Old social media posts can return to haunt you, Indian politicians are increasingly learning, and the latest on the list is none other than Narendra Modi.

As the row over competitive exams raged across the country, critics of the prime minister dug out an old, cryptic tweet of his and re-posted it, leading to much online mirth as well as perplexed questions about what exactly Modi meant.

The tweet in question was from 7 December, 2012, when Elon Musk had not taken over Twitter and renamed it X and when Modi was still Gujarat’s chief minister.

“If a student is weak and there is test day, you give questions a day in advance the student can get marks,” the tweet read.

The tweet by Modi on the question paper was part of a series of tweets aimed at then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was campaigning in Gujarat.

One X user quipped: “So we all know now.... Why Paper Leak are happening.”

Others sprang to the PM’s defence, pointing out the other tweets that Modi had posted.

“Congress has no issues in this election. What did she say today- my mother in law also came to this area," read the first tweet.

"She has not been able to answer any of my questions," followed by the tweet on giving questions in advance to a weak student.

"Madam Sonia ji is in Gujarat. Thats why yesterday I sent some questions for her," he wrote.

The tweets were made from narendramodi.in, the Twitter account of his personal website and app.

Exams mess

In the 20-odd days since Modi returned to power banking on NDA allies – namely Andhra chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar’s Nitish Kumar – India has been hit with the scams and question paper leaks in holding the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) and the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC-Net), both of which have impacted the career of nearly 33 lakh students.

In addition, the NEET-PG entrance examination, scheduled to be held on June 23, was called off at the last minute as a "precautionary measure" in the wake of recent allegations on the integrity of certain competitive exams.

The National Testing Agency conducted the medical entrance test NEET-UG on May 5 across 4,750 centres across the country in which some 24 lakh candidates appeared. The exam process has been mired in controversy since many candidates were found to have scored top and identical marks.

Since the results were declared on June 4 – the same day when the Lok Sabha poll results were announced – many candidates have complained of errors in the question paper, grace marks being allotted to some candidates, question paper leaks and frauds. The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Maharashtra police’s anti-terrorism squad have made separate arrests in the case.

Not just PM Modi

Modi is not the only politician to have had his old posts used against him in recent times. His new key ally N Chandrababu Naidu was also reminded of his past criticism of the prime minister in the run up to the days when it became clear both Naidu and Kumar would need to support Modi’s BJP for the NDA to hold onto power in New Delhi.

While attending a rally called by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Calcutta’s Brigade Parade ground months before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Naidu had tweeted: “Modi-Shah government has betrayed the nation. The public mandate that brought them to power also has the strength to overthrow them. If BJP tries to victimize our leaders and harass the public, it will pay a heavy price. We will fight fearlessly to save democracy.”

Barely two months before that, he had said on social media, “People must understand any leader will do better than PM Modi.”

“Modi has systematically destroyed prestigious institutions of India. In BJP government’s rule, institutional autonomy and democracy have been under attack. From CBI to RBI, even a constitutional authority like the Election Commission was not spared,” read a tweet from Naidu posted on April 26, 2019.

This time, the BJP and Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party fought the Andhra Assembly polls together and formed the government. Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah attended Naidu’s swearing-in ceremony.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray, who shared the dais with Modi in the campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, had shared old videos of Modi as Gujarat chief minister in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when he had positioned himself as a critic of the prime minister.

And without fail, detractors had dug those out too.

Ergo, politicians should do well to remember that their old sayings can return to haunt them in these days of hawk-eyed online sleuths.