---
layout: default
title: "PMO Changes Twitter Handle; BJP Terms It 'Unethical, Ungraceful'"
description: "An Economic Times report on the controversy surrounding the outgoing Manmohan Singh PMO's decision to rename the @PMOIndia Twitter handle to @PMOIndiaArchive during the transition to Narendra Modi's government, featuring commentary from Sunil Abraham on the institutional ownership of government digital assets."
categories: [Media mentions]
date: 2014-05-21
source: "The Economic Times"
authors: ["Vijaya Rathore", "Varuni Khosla"]
permalink: /media/pmo-changes-twitter-handle-bjp-terms-it-unethical-ungraceful/
created: 2025-12-14
---

**PMO Changes Twitter Handle; BJP Terms It 'Unethical, Ungraceful'** is a report published in *The Economic Times* on 21 May 2014, written by Vijaya Rathore and Varuni Khosla. The article covers the political controversy that erupted when the outgoing Prime Minister's Office renamed the official Twitter account @PMOIndia to @PMOIndiaArchive during the transition from Manmohan Singh's government to Narendra Modi's, allowing an unknown person to claim the original handle. It features commentary from Sunil Abraham on the principle that government digital assets should be tied to institutional positions rather than individuals.

## Contents

1. [Article Details](#article-details)  
2. [Full Text](#full-text)  
3. [Context and Background](#context-and-background)  
4. [External Link](#external-link)

## Article Details

<dl class="media-details">
  <dt>📰 Published in:</dt>
  <dd><em>The Economic Times</em></dd>

  <dt>✍️ Authors:</dt>
  <dd>Vijaya Rathore, Varuni Khosla</dd>

  <dt>📅 Date:</dt>
  <dd>21 May 2014</dd>

  <dt>📄 Type:</dt>
  <dd>News Report</dd>

  <dt>📰 Newspaper Link:</dt>
  <dd>
    <a class="btn" href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pmo-changes-twitter-handle-bjp-terms-it-unethical-ungraceful/articleshow/35393751.cms">Read Online</a>
  </dd>
</dl>

## Full Text

<div class="highlighted-text" id="fulltext">

<p><strong>Synopsis</strong><br>
The Twitter handle, @PMOIndia, begun during the tenure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was changed to @PMOIndiaArchive on Tuesday.</p>

<p>NEW DELHI: On Tuesday afternoon, as Narendra Modi rode into Rashtrapati Bhavan to stake claim to form government, the office of his predecessor Manmohan Singh renamed the prime minister's Twitter handle, and an unknown person acquired the original name, in what the incoming regime called an "uncalled-for parting gift by the PMO".</p>

<p>"Victory and defeat is now a matter of the past. Today we stand here as one, as a nation of a billion Indians and have to work for the poor of the nation. This 'parting gift' by the PMO Twitter handle is uncalled for," a person working closely with the PMdesignate told ET.</p>

<p>For reasons the PMO did not officially explain, the microblogging account @PMOIndia, with over 1.24 million followers, was renamed to @PMOIndiaArchive. The tweets were archived, and its 1.24 million followers shifted to the new handle.</p>

<p>The new handle tweeted, "The account @PMOIndiaArchive has been created to archive all the tweets, photos and other digital footprints of UPA Govt under Dr. Manmohan Singh. As per @PMOIndiaArchive, PM's tweets and blog will be available as archival material under the RTI Act for @PMOIndia till 20/5/2014. @PMOIndia will be available shortly."</p>

<p>Shortly after, the original handle was taken by an unknown person. "I took the name of respected @PMOIndiaArchive (@pmoindia)," tweeted one Qaiser Ali (see screenshot). The tweet and profile pictures were later deleted, but some 6,900 people were already following this handle. BJP officials, which have won the recently concluded national elections under the leadership of Modi, were furious at this "ungrateful, ungraceful, unethical and illegal" move. "The Twitter handle @PMOIndia is not a personal handle. It is an official handle of the office of the prime minister of India," the person working with Modi said.</p>

<p>"Continuity in governance is the hallmark of the Constitution. This continuity is reflected in how all aspects of the office of the prime minister are transitioned. The Twitter handle @PMOIndia is a national digital asset that should see the same continuity in governance."</p>

<p>It is unfortunate that the outgoing PMO did not show the grace to transition this national asset in a clean manner," he said. Arvind Gupta, national head of BJP's IT cell, said, "It is not their property but an institutional asset, that is, a property of the PMO.</p>

<p>We wonder what message they are trying to send out with this move." A PMO official insisted the move was procedural. "We are archiving all the communication, so naturally the Twitter handle will also be archived.</p>

<p>We have surrendered the account to Twitter by doing so and the @PMOIndia remains with the PMO." On the point that the 1.24 million followers have gone to the archived handle, he said, "The followers will go to the new Twitter handle on their own." The official said he was leaving office and would not want to be named.</p>

<p>@PMOIndia was set up on January 23, 2012, after TV journalist Pankaj Pachauri became the media advisor to PM Manmohan Singh. Till its closure, PMO had tweeted 4,506 times and followed 44 persons, many of whom were leaders of the Congress party, which Singh represented. Twitter users often used the handle to express their gratitude, anger and respect for the Manmohan Singh.</p>

<p>Gupta said PMO should have followed the right procedures for handing over their digital assets. "Ideally, they should have archived all the tweets and other material and put it up on some website for people to see, instead of renaming the handle," he added.</p>

<p>Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, a non-profit research organisation that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression and privacy, agreed. "Digital assets of the government should be tied to positions and not individuals," he said.</p>

</div>

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## Context and Background

The controversy around the @PMOIndia Twitter handle arose at a moment when Indian institutions were still adapting to the use of social media as an official channel of governance. In 2014, government communication through platforms like Twitter had become routine, but clear protocols for transferring control of such accounts during political transitions were still evolving.

The outgoing Prime Minister's Office treated the handle primarily as a record of the Manmohan Singh administration, choosing to archive it under a new name. The incoming government, however, viewed the handle as a continuing institutional asset of the Prime Minister's Office, independent of any individual or political party. This difference in interpretation led to a public dispute over norms of continuity, ownership, and responsibility in digital governance.

Sunil Abraham's intervention framed the issue beyond partisan disagreement, emphasising that official digital assets should be linked to constitutional offices rather than to specific office-holders. The episode highlighted the need for clearer administrative conventions governing state-owned digital infrastructure, particularly during changes of government, a concern that would become more prominent as official communication increasingly moved online.

## External Link

- <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pmo-changes-twitter-handle-bjp-terms-it-unethical-ungraceful/articleshow/35393751.cms">Read on The Economic Times</a>

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