Modi’s Endorsement Propels ‘Selfie With Daughter’ From Village Campaign to Global Movement
Modi Spotlights a Village Initiative
New Delhi, India – In his monthly radio address Mann Ki Baat on June 28, 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an unexpected boost to a humble social media campaign called “Selfie with Daughter.” The campaign had been launched just weeks earlier by Sunil Jaglan, the sarpanch (village head) of Bibipur village in Haryana, to celebrate daughters and combat deep-rooted gender bias. Modi praised Jaglan’s idea – conceived in a state long known for a skewed sex ratio – as a powerful grassroots response to female foeticide and discrimination. “In Haryana, a village sarpanch initiated a #SelfieWithDaughter initiative. I urge all of you, share a #SelfieWithDaughter. Also share a tagline that will encourage ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’,” Modi appealed in that 9th edition of Mann Ki Baat. (“Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao,” or “Save the Daughter, Educate the Daughter,” is a national campaign Modi had launched in January 2015 to promote girls’ welfare.) The Prime Minister even promised to retweet the most inspiring captions, effectively endorsing the movement through his enormous personal outreach.
Sunil Jaglan, former sarpanch of Bibipur in Haryana, with his daughter. Jaglan’s “Selfie with Daughter” initiative began in June 2015 as a local effort to celebrate the girl child, and was soon amplified by Prime Minister Modi’s support.
Modi’s personal spotlight on Selfie with Daughter immediately lifted the campaign from local to national prominence. Government portals highlighted how the Prime Minister “lauded the Sarpanch from Bibipur” on air and urged people to participate, after which “it soon became a world-wide hit” on social media. Within hours of Modi’s address, proud fathers (and mothers) across India – and even abroad – heeded the call. The hashtag #SelfieWithDaughter started trending at the No.1 spot nationally by that afternoon. Thousands began posting snapshots with their daughters on Twitter and Facebook, often tagging the Prime Minister. “Thousands of people across India (and several from various corners of the globe) flooded social media Sunday with selfies taken with their daughters in response to a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Time magazine reported the next day. Even regional leaders and celebrities joined in. For example, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra tweeted a smiling selfie with his daughter that day, captioned “My Daughter, My Pride!” as the online deluge grew. By evening, the trend had gone viral globally, reflecting a spontaneous celebration of the girl child spurred by Modi’s outreach.
A Viral Social Media Phenomenon
What began as a modest campaign to challenge patriarchy quickly morphed into a worldwide social media phenomenon after Modi’s mention. The New York Times soon ran a piece titled “#SelfieWithDaughter… a Smash Hit,” noting how an initiative “launched by Indian Prime Minister Modi” had drawn enthusiastic participation and even some unintended humor. (The paper inadvertently featured a prank image of an Indian politician with his partner mislabeled as a father-daughter selfie, underscoring how far the story had spread.) The NYT article – gaffe aside – underscored the campaign’s success, detailing Modi’s goal of promoting equal rights for girls and highlighting that even people outside India were joining the #SelfieWithDaughter trend. Other international outlets from the BBC to ABC News noted how a simple call to action in Modi’s radio address had “gone viral,” with parents around the world proudly sharing photos with their daughters to champion girls’ empowerment.
Modi’s backing unquestionably amplified the campaign’s reach. Within weeks, #SelfieWithDaughter had reportedly spread to over 70 countries, and by 2019 the campaign’s official website had collected over 100,000 father-daughter photos from around the world. India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development noted the campaign’s organic success in changing mindsets: it became a people-driven complement to the government’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao program, using proud images of daughters to counteract centuries-old prejudices. The Prime Minister himself later reflected on this mass participation with astonishment. “I had just casually mentioned about selfie with daughter and what a movement it became. The whole world was amazed,” Modi said in a follow-up Mann Ki Baat address on 20 September 2015, remarking that “lakhs of people, perhaps from all the countries of the world, posted a selfie with their daughters” and that the simple act had given new “dignity” and confidence to girls. What ensued, he declared, was “a kind of a silent revolution” in social attitudes.
Not everyone was uncritical – some commentators cautioned that feel-good selfies alone wouldn’t resolve deep gender biases. A few activists even sparked debate by accusing the campaign of tokenism. However, the overwhelming public reception remained positive. Jaglan’s initiative was widely hailed as innovative and uplifting, especially in regions like Haryana where the birth of a girl had too often been met with regret instead of celebration. As Jaglan would later observe, the flood of Selfie with Daughter posts helped many families “give up the indifferent attitude towards daughters” and instead take pride in them. The massive engagement also spurred concrete discussions on women’s rights. “It’s not just pictures – it’s starting conversations about gender equality in our homes,” noted a commentary in The Hindu at the time, crediting the campaign for opening a window to discuss issues like female foeticide, girls’ education and women’s safety (citation).
Reinforcing the Message on Global Stages
After catalyzing the initial social media wave, Modi continued to champion Selfie with Daughter in his subsequent speeches, turning it into a showcase of India’s societal change for international audiences. During a visit to the United Kingdom, Modi addressed a vast crowd of Indian-origin people at London’s Wembley Stadium on November 14, 2015 and proudly cited Selfie with Daughter as an example of a grassroots idea blossoming into an “international movement”. “The sarpanch of a small village in Haryana started ‘Selfie with Daughter’, and now it has become an international movement,” Modi told the 60,000-strong gathering, marveling at how “everybody – world leaders, top educators, business figures – all took selfies with their daughters and shared them”. The Wembley crowd applauded as Modi recounted how a simple positive idea from rural India had captured the imagination of parents worldwide. A few days later in Silicon Valley, at a meeting with tech CEOs on November 27, 2015, Modi again brought up Selfie with Daughter – this time to illustrate the power of digital connectivity for social causes. An idea from a Haryana village, he noted, had “became an international movement” virtually overnight, thanks to the reach of social media and the emotional resonance of its message.
Modi’s high-profile mentions effectively turned Selfie with Daughter into a diplomatic soft-power talking point. Indian embassies and diaspora groups began referencing the campaign in cultural programs. In 2017, India’s President Pranab Mukherjee even inaugurated an official “Selfie with Daughter” mobile app and online portal to further institutionalize the effort of sharing success stories of daughters. By then the campaign’s scope had expanded beyond selfies: communities were organizing Selfie with Daughter contests, father-daughter events, and pledges to support girls’ education. Each time Modi spoke of the campaign on global forums, it gained new visibility. “Modiji repeatedly talking about this initiative at the world level is helping infuse more encouragement to what I am doing back in Haryana,” Sunil Jaglan remarked in late 2015, after hearing the Prime Minister echo the campaign in London and the U.S.. Jaglan started receiving selfies and messages “from 80 countries” over the years, including from expatriate Indians and even foreigners who resonated with the idea. “Many of these selfies were posted by prominent personalities from the world of cinema, sports, and politics,” he noted, suggesting the campaign’s core message – valuing daughters – had universal appeal.
Campaign Impact and Reactions
Nearly eight years on, Jaglan reflects that Selfie with Daughter has “been a success” beyond anything he imagined. “The campaign has also received great support from different parts of the world,” he told the press in 2023, noting that even his home district of Jind, once notorious for its low girl-to-boy ratio, has seen attitudes slowly change. Haryana officials credit broader initiatives like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao for improving the state’s sex ratio (923 girls per 1000 boys as of last count) while acknowledging that popular efforts like Selfie with Daughter helped “bring a change in the people’s mindset towards the girl child” at the community level. Social analysts point out that the campaign’s genius was in reframing a societal problem (son preference) into a proud personal action – a father publicly adoring his daughter – thus normalizing the idea that daughters are as precious as sons. A government report suggested that Selfie with Daughter worked via a “behavioral nudge” mechanism: seeing thousands of others celebrating daughters helped break the perception that one is alone in rejecting old biases.
Modi himself revisited the topic in the landmark 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat on April 30, 2023. In that broadcast, heard live at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Modi recalled the Selfie with Daughter journey as one of the program’s proudest moments. He even connected directly with Sunil Jaglan during the show, thanking the “young sarpanch from Haryana” who started it and lauding how a simple thought had grown “into the spirit of a people’s movement”. For Jaglan, who was invited to join celebrations of the 100th episode in Delhi, it was yet another testament to the campaign’s reach. “During the last eight years, we have received selfies from 80 countries,” he said, marveling at how a village-born idea traveled the globe. Yet, Jaglan remains focused on unfinished business. “I feel the campaign has had some positive impact… and has helped bring a change in people’s mindset,” he said, “but more work needs to be done on the ground” in places like Haryana. He has since launched spin-off initiatives – from an online museum of father-daughter selfies to programs encouraging families to name houses after their daughters – to ensure the momentum for girls’ equality continues.
From Panipat to New York, Modi’s championing of Selfie with Daughter has exemplified how a leader’s endorsement can amplify a grassroots social campaign. By weaving Jaglan’s message into his speeches and urging millions to take part, Modi turned a simple “selfie” into a symbol of pride that transcended borders. The campaign’s viral success, reinforced by official backing, showed the power of positive messaging in the digital age. It also offered a counter-narrative about India: one where fathers proudly celebrate their daughters, and where a community-driven idea can spark what the Prime Minister calls a “jan andolan” – a people’s movement – for social change. As India and countries worldwide continue to grapple with gender equality, the story of Selfie with Daughter stands out as a heartening example of how change can begin with a single photo – and a Prime Minister’s megaphone – to inspire society at large.
