It has become a norm that whenever Prime Minister Modi or Home Minister Shah visits Tamil Nadu, magically the #GoBackModi/Shah starts trending on Twitter. While a layman would think that this points to BJP’s unpopularity in the state, on the flip side this is a handiwork from the bots which are largely located in Pakistan. The same has been the case during the last two visits of the Prime Minister in Tamil Nadu and it won’t be surprising that the so-called ‘protests’ against Amit Shah’s visit yet again prove to be a handiwork of the bots.
While the ground reality is starkly different from the calls of #GoBackAmitShah on Twitter, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was greeted by a large crowd upon his arrival in Chennai. Seeing the huge swathe of his well-wishers, instead of boarding the car, Shah went straight to acknowledge the crowd gathered at the airport to greet him. However, far adrift from the ground reality, a section of people started tweeting and making #GoBackAmitShah trend on Twitter. So who exactly are these people?
Amit Shah in Chennai….big crowds to welcome him. Instead of boarding the car, he is walking and acknowledging the crowds who have gathered at the airport. pic.twitter.com/j1vlXjREzF
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) November 21, 2020
In March 2019, when PM Modi inaugurated Rs. 40,000 crores worth development projects in Tamil Nadu, #GoBackModi was trending on Twitter. It later turned out that a whopping 58 per cent tweets related to #GoBackModi came from Pakistan, 22 per cent from India and just 4 per cent from Chennai. Importantly, 23 per cent of tweets were in Urdu, 62 per cent tweets were in English, and just 2 per cent were in Tamil – clearly pointing to the sabotage Pakistani bots were planning.
Read More: 58% of GoBackModi tweets are from Pakistan: A shocking report
Perhaps, it was a joint operation of the INC and DMK in cahoots with their contacts in Pakistan. Unsurprisingly, Karnataka Congress MLA, Priyank Kharge too jumped on the bandwagon to trend #GoBackAmitShah.
Rightly said. Chanakya won so many state elections in his lifetime. Amit Shah is nowhere near. pic.twitter.com/rnBWch9Ptf
— (Xenophobic) Kansara (@kansaratva) November 21, 2020
Read More: Tamil Nadu journalist endorses #GoBackModi with a distasteful meme
While the logic of such an informative tweet by Kharge is a debate for another day, but, who is Kharge to decide on which state should the Union Home Minister visit and which he shouldn’t? Isn’t Tamil Nadu a part of India and being the Union Home Minister, isn’t this Amit Shah’s duty to ensure safety and development of the state? It doesn’t matter if the BJP has no significant footprint yet in the state as the party, unlike Congress, doesn’t discriminate with the states which have not voted for the party.
No one will be surprised if even after a couple of days it is revealed that the alleged trendsetters of #GoBackShah are found to be located in Pakistan.
