The connection between one of India's largest business group owned by the Ambanis and the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India needs no elucidation.
I hold this act by the Prime Minister completely unethical. Just because one has money and (s)he is your friend, what they have to say cannot find place in the Prime Minister of India's official tweets.
Such intimate connection between politicians and big businessmen will always be questioned. The extent to which a politician can be close to a businessman may be best decided by a politician himself.
Today, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was in Mumbai to inaugurate the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre. Only selected news organizations were permitted to cover the event. News channel CNN IBN, of which Reliance owns majority stake, was present.
The channel telecast the full event live. According to me, and according to few people whom I spoke to, it was unethical on the part of the news channel to do this.
However, what is depressing and even more unethical is the fact that Mrs. Nita Ambani's speech was tweeted live by the official Twitter handle of the Prime Minister of India.
Mrs. Nita Ambani is a private individual and her speech was not required to be tweeted at all. If she had to say something that was important for the world to know, given that the official Twitter handle of the PM of India is followed by politicians of numerous countries and various international organizations, a single tweet could have still been justifiable. Instead, the fact is that there were seven tweets mentioning what she had said. And the content of it - did it have anything worth to be tweeted by the official Twitter handle of the Prime Minister of India? No, it did not.
Here are few of the tweets by PMOIndia.
Here are few of the tweets by PMOIndia.
In a short time you have launched a number of impactful initiatives that have a deep connect with healthcare: Mrs. Nita Ambani to PM
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 25, 2014
We are witnessing a new India under your visionary leadership. You have captured imagination of billions across the world: Mrs. Nita Ambani
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 25, 2014
But, the Prime Minister and Mrs. Ambani are friends, right? Friends can do such things, can't they? Of course, they can. But, here is the more depressing issue. If the Prime Minister felt that his friend's speech was to be tweeted live, it could have been done through his personal Twitter handle. The fact is that his personal Twitter handle (@narendramodi) has 7.34 million followers, way more than the Prime Minister's official handle (@PMOIndia) which has only 3.14 million.
It seems to me that the intention, therefore, was not to make what Mrs. Ambani said reach more number of people but, perhaps, was to give an "official" recognition to a close and a needy friend.
I hold this act by the Prime Minister completely unethical. Just because one has money and (s)he is your friend, what they have to say cannot find place in the Prime Minister of India's official tweets.
But, alas, who am I? Just an ordinary Indian citizen, neither moneyed nor influential. All that I can do is to express my displeasure, nothing more, nothing less.
P.S.: For the unethical conduct of the news channel, I vow to not watch CNN IBN hence.
Added later - He is what a senior colleague of mine had to say about the issue.
"All said and done one needs to understand that neither Nita Ambani nor Mukesh Ambani are on Twitter and by live tweeting Nita Ambani's vision the PM of India seems to have become their voice on Twitter."
Added later - He is what a senior colleague of mine had to say about the issue.
"All said and done one needs to understand that neither Nita Ambani nor Mukesh Ambani are on Twitter and by live tweeting Nita Ambani's vision the PM of India seems to have become their voice on Twitter."
