Revisting Covid: A Failed Lockdown And The Most Retweeted Post

The Covid 19 pandemic-induced lockdown was first imposed by the central government on March 24th, 2020 following a one-day Janata curfew on the 22nd of March. The lockdown was extended and reinstated multiple times from 2020 to 2021. It continues to affect the lives of millions following the shutting down of businesses, and factories and the havoc wreaked by the different strains of the Coronavirus.

As the world was locked outside, social media became the most dependable source of communication, work, and information exchange (often also misleading). This list is a throwback at some prominent tweets that mapped the lockdown phase in India.

1. On March 24, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his address to the nation and announcement of the lockdown tweeted at 9:10 PM that there is absolutely no need for the citizens to panic.

2. 9 PM 9 Minute Tweet by PM Modi: Posted on April 5, 2020 at 9:34 PM after encouraging the citizens to light diyas in their homes, this became the most retweeted political tweet in 2020. In its year-ender blog, Twitter revealed the same.

3. Rahul Gandhi’s tweet about a failed lockdown from June 5, 2020 highlights how the stringent lockdown imposed by the Modi regime was a futile task that did nothing to curb the rising cases.

4. The Kejriwal-Yogi spat over lockdown and floating dead bodies from February 7, 2022. This twitter banter is also a reflection of the collapsing democratic values and disregard for human life in the eyes of political representatives elected by us. The Delhi CM and Uttar Pradesh CM left no stone unturned in shying away from their responsibilities. Fingers were pointed, while no substantial step was taken to undo the injustice met to their citizens.

5. Mahua Moitra on 6th June 2020 tweeted about the Centre’s unilateral decision of imposing a nationwide lockdown without consulting with the states.