re-tweeting news and commentary about the Aam Aadmi Party  and himself.

Here is part of his tweeting spree on January 1, after the odd-even car numbers scheme was launched. Kejriwal tweeted five times and re-tweeted 57 times! Most names, known and unknown, are of journalists.  

 

Whom he re-tweeted                                          Topic of re-tweet

Twitter India	Link to blog article about @delhitransport
Delhi Transport	Picture of @delhitransport
AAP In News	Picture of news report that US and French embassies to follow odd-even rules
ANI	Picture of Delhi Tourism Minister following odd-even scheme
Ashutosh Mishra	Picture of one car not following odd-even scheme
Naveen Kapoor	Support for odd-even scheme
ANI	Pictures of an even car being challaned
Times Now	AAP volunteers to help with odd-even scheme
Rupashree Nanda	About the odd-even scheme
Ankit Gupta	Pictures from cameras deployed by ABP News to watch roads
ABP News	Link to article saying that scheme is successful
Sagarika Ghose	Asking people to support the odd-even scheme
Anurag Dhanda	Lauding Delhi for supporting the odd-even scheme
Kanchan Bhupan	Video showing people's support for odd-even scheme
Kapil Mishra	Thanking Delhi for supporting the odd-even scheme
India Today FLASH	Delhi government asking volunteers to give flowers to offenders
Barkha Dutt	Lauding Delhi for supporting the odd-even scheme

 

Modi does not respond to any journalist. He only re-tweets world leaders, BJP ministers, and what the PMO office puts out. His own tweets are about his government’s policies and initiatives, he shares videos and pictures of his engagements, and offers birthday wishes  and condolences. In terms of expression, he simply states facts and is happy to be a bore. Here is a sample:

 

Date	Topic of tweet
1/11/2015	Pictures showing rallies in Madhubani, Madhepura and Katihar (Bihar)
	Video (from rally) praising the people of Bihar
	Video (from rally) questioning Mahaswarthbandhan about governance
	Further plans of rallies in Purnea, Forbesganj and Darbhanga (Bihar)
2/11/2015	NDA's rally being well-received in Bihar
	Video (from rally) about the Maithili language
	Video (from rally) questioning Mahaswarthbandhan about electricity
	Glimpses of campaign today--pictures
	About telephone talk with Nepal PM, condemning death of Bihari youngster
3/11/2015	Link to FB video about India-Africa Summit
4/11/2015	Picture of PRAGATI session on Jan Dhan Yojana and railways
	Indo-Bangladesh border progress
	Discussion on Aadhaar enrolment, JDY and leakages
	Infra projects across states (with link to his site)
	Vote appeal to all Bihar voters during last phase of state elections
5/11/2015	Topics taken up  at Visitors' Conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan
	Call for greater academic-industry partnership (with link to his site)
	Launch of 3 gold related schemes (with link to Finance Ministry site)
	Benefits of gold scheme (with link to his site)
	Picture of launch of India Gold Coins
	Laying the stone for Sonepat highways (with link to his site)

 

You get the picture…..

Our Govt is leaving no stone unturned to fulfil development aspirations of Northeast & ensure all round development. https://t.co/hKOohqa3jp

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 18, 2016

In contrast, Kejriwal is a politician out to enjoy himself on Twitter, play politics, and take swipes at his favourite opponent – and no prizes for guessing who that is.

When Modi cudn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015

 

He steps away occasionally from his Delhi preoccupations to do some national politicking, knocking down the Bharatiya Janta Party where he can, and building solidarity with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

He will also tweet a link to Mika Singh’s song ‘Maa’. Alas, we could not find a Modi counter in musical terms in the months monitored.