PM to interact with Nari Shakti awardees, hand over Twitter account to women

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with “Nari Shakti” awardees and his Twitter account will be handled by women achievers to mark International Women’s Day on Sunday, the Prime Minister’s Office has said.

The interaction will take place after President Ram Nath Kovind gives away the “Nari Shakti” awards at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday morning. “Prime Minister’s Twitter account would be handled by women achievers tomorrow on the occasion of International Women’s Day,” the statement said on Saturday.

The “Nari Shakti” awards are given annually to individuals, groups, institutions in recognition of their exceptional work towards the cause of women empowerment, especially for vulnerable and marginalised women.

Modi had on Tuesday said he would be handing over his accounts on various social media platforms to women who inspire. “This Women’s Day (March 8), I will give away my social media accounts to women whose life & work inspire us. This will help them ignite motivation in millions,” he had tweeted.

The prime minister has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The prime minister is one of the most-followed world leaders on social media with 53.3 million followers on Twitter, 44 million on Facebook and 35.2 million on Instagram. The Twitter handle of the Prime Ministers Office has 32 million followers.

In September 2019, PM Modi was the third-most followed world leader on the microblogging site, behind only US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama. The Prime Minister was the first Indian to cross the 50-million followers mark on Twitter.