DailyO Hall of Fame: Chowkidar to Chor and many more, what set social media on fire this March
hina has once again vetoed India’s bid to proscribe Masood Azhar.
Chor-chowkidar
The temper was building up. With the Election Commission declaring the dates of the seven-phase Lok Sabha Elections starting on April 11, the election fever just caught on. Apart from regular things, including bigwigs switching parties, what makes this election stand apart is the chor-chowkidar narrative. #Mainbhchowkidar is the flavour of the season as the BJP launched its election campaign in the same name. Almost all BJP ministers, state CMs added Chowkidar in front of their names on social media. The counter-narrative is, of course, ‘chowkidar chor hai’; a slogan of the Opposition.
Mission Shakti versus Nyay
This is a continuation of the first trend which kept social media busy this month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India has shot down a low-earth orbit satellite in space and thus entered the elite club the US, Russia and China.
A day ago, Rahul Gandhi announced Nyay — Nyuntam Aay Yojana. Under this scheme, income support of Rs 72,000 per annum will be provided to the poorest 20% families of the country.
From across the world
In what has been described as one of New Zealand’s darkest days, about 50 people were killed and another 50 injured as a 28-year-old gunman opened fire at the Al Noor Mosque while the Friday Prayer was on. Entire world stood shaken as the attack was live-streamed on Facebook.
In the backdrop of escalating tension between India and Pakistan over Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, China has once again vetoed India’s bid to proscribe Masood Azhar in the United Nations Security Council. The US is now pushing to blacklist Azhar in the UNSC.
IPL and Sreesanth
Despite initial cloud over clashes of dates with general elections, the 12 th season of the Indian premier League kicked off in India.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has set aside the life ban imposed on Sreesanth for his alleged involvement in the IPL 2013 spot-fixing scandal.
Propaganda and more
Trailers of two significant films were released this month. One, the much-discussed biopic of Narendra Modi where Vivek Oberoi will be seen essaying the role of Narendra Modi. And the other was by this much-discussed director Vivek Agnihotri, who has decided to unveil the suspense over ex-PM Lal Bahadur Shastri's death.
Both PM Narendra Modi and The Tashkent Files are apparently propaganda-driven.