Modi and the Meme Factory: How social media reacted to the PM's fitness video posted online

A few weeks ago Indian cricket captain, Virat Kohli challenged the Prime Minister to post his fitness video. The hashtag went viral with lots of other celebrities also taking up the challenge. At that point in time, the hashtag also invited a lot of flak especially because it was around the time of the Thoothukudi shooting and social media users had ridiculed the hashtag and accused the Prime Minister of not being sensitive to the plight of the affected families.

Despite the flak, three weeks later Modiji has taken up the challenge — he has posted a full two-minute video of his whole fitness regime. The Prime Minister can be seen doing some Yoga poses in his garden and also some other exercises. He said in the post, "Here are moments from my morning exercises. Apart from Yoga, I walk on a track inspired by the Panchtatvas or 5 elements of nature - Prithvi, Jal, Agni, Vayu, Aakash. This is extremely refreshing and rejuvenating. I also practice breathing exercises. #HumFitTohIndiaFit"

Just like he was challenged, Modi also decided to pass on the challenge to a few others, one of them being the newly elected Karnataka Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy. However, the CM refused the challenge saying that he would rather focus on getting Karnataka 'fit' 

However, the video has surely inspired many others to keep their health in check. But it only took a couple of minutes for the meme creators to get to work. Now Twitter, FB and Instagram are all flooded with memes of the PM, something he probably didn't see coming.