#Modi1: How Twitter became the new home for government ads

The Narendra Modi government completed one year in power on May 26, 2015. A big day to celebrate for the BJP. As usual there were advertisements in newspapers, a few from some BJP-ruled states, to mark the occasion. There was also a full-page advertisement of "Puratchi Thalaivi Selvi J Jayalalithaa": "Glorious rule of four years, Amma’s rule forever". Did you, however, notice one glaring exception this time around? The ads issued by the BJP-ruled state governments had pictures of only the prime minister. Where did the rest of the pictures go?

They went to Twitter, sidestepping the Supreme Court May 13 order that banned government advertisements from carrying pictures of anyone but the president, the chief justice of India and the prime minister. To fill the vacuum, BJP chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh, Devendra Fadnavis of Maharashtra, Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh and Anandiben Patel of Gujarat took to social media.

Chouhan proved more tech-savvy than the others even wished Modi through a video message.

CM @ChouhanShivraj congratulates Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi on the completion of one year @PMOIndia. https://t.co/EjSou2QzWF

— CMO Madhya Pradesh (@CMMadhyaPradesh) May 26, 2015

A year ofSelf-Confidence&NationBuilding,of regaining our lost hopes.Saluting Hon @narendramodi ji #SaalEkShuruaatAnek pic.twitter.com/As4llXLesM

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) May 26, 2015

On behalf of whole of Gujarat, I congratulate PM @narendramodi & his team on completion of 1 year in service of India pic.twitter.com/7WyyAQv3v1

— Anandiben Patel (@anandibenpatel) May 26, 2015

#SaalEkShuruaatAnek @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/6Q456n9uPk

— Dr Raman Singh (@drramansingh) May 26, 2015

The politicians may not appreciate the apex court order, but the state exchequer has surely spared wanton waste of money on ads at the taxpayers’ expense. With PM using Twitter to send direct message to followers, it is certainly achche din for him on the microblogging website.