Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clear task to his Union Cabinet ministers a month ago: Get more active on Instagram, make short reels, and connect directly with the youth. He wanted them to move beyond traditional, text-heavy social media platforms and speak the language of the younger generation.
Before looking at the cabinet, it is important to look at the Prime Minister. Did the Cabinet Follow the PM’s Advice? The only exception was Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Lalan Singh) from JD(U), whose activity did not increase. On the other hand, not everyone saw such a big jump. A few ministers gained very few followers, and in one surprising case, followers actually dropped.
PM Modi is the most-followed world leader on Instagram, with over 106.5 million (10.65 crore) followers. Over the last month, PM Modi maintained an average of one post a day — which added up to 31 posts. During this time, he added 31 lakh new followers — a number bigger than all his cabinet ministers added to their accounts. Data shows that 97 per cent of the cabinet — 28 out of 29 ministers — increased their Instagram activity. Overall posting saw a solid 48 per cent jump. Between July 13 and July 26, the cabinet put out 797 posts. Between August 11 and August 24, this number went up to 1,179 posts. On average, every cabinet minister made 82 posts and gained around 80,993 followers in the last month. Nitin Gadkari was the only cabinet minister to lose followers in the last month, the numbers dropping from 66.91 lakh to 66.65 lakh (a loss of 26,080 followers).
Following PM Modi’s advice, ministers have started using Instagram reels as a main tool for communication. A great example is the newly appointed Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi, who actively used Instagram Reels to clearly explain the government’s stand on important issues to the public.
