Billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, has come under fire for his recent tweet congratulating Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 100th episode of his monthly radio address, ‘Mann ki Baat’. In his tweet, Gates praised the program’s impact on promoting community-led action on issues such as sanitation, health, women’s economic empowerment, and sustainable development goals.
Gates tweeted, “Mann Ki Baat has catalysed community led action on sanitation, health, women’s economic empowerment and other issues linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.”
However, Gates’ tweet sparked a backlash from netizens who questioned his endorsement of Modi and his policies. Many of the responses to his tweet accused Modi of promoting a divisive and authoritarian agenda, while others criticized Gates for supporting a leader who has been accused of playing a role in anti-Muslim violence.
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One user responded to Gates’ tweet, asking which of the previous 99 episodes of ‘Mann ki Baat’ had been effective. Another accused Gates of whitewashing Modi’s image and promoting a genocidal regime.
A user tweeted, “Are you seriously so workless to hear to this one hour nonsense of self gloating and self promotion. Everything about this megalomania is about I me myself and nothing else make better use of your time.”
Some users also criticized Gates for disabling the comments section on his tweet, with one user saying that it showed that he had no clue what he was talking about. Others accused Gates of being a fraud and ruining African countries and now attempting to do the same with Asian countries.
PM Modi’s flagship programme, which went live for the first time on October 3, 2014, will turn 100 on Sunday, April 30. It is set to be aired at 11 am.