New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday disapproved of Arvind Kejriwal’s attempt to doubt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader for refusal to credit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s tallest leader the party’s mega win in the West Bengal Assembly elections.

Rijiju criticised the opposition parties for remaining in denial over the issue of PM Modi’s popularity and also advised them to stop putting up a fake show of unity.

In a post on social media platform X, the Union Minister said, “Even a blind person could see PM Narendra ModiJi’s popularity better. The one who is pretending to sleep cannot be awakened. All those parties, which used to hurl abuses at each other, have today been forced to come together, and yet they have the audacity to say that PM Modi Ji is not popular!”

Earlier, Kejriwal, in a message on X, raised suspicion over the BJP’s emphatic win in West Bengal, claiming that it has come at a time when the “Modi Wave” appeared to be waning.

“The Delhi and Bengal that the BJP couldn’t win even at the peak of the ‘Modi Wave’… In 2015 in Delhi and 2016 in Bengal, they got just 3-3 seats each… That very Delhi and Bengal, the BJP managed to win when PM Narendra Modiji’s popularity was plummeting to rock bottom across the entire country… How?” AAP Convenor Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal’s remarks on PM Modi’s popularity come close to the latter surpassing the landmark figure of 100 million followers on Instagram, becoming the first serving world leader and politician to reach the milestone on the social media platform.

Having joined Instagram in 2014, Prime Minister Modi has, over the past decade, transformed his account into one of the most active and widely followed digital platforms among global leaders.

His presence on the social media platform has steadily expanded, reflecting a sustained outreach strategy that connects with audiences both in India and abroad.

Apart from this, Prime Minister Modi’s “jhalmuri” snack break during the election campaigning in West Bengal on April 19 took the social media by storm, with photos and videos of him relishing a local street snack and interacting with a vendor drawing massive engagement.

Prime Minister Modi’s visit to a “jhalmuri” stall clocked more than 100 million views within 24 hours of being shared on Instagram and garnered over 90 million views on Facebook Reels.

The metrics, gathered from his personal social media accounts, indicated strong public interest in the Prime Minister’s “jhalmuri moment” in the poll-bound state.

Spurred by PM Modi’s social media content, Google search interest for the street snack “jhalmuri” also reached its highest level in the past 22 years, according to available internet data.

–IANS

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