What is the sign of fame in today’s world? Heightened activity on your Twitter handle, hashtags with your name, and a surge in your followers.
That is what happened to ‘@UrjitPatel_’. A Twitter handle that could belong to the new RBI governor Urjit Patel. Mind you, this account is yet to be verified by Twitter.
A relatively new handle, opened just a few months ago, had over 475 followers around 7pm on Saturday evening, but as the news of Urjit Patel’s appointment spread far and wide, his followers surged. Within four hours of the government’s announcement, @UrjitPatel_’s followers stood at 4,087. But the new governor follows only one handle, @RBI; the official account of the Reserve Bank of India.
And there is only one tweet, posted around 9pm on Saturday, thanking everyone for their wishes and hoping to live up to people’s expectations. The tweet has been re-tweeted some 471 times and liked by 790 people.
The activity on his handle increased after finance minister Arun Jaitley congratulated Patel, tagging this account. Though the minister is yet to follow him, Patel’s other followers include notable journalists and senior editors, parliamentarians and business chambers.
The RBI does not follow this account, and maybe waiting for verification of the handle. So is Twitter! When contacted, they said they are yet to receive a request from Urjit Patel to verify his account, and there was no way for the micro-blogging site to confirm if the account is authentic.
{{/usCountry}}The RBI does not follow this account, and maybe waiting for verification of the handle. So is Twitter! When contacted, they said they are yet to receive a request from Urjit Patel to verify his account, and there was no way for the micro-blogging site to confirm if the account is authentic.
{{/usCountry}}“If Arun Jaitley has tweeted tagging this account then maybe it does belong to Urjit Patel. He must have checked before tweeting,” a Twitter official told HT.
And it’s not only this Twitter official who trusts the finance minister’s judgement — ever since his congratulatory tweet, the unverified account has added thousands of followers.
With inputs from Anirban Ghoshal