Punjab Police Is Using Twitter Creatively To Encourage People To Stay Indoors

The number of coronavirus positive patients are increasing in the country by each passing day. To break the chain of infection, it has become necessary to stay at home and practise social distancing. The central and various state governments are also urging people to do the same.

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Punjab Police have adopted a creative way to urge people to stay inside their homes, to stay away from fake news and to cooperate with authorities.

The official handle of the Punjab Police has been sharing witty posts and useful videos to spread awareness.

On 6 April, a post from the account got rave reviews from the social media. The post uses lyrics of the song Matarghasti from the movie Tamasha. The post read: “Matarghasti khulisadak mein, tagdi tadak bhadak mein. Dekh legi Punjab Police, usseyacha reh le kuch din ghar mein.” The caption also read: “No tamashaplease! No matarghasti!”

The same day, the account shared two other posts in which the police used two popular songs — “Main to raaste se jaa raha tha” and “Kisi disco mein jaayen”, starring actors Govinda and Salman Khan respectively — for appealing to people to stay at home.

Earlier, the account used lyrics of popular song “Ghar se nikalte hi”, which was originally sung by Udit Narayan and then Armaan Malik in 2018. “Ghar se nikalte hi, kuchh dur chalte hi. Raaste mein mil gayi Punjab Police, toh main wapis ghar chala aaya,” read the post.

In another such post, the police used popular song “Gore gore, ohh Bankey chhore” and advised people “Ab kuch din ghar pe bitayakaro.”

Fake news is also one of the problems which India is facing in this crisis. Misinformation can mislead people, create troubles and further deepen the crisis. It becomes extremely important to advise people not to share fake news.

Punjab Police have been appealing in a witty manner to people to stay away from fake news. The account put out a post which read, “What is best way to land up in the Jail? Share fake news.” It used hashtag #FakeDiKhairNahi too.

The account also posted a video urging people to not forward fake news. “In the times of Corona, Fake News Forward ‘Coro-Na’!” said the post.

The police have also created city-wise posts to appeal to people living there. Addressing Faridkot, they posted, “Faridkot-Bahar niklan te laorok” which can be translated as “Faridkot-stop coming outside”.

Similarly, for Hoshiarpur, the police put out another post which read, “Hoshiar raho, Ghar vich raho” which can be translated as “Be clever and stay at home.”