The White House has unfollowed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on micro-blogging platform Twitter, foreign media reported on Wednesday.
The White House currently follows just 13 accounts and has 22 million followers on Twitter.
“The official Twitter account of White House, the residence and workplace of the president of the United States, doesn’t follow Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi anymore on the micro-blogging site,” a foreign media outlet said. The same was reported by some Indian media outlets.
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Modi was the only worldleader who was being followed by the White House, reports said. Besides the Indian prime minister, the White House also followed the official Twitter handles of the president of India, the Indian Prime Minister’s Office and the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. However, all these accounts have now been unfollowed by the White House.
Earlier this month, United States President Donald Trump had warned India of “retaliation” after New Delhi decided to put a ban on the export of Hydroxychloroquine — a medicine believed to be crucial in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
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Soon thereafter, the Indian government had decided to partially ease the ban and allowed the medicine to be exported to the US. This was followed by a note of thanks to the Indian PM by the US president.
Meanwhile, former president of Indian National Congress Rahul Gandhi said: “I’m dismayed by the “unfollowing” of our President & PM by the White House. I urge the Ministry of External Affairs to take note.”
White House’s Explanation
The White House has explained that its Twitter handle only follows accounts from host countries for a short period to retweet messages of Donald Trump’s visit. He visited India in February, which is why the White House started following the aforementioned 6 accounts.
A Trump Administration’s official disclosed this on condition of anonymity.
The White House Twitter account normally follows senior US government Twitter accounts, and others as appropriate. For example, during the time of a presidential visit, the account typically follows for a short time, the host country’s officials to retweet their messages in support of the visit.
