BJP leader and former Haryana chief minister Anil Vij drew criticism on Monday from party leaders after modifying his profile name on X. Vij moved the “Modi ka parivar” tagline to the bio section in order to accommodate his updated status as a now ex-minister in the state cabinet.

The ‘Modi ka parivar’ tagline earlier came right after Vij’s name on his profile on X. However, now it states ‘Anil Vij Ex – Home Minister Haryana, India’. Whereas, his bio reads, “Ex-Home and Health Minister Haryana, India ( मोदी का परिवार ).”

Justifying the move, Vij said that he faced a character shortage and hence moved the tagline to the bio adding that he is a “dedicated” BJP supporter.

He said in a post on X, “Everyone knows that I have now become an ‘ex’ and everywhere I should write ‘ex’. However, when I started writing ‘ex’ in my profile, the number of characters in the name exceeded the specified number, so I had to remove (Modi ka parivar), which I am, and put it below, giving some people a chance to comment on it. Please know that I am a dedicated supporter of BJP. If you had talked to me before playing on this, I would have had the opportunity to hear your sweet voice, and this would not have happened.”

Vij was recently dropped from the Haryana cabinet after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nayab Singh Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister in an unexpected move.

Vij opted not to attend the swearing-in ceremony and focused his efforts on campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in the Ambala Cantonment constituency. However, he maintains that he holds no resentment over not being appointed to the new cabinet.

BJP leaders nationwide added the ‘Modi Ka Parivar’ tagline to their social media profile names last month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the entire nation was his family.

Vij said, speaking to PTI on whether he would campaign for the party across Haryana, “My work area is Ambala Cantonment and I will give better results here than others. I am just a small worker of the BJP. I am a six-time MLA from Ambala Cantonment and this is my work area where I am doing my work.”