A pulpit for bullies

NARENDRA MODI, India’s prime minister, takes social media seriously, and wants members of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to do the same. A recent report by the BJP’s digital unit ranked all of its ministers and MPs by the number of their followers and diligence in propagating his government’s message. The implication was clear: those who want to be promoted should do more promoting. So were the results: anodyne obsequiousness. A certain C.T. Ravi, a BJP official from the state of Karnataka, recently tweeted: “Tremendous efforts by Shri @narendramodi & Team has resulted in Positivity trumping Negativity.”

Subramanian Swamy, a 76-year-old BJP activist who in April was handed one of the party’s upper-house seats, has bucked the trend. He spent weeks tweeting aspersions on the integrity, competence and patriotism of India’s respected central-bank chief, Raghuram Rajan. The barrage, which went unanswered by party bigwigs, subsided when Mr Rajan declared earlier this month that he would not seek another term of office.

Mr Swamy then turned his digital guns on Arun Jaitley, the finance minister, who is one of Mr Modi’s most trusted advisers. Following a visit to China by Mr Jaitley, Mr Swamy tweet-sneered, “BJP should direct our Ministers to wear traditional and modernised Indian clothes while abroad. In coat and tie they look like waiters.”

Faced with silence from the prime minister, Mr Swamy’s seeming impunity sparked rumours of growing internal rifts in the BJP. Some whispered that Mr Modi was using the maverick twitterer to soften public opinion for looming cabinet changes. But on June 27th, some two months after Mr Swamy launched his campaign, Mr Modi broke his silence. Alluding to Mr Swamy, Mr Modi said that “such publicity stunts” were inappropriate: “Anyone who believes he is stronger than the system is wrong.”

Predictably, Mr Modi’s Twitter feed erupted with praise for his performance. “Never seen such a brilliant interview by an Indian PM. So knowledgeable and aware of even minutest details,” gushed one Siddhartha Verma. Mr Swamy’s response was uncharacteristically philosophical: “The world is in general equilibrium. A small change in one parameter effects changes in all variables. So Krishna advised”.