Amidst the 21-day nationwide lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the epic teleserials "Ramayan" and "Mahabharat" aired on Saturday.
Minister of Information and Broadcast in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet, Prakash Javdekar, took to his Twitter and wrote, "I am watching 'Ramayana' , are you?" However, he immediately deleted his tweet after facing backlash on the microblogging site.
Also, India's Public Service Broadcaster Prasar Bharati asked the viewers to share pictures watching "Ramayan" and "Mahabharat" on Doordarshan. They wrote, "Please share your pictures watching Ramayan and Mahabharat on Doordarshan through twitter and facebook with #ThanksPMThanksDD."
However, Twitter users flooded the comment section with pictures of migrant workers travelling back to their homes on foot. "Really? thousands are trying to walk hundreds of kilometres to make their way home without food or water, but India’s largest public broadcaster wants people to share pictures of families watching reruns of tv shows from the 1990s. What priorities," a Twitter user wrote.
"Dear gov organizations, lacs of people are desperately looking for urgent support systems. Let's sort that out first. We will get enough chance to glorify PM. Can we postpone these unnecessary PR tactics for a few months? There is no need for this. Please," said another Twitter user.
Here are some of the Twitter reactions:
Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus positive cases rose to 918 (including foreign nationals, 80 people cured/discharged/migrated, 19 deaths) on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
