Modi’s Twitter followers top 50 million

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now the first Indian to have over 50 million followers on Twitter.

Only two other global political leaders achieved this milestone — former US President Barack Obama (108.4 million) and US President Donald Trump (64 million).

Modi joined Twitter in January 2009, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Only a few politicians, including Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, were active on Twitter at that point.

Modi’s Twitter handle was not @narendramodi until October 2009. Abhishek Desai, a techie who had registered the twitter handle @narendramodi, handed it over to Modi on October 12, 2009. Modi had then thanked Desai for providing the handle on Twitter.