As PM Modi signs off, women achievers tell their stories on his social media accounts
‘Signing off’, tweets PM Modi; ‘seven women achievers’ to share their life journeys through his social media accounts today.
Seven women from across the country talked about their work and called for a change in the country as they engaged with people from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s social media accounts on International Women’s Day on Sunday.
They shared “their life journeys” after Prime Minister Modi signed off from his Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts as promised last Monday.
“Greetings on International Women’s Day! We salute the spirit and accomplishments of our Nari Shakti. As I’d said a few days ago, I’m signing off. Through the day, seven women achievers will share their life journeys and perhaps interact with you through my social media accounts,” Modi tweeted on Sunday.
“India has outstanding women achievers in all parts of the nation. These women have done great work in a wide range of sectors. Their struggles and aspirations motivate millions. Let us keep celebrating the achievements of such women and learning from them,” he said.
The achievers
Sneha Mohandoss, the founder of Food Bank India, was the first to tweet from PM Modi’s Twitter handle. She posted a video as well to introduce herself and what she does.
“I work with volunteers, many of whom are outside India, to work towards eradicating hunger. We have over 20 chapters and have impacted several people with our work. We also initiated activities like mass cooking, cooking marathons, breast feeding awareness drives- @snehamohandoss,” she added.
Her posts also popped up on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts of the Prime Minister.
Next was Malvika Iyer, for whom “giving up is never an option”. She lost both her hands and severely damaged her legs in a bomb blast when she was 13 years old.
“Acceptance is the greatest reward we can give to ourselves. We can’t control our lives but we surely can control our attitude towards life. At the end of the day, it is how we survive our challenges that matters most. Know more about me and my work- @MalvikaIyer,” Iyer tweeted from Modi’s account.
Arifa, an entrepreneur working to revive the traditional felted craft Namda of Kashmir, was another woman who told her story on these social media platforms.
“This gesture by PM @narendramodi has boosted my morale and it’ll help me to work harder for the betterment of craft as well as the artisans all over Kashmir. I feel it is important for more women to focus on becoming self-reliant and help other women,” Arifa said.
A water warrior, Kalpana Ramesh, was the next woman to share what she does.
“I never imagined I could bring back birds to a lake or tweet from our PMs handle. With a firm resolve, the impossible can emerge. We can bring a change in the communities with collective action on how we manage water resources. Let us be become problem solvers (sic),” Ramesh tweeted from the account.
“Be a warrior but of a different kind! Be a water warrior. Have you ever thought about water scarcity? Each one of us can collectively act to create a water secure future for our children Here is how I am doing my bit. @kalpana_designs”.
“Small efforts can make a big impact. Water is a valuable inheritance we got. Lets not deprive our next generations. Contribute by using water responsibly, harvesting rainwater, saving lakes, recycling used water and creating awareness (sic),” she urged.
A member of the Banjara community from rural Maharashtra was the fifth women in the list as she praised the Prime Minister’s efforts to promote Gormati art.
“I have been working on this for the last 2 decades and have been assisted by a thousand more women,” Vijaya Pawar tweeted.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only encouraged us but also helped us financially to promote Gormati art. It is a matter of pride for us. I am fully dedicated to the preservation of this art and feel proud on the occasion of Women’s Day,” Pawar said.
Numbers
The Prime Minister, who is one of the most followed personalities on social media in India, had said he was thinking of giving up his social media accounts and left his followers wondering about his move.
Thousands of his followers retweeted, replied and questioned his decision and asked him to rethink.
The next day he tweeted again to say that he will give his social accounts to women whose lives and work “inspires us” on International Women’s Day.
With 53.3 million followers on Twitter, PM Modi is among the most-followed political leaders in the world on the social microblogging site.
He is also the most followed leader on Facebook with 44 million following his page and 35.2 million following him on Instagram, the photo and video sharing app. On YouTube, he has 4.5 million subscribers.