White House unfollows PM Modi and other official Indian Twitter accounts

On 29 April, US President Donald Trump and the White House unfollowed half a dozen official social media pages from Indian, including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind.

A day after the ‘unfollowing’ of Indian social media accounts, the White House in its explanation claimed that the action was according to its administrative policy. According to reports, the White House claimed that its Twitter handle typically ‘follows’ the accounts of officials from host countries for a brief period during a presidential trip to retweet their messages in support of the visit. 

Thus, ahead of the maiden visit of President Trump to India in the last week of February, the official Twitter handle of the White House (@WhiteHouse) had started ‘following’ the accounts of President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister’s office, the Indian Embassy in the US, the US Embassy in India and the US Ambassador to India, Ken Juster.

Earlier this week, the same official Twitter handle of the US President ‘unfollowed’ all these six Twitter handles.

While the Indian social media users have erupted over the ‘unfollowing’ act, political analysts claimed that the mere ‘unfollowing’ of virtual official accounts cannot be considered as a barometer of any diplomatic ties, let alone the US-India relations. 

“One cannot attach any diplomatic or strategic significance to this development. The White House as per its policy does not follow anyone, thus for them ‘following’ and ‘unfollowing’ was just part of the standard operating procedure,” a senior political analyst from New Delhi told The News21.

He added that the cacophony across social media on this development is a mere indicator of India’s ‘over infatuation’ with the digital space. 

“We get too associated and carried away with such digital ties. The world of diplomacy and foreign affairs is beyond social media profiles, following, unfollowing, and digital relations” the analyst claimed.

While the analyst attempted to shed practical and politically true sentiments on the incident, social media users took no time bombarding the digital space by associating the development with recent US-India exchanges.

Many connected the recent threat issued by the US for the COVID-19 drug (Hydroxy Chloroquine) and India’s ‘submission’ to the social media unfollowing. While several others associated the US annual report to Congress on International Religious Freedom for the Twitter backlash. Indian Twitter users claimed that the White House and President Trump unfollowed the Indian accounts, as the US Commission report suggested blacklisting of New Delhi, due to some recent incidents involving minority communities. 

Many others started critically evaluating the ‘Namaste Trump’ event hosted by PM Modi for President Trump in Gujarat. They drew remarks stating ‘Rs 100 crore event for Trump and now bitterness’. Some even attacked the PMO for ‘giving in too easily into the threats of Trump’ as well. 

Meanwhile, another analyst from a renowned Mumbai-based thinktank claimed that the recent social media activities of the US could well be a reflection of their diplomatic attitude towards New Delhi. 

“With the US it’s always business. They ‘followed’ these accounts for their strategic use, and now when there is no use, they have ‘unfollowed’ them. This action in itself is enough to indicate – their level of diplomacy. The Indian leadership must take note from this, and restrain themselves from falling head-over-heels for Washington over relations with some old and natural allies,” the analyst said.