Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a swipe at critics, saying they may remain happy with their arrogance, lies, pessimism and ignorance but people should be beware of their divisive agenda as an old habit of 70 years cannot go away so easily.

He was reacting to a an X post captioned "Meltdown-e-Azam" (great meltdown) of a news clip that cited "excuses" and alleged attempts by an "ecosystem" to stoke regional divide and insult voters in Hindi speaking states after the BJP swept to power in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, brushing aside the challenge from the Congress.

The Congress drew some consolation by winning the assembly poll in Telangana. Modi posted, "May they be happy with their arrogance, lies, pessimism and ignorance. But... Beware of their divisive agenda. An old habit of 70 years can't go away so easily. Also, such is the wisdom of the people that they have to be prepared for many more meltdowns ahead." His reply and the expression of unusual social media aggression in reaction to a post was also punctuated by several emojis, also not very common with his remarks on X.

BJP leaders said the prime minister's post reflects the party turning up the heat in its social media outreach in the recent months.

"This post of the prime minister is not out of character. It is aggressive and taking the opposition ecosystem head on," a leader said.

He added this has been the case with the BJP's content on social media in general too for the last few months now. "Its campaign and reels have seen aggressive in tone and tenor." Many Instagram reels have generated 1.5 million views and more, he added.

Commenting on Modi's post, a leader likened it to "a technically sound batsman resorting to a slog sweep to hit the ball for a six".

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