A first-time MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur Anupriya Patel was inducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers as Minister of State for Health and Family Planning. The youngest entrant and only non-BJP minister is already in the eye of a storm by none other than the Twitterati.
On Wednesday, Patel lodged a complaint with the Delhi police regarding a fake Twitter profile in her name. In a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma, she stated that a certain handle ‘@Anupriya_patel’ is tweeting vulgar posts. She added that there are tweets targeting the ruling Samajwadi Party over the Kairana and Dadri lynching cases. She demanded an immediate probe into her case.
“There are several fake Twitter accounts active in my name, and I bring this to your notice that in future they might be used to tarnish my social and political image,” she wrote.
Here, take a look:
She was called out on this:
If it’s genuine, then @anupriya_patel has no business to be in the cabinet of India.
What else is hate speech? https://t.co/qhEkVfAmw8— Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) July 5, 2016
Anupriya Patel’s now deleted tweet playing BJP’s communal card in UP, shows why she is inducted ahead of UP polls https://t.co/AAqrqQZHeA
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) July 6, 2016
Priya says her official handle is ‘@AnupriyaSPatel’. However, this is a handle that has been created only in July 2016—in the last seven days?!
So who’s this impersonator?
@nsitharaman Ji thank you so much.
— Anupriya Patel (@anupriya_patel) July 5, 2016
And why are senior BJP leaders tweeting to her?
Many congratulations to @anupriya_patel for taking oath as Minister of State in the Cabinet #ModiCabinet pic.twitter.com/ojvfmAhpih
— Follow Amit Shah (@AmitFollow) July 5, 2016
केंद्रीय राज्य मंत्री बनने पर श्री रमेश जिगाजिनागी और देश की सबसे युवा केंद्रीय राज्य मंत्री बनने पर सुश्री @anupriya_patel को हार्दिक बधाई।
— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) July 5, 2016
आदरणीया अनुप्रिया पटेल जी को केंद्रीय मंत्रिमंडल में शामिल किये जाने पर बहुत-बहुत बधाई @anupriya_patel pic.twitter.com/TwlqoEl3mq
— Ram Vilas Paswan (@irvpaswan) July 5, 2016
Congratulations to @anupriya_patel Ji for taking oath as Mos (Lok Sabha MP from Mirzapur, UP) #ModiCabinet https://t.co/75XNAtlIsu
— Bandaru Dattatreya (@Dattatreya) July 5, 2016
केंद्रीय मंत्री परिषद में शामिल होने पर श्रीमती @anupriya_patel जी को हार्दिक बधाई। #ModiCabinet
— Radha Mohan Singh (@RadhamohanBJP) July 5, 2016
— Ganesh Singh (@GaneshSingh_in) July 5, 2016
Congrats&Warm Welcome to new Cabinet Colleagues.Thank you hon’ble PM @narendramodi for strengthening our team pic.twitter.com/ms8DR6MXAB
— Dr. Mahesh Sharma (@dr_maheshsharma) July 5, 2016
आदरणीया @anupriya_patel जी,केंद्रीय मंत्री परिषद में शामिल होने पर आपको हार्दिक बधाई एवं शुभ कामनायें #ModiCabinet pic.twitter.com/O5TyIA9Pbs
— Kalraj Mishra (@KalrajMishra) July 5, 2016
Even Maneka Gandhi, who just launched an anti-troll helpline for women seems to have it wrong:
My compliments to Smt. Anupriya Patel @anupriya_patel for being sworn in as Minister of State at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi. #ModiCabinet
— Maneka Gandhi (@Manekagandhibjp) July 5, 2016
This sure seems to be a case of a suddenly-turned-conscious-MP given the spotlight by none other than our very own social media mogul, Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Patel enjoys enormous supports among Kurmis across party of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, especially in the eastern region and in some parts of Kanpur. She was expelled by her mother, the chief of from BJP’s ally Apna Dal, in May 2015 for anti-party activities. She was the general secretary of the party. Currently, she heads a broken faction of the party in the state. Her mother says Apna Dal has “no such plans” of merging with her faction, despite her new position.
