India PM Modi wins over social media with 'surprise' metro ride

Mr Modi reportedly engaged passengers in conversation and posed for selfies during the ride

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi created another social media moment when he rode the Delhi metro with commuters on Sunday.

Mr Modi took the metro to Badarpur in southern Delhi where he inaugurated a 13.8km (8.5 miles) extension of the metro line.

Media reports claimed Mr Modi took metro officials by surprise.

He reportedly engaged passengers in conversation and posed for selfies during the ride.

A tweet by Mr Modi where he said the journey was "wonderful" got 2,500 retweets. He also made a post on Instagram which got 31,600 "likes".

Mr Modi's social media posts on the ride got a huge response

The prime minister inaugurated an extension of the Delhi metro line

Mr Modi is extremely social media savvy and has huge followings on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Time Magazine named him among 30 of the "most influential people on the Internet".

This is also not the first time the prime minister has created social media opportunities with "unscheduled" public appearances.

On International Yoga Day in June, Mr Modi surprised participants by joining in with the exercises. Officials had earlier said he would attend the event and address the gathering, but not do yoga.

And ahead of his address to the nation on Independence Day in August, Mr Modi stopped to talk to schoolchildren, which his security officials insisted was not a part of the original plan.