Priyanka Gandhi Storms Twitter On Her First Day In Active Politics

Priyanka Gandhi’s elevation to Congress’s General Secretary sent Twitter into a frenzy.

Priyanka Gnadhi ruled Twitter trends on 23 January 2019, when she formally joined Indian politics.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/ The Quint)

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, often dubbed the Congress party’s “Brahmastra” or ‘secret weapon’, formally entered active politics on 23 January 2019. The news sent Twitter into a frenzy, with Priyanka trending all over Indian Twitter.

Priyanka Gandhi was announced as the Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East. The move comes ahead of the General Elections of 2019 which will be held in a few months time. This also makes clear Congress’s intention of leaving no stone unturned for the Lok Sabha polls.

All Twitter’s top trends were ruled by Priyanka, trending for hours after the announcement was made.

Priyanka Gandhi ruled the Twitter trends through the day.(Photo: Twitter screenshot)

Some of the trending hashtags were ‘#PriyankaGandhi’, ‘#PriyankaInPolitics’, ‘#PriyankaEntersPolitics’, ‘Priyanka Vadra’, and ‘General Secretary’ among others.

Priyanka Gandhi: The Congress’ Face of Change?

This trend was a clear departure from the usual Twitter battles in which positive and negative hashtags backed by rival IT cells fight it out.

In this case, the vast majority of the hashtags were positive, which meant people were more interested in knowing about Priyanka Gandhi and what this move meant politically rather than trying to bring her and the Congress down.

The move is already being dubbed as something that will boost the morale of party workers in UP, as mentioned in a statement by UP Congress.

Her brother and party president Rahul Gandhi also tweeted about the development, calling Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia “faces of change”.

Priyanka Gandhi Trends Worldwide

A Twitter user pointed out how Priyanka Gandhi was trending not just in India, but in several countries all over the globe.

Clearly, the announcement has triggered excitement in diaspora communities.

#PriyankaGandhi: Depicting New Mood of the Nation?

Such positive feedback on Twitter is definitely good news for the Congress.

There has always been a lot of buzz about Priyanka Gandhi and her entry into politics has been a constant topic of speculation. Now she will get to prove her mettle with the responsibility that she has been given. 

Predictably, many people on social media compared her to her grandmother Indira Gandhi. It remains to be seen how this plays in the minds of voters.

Many also saw it as a bold move, particularly because Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency of Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s bastion of Gorakhpur are both in East UP where Priyanka will head the campaign.

Priyanka Gandhi’s entry is one of the biggest developments ahead of the General Elections 2019 and it will be interesting to see how the battle between the two major players BJP and Congress unfolds on social media.