Modi tweets ‘thank you’ for birthday wishes

At the end of the day, Prime Minister Modi replied to some 50 birthday greetings.

New Delhi,08/07/2013: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi arriving to attend the BJP Parliamentary Board Meeting at BJP Headquarters in New Delhi on Monday, July 08,2013. Photo:R_V_Moorthy

People who wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi a happy birthday on September 17 are now thrilled to receive a reply to their tweets.

Mr. Modi, caught up with the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Ahmedabad on his birthday, took to Twitter as soon as he landed in Delhi on Friday.

In an almost hour-long “chat” session, Mr. Modi thanked Cabinet colleagues, spiritual leaders and citizens for their greetings. A special “thank you” message went to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose greetings Mr. Modi re-tweeted.

>@AbeShinzo Thank you for the kind wishes Prime Minister Abe!

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi)

>September 17, 2014

Around 10.45 p.m., Twitter users noticed increased activity on

>Mr. Modi’s Twitter page . As soon he replied to a couple of tweets, word went out and people started writing frantically to him in the hope of hearing back from the Prime Minister.

Thanks friends! This was a really refreshing interaction with you all on Twitter. My sincerest thanks to everyone for the kind wishes.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) >September 17, 2014

I have not been able to reply to everyone but I accept the good wishes and thank you all for the constant support!

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) >September 17, 2014

“Lol, lots of people (including me) are wishing @narendramodi ji again in the hope of getting a reply :-)” a user admitted.

At the end of the day, Mr. Modi replied to some 50 birthday greetings. One user, who received the reply a bit late, tweeted he was happy seeing others getting replies, to which Mr. Modi replied, “That is the spirit!”

@Bhootnath wondered whether Mr. Modi “muted” him.

“How can I think of muting you? Thanks a lot for the wishes :),” Mr. Modi replied with a smiley.

>@bhootnath How can I think of muting you? Thanks a lot for the wishes :)

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) >September 17, 2014

Most users were thrilled to hear back from the Prime Minister and thanked him profusely.

There were some who used the opportunity to take political potshots.

“Looks like @narendramodi ji is thanking all b’day wishes. Best chance for Kejriwal ji to achieve what he didn’t entire election season. Mention [sic],” said one of the tweets.