#ThankYouModiji for nothing: The online protest against rising fuel prices

In a hilariously tragic turn of events, an online protest in the form of the #ThankYouModiji Challenge has taken the internet by storm, with challengers protesting the rising price of fuel in the country.

The #ThankYouModiji Challenge is a social media challenge- and protest- with netizens sharing pictures of themselves posing in front of Narendra Modi’s pictures, banners, cutouts, etc. with hands folded and pointing towards the Prime Minister, most of them taken hilariously in front of petrol pumps and gas stations outlets where there is always a picture of the PM smiling down at you with his hands folded, watching over as petrol prices reach their peak across the country.

The challenge was ‘inspired’ from the incident when students from government-sponsored Kendra Vidyalaya schools were instructed to thank the Prime Minister on social media. This was done after the government decided to cancel the board examinations, a decision that would have had to happen regardless of Modi’s jurisdiction, as the exams would have to have been held right after the massive COVID-19 wave that the country recently saw— a surge that was caused, in the first place, by the government’s inefficiency and mismanagement.

Students were filmed dressed in their uniforms being grateful for the cancellation, and the videos were posted on KV’s social media handles across the country with with #ThankyouModiSir and #ThankyouModiji.

Netizens decided to spin the hashtag and use it to call out the Centre’s inefficiency in dealing with the hike in fuel prices. Funnily enough, netizens are also digging up the Prime Minister’s old tweets about the rise in fuel prices, calling it out as one of the shortcomings of the Congress-led UPA.

Even political parties joined in, with members of the Trinamool Congress protesting against the rise in prices.

Fuel prices have been on a rise since last Saturday, with the government getting flak for the uncontrolled price hike. In fact, many states have reached ₹100/litre, with prices in Mumbai touching ₹108/litre.