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Buzz of the Day | Pulse of the nation, jobless gunmen, and ghostbusters

When the price of pulses hits the roof of an unemployment centre, who you gonna call? This sums up the questions that drove social media today...

July 28, 2016 10:24 pm | Updated October 18, 2016 01:17 pm IST

Mihir Balantrapu

#ArharModi

Rahul Gandhi doesn't always trend for dubious reasons. Well, mostly he does. But there are times — when he is not resembling a napping child, or featuring in a demeaning meme, or being mocked for making “photo-op visits” to places of tragedy — when he attracts the interweb’s attention for doing his job: speaking up for the People’s interests in Parliament. Leading the attack on the Narendra Modi government, the Congress party scion was all hammer and tongs in the Lok Sabha today, as he fired questions about the Prime Minister’s promise to reduce the impact of inflation on the common man.

And while he was at it, he ended up setting off a witty coinage — the kind that the social media laps up. Playing on the popular slogan, “Har Har Modi”, which had become popular during the Prime Minister’s election campaign, Mr. Gandhi remarked, “All across the country, a new slogan is ringing out: Arhar Modi,” in a reference to the lentil Arhar Daal ( toor daal ) one of the pulses whose prices have increased over the last year. He blamed the crisis on the artificial shortage caused by corruption and leakages, and said the government had done little to stem the trend.

Unfortunately for the Congress vice-president, most of the reaction on Twitter was simply more of the same: disdain and mockery.

Some were simply below the belt... which Rahul Gandhi doesn’t wear, considering the kurta-pyjama is held up by a nada, much like his reputation on social media.

Some acknowledged the validity of the question instead of picking the questioner apart ad hominem .

Others got in on the Modi meme bandwagon... And old one, but oh-so-germane nonetheless:

#Cologne

If you thought #ArharModi was an attack, you should’ve been in the German city of Cologne or Köln, where a lot of people thought they saw an attack at an unemployment office, rumours swirled, and three different crime scenarios did the rounds. One scenario suggested that an armed woman was on the prowl on the premises. Another suggested that it was a gunman, following immigrant-related remarks from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that led to threats between coworkers. Oh, and a bomb threat too, just for good measure.

As with any information that is unconfirmed, threatening, or potentially agitating, #Cologne began trending in no time, amassing 12,700 tweets in a matter of two hours.

Incidentally, albeit unconnectedly, pop star Rihanna is scheduled to perform in Cologne later tonight.

If the police nab the alleged armed woman, there may more than one woman pleading “I dont want to be a murderer” tonight in Cologne?

#WhoYouGonnaCall

As the Ghostbusters franchise comes out with its reboot tomorrow, July 29, Twitterati began hashtagging all sorts of riddles with #WhoYouGonnaCall, as an homage to the popular slogan “Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!”.

Some of these were just plain ridiculous...

Some lonely and hopeful...

Some overtly shallow...

Some wove in religion subtly...

And some just plain morbid and depressing... Oh well, guess theyre getting ready for the show.

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