After getting Indians to bang pots and pans on their balconies on March 22 to show their appreciation for the doctors, nurses and others on the frontline of the battle against Covid-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on television on Friday to ask his fellow citizens to light candles and switch on mobile flashlights for nine minutes on April 5 to mark the fight against the disease.

The announcement was met with scorn, anger and ridicule on social media. Many users questioned the utility of this gesture, as Indians continue to cope with a 21-day lockdown. By Friday, India had recorded 2,301 cases, with 56 deaths, the Union health ministry said. As many as 336 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours. Many Indians have been struggling to access food, as jobs have disappeared. Questions have also been raised about the preparedness of India’s health system to face the rising number of cases.

We are in a grim crisis; the PM needs out to spell out concrete combat plans, not treat the populace like cult toys performing to his whimsical commands. Are we a confederacy of dunces? — Sankarshan Thakur (@SankarshanT) April 3, 2020

When Corona spreads & you cant handle



Bang a Thali & light a Candle — Nehr_who (@Nehr_who) April 3, 2020

Light a candle? Are you fighting Covid or romancing it? — Veena Venugopal (@veenavenugopal) April 3, 2020

The seeming self-congratulatory nature of the exercise drew comment from one user, who forwarded an image that frequently does it way around Indian WhatsApp groups around Diwali time, purporting to depict the celebrations in India.

Mark my words, some idiot on Whatsapp will fake-trend this NASA composite image on Sunday night: pic.twitter.com/rpARkomZo1 — Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) April 3, 2020

Some users noted that just as the idea for clanging utensils was possibly borrowed from Brazilians, ironically to protest against their respective governments’ handling of the Covid-19 crisis, Modi’s new idea was possibly inspired a spontaneous show of support by quarantined Italians in Rome on March 16.

Coronavirus flashlight mob is another borrowed idea by Modi ji. People in Italy did this. Seems Modi spends all his time on YouTube during lockdown #IndiaFightsCorona#COVID2019https://t.co/R4S4nMMQHy — Raghav Chopra (@RaghavChopra_) April 3, 2020

Some of the humour took a dig at the sort of WhatsApp messages that spread fake news such as the claim that Modi’s idea of a 14-hour “janata curfew” would halt to the transmission of the virus since it was claimed to have a lifespan of only 12 hours.

Shame on all of you making fun of Modi Ji. This is science. When you light diyas and candles, you're creating HOTSPOTS with FIRE. Imagine 130 crore micromini FIRE HOTSPOTS! Some say Covid-19 may not survive in heat. This is a 130 crore mini-mega MASTERSTROKE.



*banging plates* — V (@ivivek_nambiar) April 3, 2020

candle is made of wax. wax is sticky when it's hot. it will trap the virus in the atmosphere and the heat from the burning candle will kill the virus. virus only needs 5 mins to die, but pm has given extra 4 min just to be safe. someone very wise is guiding our pm about this.🙏 — 🌻 (@rantassaurus) April 3, 2020

Meanwhile, one Twitter user claimed he had already got a pseudoscientific WhatsApp message hailing Modi’s latest idea as a “masterstroke”.

I just got this



That’s it, I don’t think I can take WhatsApp anymore 🤦🏼‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/kkRLLESC7s — Aniket Mishra (@aniketmishra299) April 3, 2020

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ramdas Athawale who had lit candles to drive away the disease while chanting “Go corona go” was hailed as a visionary.

If everyone will use lights from their phones, who will record this? — Nikhil Taneja (@tanejamainhoon) April 3, 2020

Indians on 5th April, 9 PM. pic.twitter.com/Swq04oZEgR — Manjiri (@ManjiriIndurkar) April 3, 2020

modiji: let’s light up diyas, candles and torches for 9 minutes to fight this pandemic



coronavirus: pic.twitter.com/KSFUUfSMi5 — covid gilmour (@floydimus) April 3, 2020

Someone creatively edited the final moments of the superhit 2019 South Korean film Parasite to Modi’s speech.

The Ending Of PARASITE Explained By Narendra Modi. pic.twitter.com/edweIG38Cw — Antriksh Manav (@SumitPurohit) April 3, 2020

One user noted that Modi gives more time to Indians to prepare for less stressful community tasks in comparison to his sudden decisions that have serious effects on people’s lives.

Notice period for various things -

Women's day social media initiative - 5 days.

Bang plates - 4 days.

Light candles - 2 days.

Watch video announcing above - 12 hours.

Twenty-one day lockdown - 4 hours. — Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) April 3, 2020

Here’s a prediction.

I think next speech will have us do a Rangoli competition. — CuomoSexual || राज शेखर (@DiscourseDancer) April 3, 2020

And looking at how Modi’s earlier utensil-clanging plan turned out, with reports from several towns and cities of people taking to the streets en masse and making noise, here are some rather scary scenarios to expect on April 5, starting with a reference to the alt-right rally of 2017 in Charlotesville in the United States.