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For a man whose follower count on the micro-blogging site Twitter is fast reaching the two-million mark, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi does not follow too many people. In fact, he follows only 373 (as of Saturday). The huge following of Modi shows the amount of interest in the man tipped to be the next prime minister. However, the people he follows could show what interests Modi.
While a majority of this group comprises Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries from around the country and within Gujarat, there are some high-profile names, too, especially among the business community.
The Gujarat CM is one of the 11.95-million followers of the world's richest man Bill Gates. He also follows the Twitter account of the Gates Foundation. While Modi himself does not figure in the list of 156 people followed by Gates, they both follow one Indian icon: Amitabh Bachchan. While Modi does not follow any of the Bollywood Khans, he seems to prefer Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar.
He also follows A R Rahman, the Chennai-born genius, and former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Veteran singer Lata Mangeskar and cricket god Sachin Tendulkar from neighbouring Maharashtra, too, are among the favourites. (TRACKED BY MODI)
Among Indian business leaders Modi follows are Ratan Tata, who famously shifted his Nano plant from West Bengal to Gujarat, and his auto rival Anand Mahindra. The Gujarat CM seems to keep a tab on Meera Sanyal, who quit her full-time banking career to join politics.
Modi also follows business advocacy organisation US-India business council.
Among foreign countries, the US, the UK and Japan seem to be on the radar. US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe and the leader of Tibetans in exile, the Dalai Lama, are the world leaders Modi follows on Twitter. The PM's office of Japan, which has English updates as against Japanese ones in Abe's personal account, also figures in the Modi account. He also follows the United Nations to keep abreast of international issues. Our own prime minister's twitter account does not seem to be of any interest to Modi. However, those of some foreign politicians and diplomats do. Hugo Swire, the minister of state for foreign office in the UK, is on the following list. So is James Bevan, British High Commissioner to India.
The Economist, the British newspaper that advocates economic liberalism, is on Modi's list.
So are some local newspapers and channels.
Some journalists and commentators such as Swapan Dasgupta, Bibek Debroy, Sucheta Dalal and Prabhu Chawla have also evinced Modi's interest in social media.
Modi does not seem to be interested in twitter accounts of many rival party politicians. The only non-BJP politician on the list is Subramanian Swamy. A bureaucrat who the Gujarat CM is tracking is Amitabh Kant, CEO of Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, which passes through Gujarat. Modi is also keen on knowing what his fans are tracking, so he follows accounts such as @namofanbvn and some which said, "my idol narendramodi follows me".
