Modi not quitting social media; 'inspiring women' to use accounts on Mar 8

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday put an end to all the speculation that stormed the internet after he hinted at giving up his social media accounts.

PM Modi will give away all his social media accounts to 'inspiring' women on March 8 for a day on account of International Women's Day.

"This Women's Day, I will give away my social media accounts to women whose life & work inspire us. This will help them ignite motivation in million," Modi said in his twitter post.

PM Modi appealed to women to share their inspiring stories with the hashtag #SheInspiresUs.

"Are you such a woman or do you know such inspiring women? Share such stories using #SheInspiresUs," he noted in the post.

In a Twitter post at around 9 pm on Monday, Modi said: “This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted.”

Following the post, #NoSir became the number 1 trending hashtag on Twitter.

The post garnered thousands of likes and retweets within minutes. Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Hardeep Puri and Anurag Thakur and BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya were among those who retweeted Modi's surprise tweet to exit social media platforms.

PM Modi's post also drew strong reactions from the Congress party and several Opposition leaders. Rahul Gandhi replied to Modi’s post, tweeting: “Give up hatred, not social media accounts.”

With 53.3 million followers on Twitter, 35.2 million on Instagram, 4.51 million on YouTube and 44.73 million on Facebook, Modi is one of the most popular world leaders on social media. Modi is only the third world leader to have more than 50 million followers on Twitter. The first two are former US President Barack Obama and present US President Donald Trump.