Narendra Modi most followed leader on Twitter as Donald Trump is dumped

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the most followed active political leader on Twitter after the micro-blogging site permanently suspended outgoing US President Donald Trump’s account for inciting violence with hundreds of his supporters stormed Capitol Hill on Friday.

PM Modi currently has 64.7 million followers, while Trump had 88.7 million followers. Former US President Barack Obama, however, remains the most followed politician on Twitter with 127.9 million followers.

US President-elect Joe Biden has 23.3 million followers. As far as India is concerned, home minister Amit Shah currently has 24.2 million followers, and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal 21.2 million followers.

Two days after hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Hill in Washington DC, Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account on Friday due to the "risk of further incitement of violence".

"After a close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," Twitter said in a tweet.

Twitter also shut down his @TeamTrump campaign account shortly after it sent out a tweet with a "statement from President Trump" accusing Twitter of "banning free speech" and coordinating with "the Democrats and the Radical Left" to silence him. The social media platform also deleted new tweets posted Trump on official government account @POTUS.

In a blog post, Twitter explained that the suspension was based on factors such as evidence that plans for future armed protests were proliferating on and off the platform, "including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021."

The company said accounts used by Trump to try to get around the ban could face permanent suspension as well under its "ban evasion" policies.

Using the @POTUS account, Trump said he would look at building his own platform..